Cornell News Releases, July, 2000

Cornell University News Service Releases

July, 2000

For the full text of any story, click on the filename at the end of the description. These stories are also available via anonymous FTP at cunews.cornell.edu. Electronic queries may be made to cunews@cornell.edu.

Cornell announces major faculty salary initiative
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell University President Hunter Rawlings and university Provost Biddy Martin today announced a major, multiyear program to increase the relative status of faculty compensation at Cornell. "Our faculty is the heart of the university," said Rawlings, "and we are determined to do what is both necessary and appropriate to recognize its contributions. Over the last several years, we have made strides to improve the level of faculty compensation, and this effort has had substantial positive results. Overall faculty salary pools in the endowed units have increased from 3 percent only a few years ago to more than 5 percent last year. In the year we have just begun, 2000-01, I am pleased that this pool will increase by 6 percent. Now we must move to the next stage, which will improve our relative position in comparison with our peer institutions." Faculty.salaries.hnd.html (July 27, 2000)

Cornell Plantations tames the wild tomato
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell Plantations and the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research at Cornell University have created a special garden that displays genetic diversity from bitter to sweet by tracing the history and development of the tomato. The still-growing exhibit contains 53 different genotypes of tomato, including several wild species that bear little resemblance to modern tomatoes. It is open to the public at Plantations' Pounder Heritage Vegetable Garden. heritage_tomatoes.hrs.html (July 27, 2000)

NASA chooses Cornell for 2003 Mars mission
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell University has been selected by NASA to provide the scientific instruments and lead the science team for the next mission to the surface of Mars. The space agency announced today that a rover mission will be launched on June 4, 2003, and the spacecraft will land on Mars on Jan. 20, 2004. The mission, which will carry a large roving vehicle to the surface of Mars, was chosen by Edward Weiler, NASA associate administrator for space science, after an intensive two-month study of the two competing candidates, the rover and a scientific orbiter. Mars.Squyres.deb.html (July 27, 2000)

What it takes to attract the bluebird of happiness
ITHACA, N.Y. -- With hundreds of homes to his credit, Richard B. Fischer, Cornell University professor emeritus of environmental education, is a major player among Ithaca landlords. But the fact that his most sought-after tenants are Eastern bluebirds (Sialia sialis) doesn't make it easy to maintain high occupancy rates. Sixteen years of hard work and setbacks have taught the retired teacher what it takes to make the bluebird of happiness happy: Location, location, location. And a few amenities. bluebird_nests.html (July 25, 2000)

Vandalism to Cornell bridge prompts reward offer
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell Plantations is offering a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individual or individuals responsible for vandalism to Sackett Bridge and the surrounding area of the Cornell University campus on July 4. The arched stone bridge at the east end of Beebe Lake is a memorial to Col. Henry Sackett, Cornell Class of 1875, who worked to preserve area gorges, and links trails through natural areas that are open to both the Cornell and Ithaca communities. The damage, which will cost an estimated $1,700 to repair, was reported July 5 by Forest Home residents and Cornell staff members. Bridge_reward.hrs.html (July 25, 2000)

Southside campers making weekly campus visits as part of new Cornell-Ithaca Partnership
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Youngsters from the Southside Community Center Summer Day Camp and community residents are enjoying Cornell University's resources and attractions on weekly field trips, thanks to the The Cornell Connection, the Cornell-Ithaca Partnership's (C-IP) first program to be up and running. The C-IP is a federally funded program addressing the concerns of neighborhoods and enhancing the quality of life in the city in Ithaca. The first Cornell Connection event was July 11, when about 20 campers came up the hill to tour Cornell's clock tower and chimes, the Wilder Brain Collection in Uris Hall and the Cornell Insect Collection in Comstock Hall. Future Cornell Connection programs will include trips to the Snee Hall rock collection, Cornell's Dairy Bar for participation in Milk Mustache Day and a sneak peek in Rhodes Hall at Cornell's world champion RoboCup "soccer players" before the small robots are taken to Australia for Cornell's title defense. The campers are easily recognizable by their C-IP Southside T-shirts, designed by Kish Carter. copc.pollak.ssl.html (July 25, 2000)

Cornell Public Service Center receives AmeriCorps grant for youth education workers
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell University Public Service Center has been awarded AmeriCorps funding by the Federal Corporation for National Service, the New York State Commission on National and Community Service and the New York State Office of Children and Family Services, for the 2000-01 program year. The grant will fund the REACH (Raising Educational Attainment Challenge) Fellowship, which provides support and enhancement for several community education efforts. Since 1996, the Public Service Center has invited motivated Cornell students to participate in literacy activities in communities across the country as part of the national America Reads Challenge. In July 1999, the center adopted the complement to the America Reads Challenge, the America Counts Challenge. The America Counts Challenge encourages personal attention and additional learning opportunities, through tutoring and mentoring, to help ensure the future success of young people in mathematics. Area schools and community agencies have come to depend on the participation of Cornell students as tutors for the programs. In the past academic year alone, 70 federal work-study students and 85 student volunteers from Cornell participated in the America Reads Challenge and America Counts Challenge at 10 Tompkins County sites, including local elementary schools, the Greater Ithaca Activities Center, Cornell Cooperative Extension and the Southside Community Center. Americorps.award.html (July 20, 2000)

Lather up your lips when the Milk Mustache Mobile rolls into Cornell July 26
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Got a milk mustache? You can enter it in a contest when the Milk Mustache Mobile bellies up to the Cornell Dairy Bar July 26 from 1 to 5 p.m. The Ithaca winner of the milk-mustache contest will compete for a spot in an advertisement to appear in ESPN Magazine. NewGotMilk.bpf.html (July 20, 2000)

Saving potato genetic archive in Russia
ITHACA, N.Y. -- It took most of the last century to build one of the finest potato germplasm repositories in the world. Soon it may be a worthless, genetic morgue. Scientists from Cornell University's Eastern Europe-Mexico (CEEM) project for potato late blight control and from the Mlochow Research Center in Poland are leading an effort to save the valuable potato collection at the N.I. Vavilov All-Russian Research Institute of Plant Industry in Pushkin and St. Petersburg, Russia. Vavilov.bpf.html (July 20, 2000)

Cadmium makes brittle bones in Rocky Mt. birds
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Large portions of the Rocky Mountains may not be as pristine as once thought, according to a report by ecologists from Cornell University, the Institute of Ecosystem Studies and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in the July 13 issue of the journal Nature (Vol. 408, No. 6792, pp. 181-183). Their study, which was funded by the National Geographic Society, focused on abandoned mining districts in Colorado and a little-known species of grouse called the white-tailed ptarmigan (Lagopus leucurus). According to the lead author of the report titled "Cadmium Toxicity Among Wildlife in the Colorado Rocky Mountains," the metal is affecting the ptarmigan in mining areas and may threaten some populations of the bird with extinction. Cadmium from abandoned mines may also affect other wildlife species in the area, including deer, elk, moose, rabbits, beaver and other birds, the researchers predict. cadmium_wildlife.hrs.html (July 12, 2000)

Cornell employees help disabled high schoolers in T-S-T BOCES move from school to work
ITHACA, N.Y. -- In a perfect world like Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon, all the children are above average. Perhaps the line still gets laughs because we recognize in it the sometimes unrealistic expectations we have of our children. But those who are parents of the slowest learners live in a parallel universe with a different set of expectations. The ones whose children have severe learning disabilities as well as physical limitations, such as hearing loss, may pray only that their children will have normal lives when they grow up -- lives where they'll be able to live independently and find useful work. For such children, the rough-hewn phrase "get a life" has real meaning because some don't manage it. It's these at-risk young people that a Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) program is aimed at helping early on. The Career Exploration Program is run by Bill Woodams and serves BOCES students 16 to 21 years old from Tompkins, Seneca and Tioga counties. While the program has partners throughout the community, among its most effective supporters are a handful of Cornell employees. Disabled.youth.html (July 12, 2000)

Women with low body iron find exercise harder
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Women with low body iron, yet who are not anemic, have a much harder time sustaining exercise and adapting to training, concludes a new Cornell University study. But after a period of training, iron-deficient women who boost their body iron by taking supplements can improve their exercise endurance twice as much as iron-depleted women. "Millions of women are working harder than they need in order to exercise or physically work, and they can't reap the benefits of endurance training as easily. As a result, exercise is more difficult so these women are more apt to lose their motivation to exercise," says Jere Haas, the Nancy Schlegel Meinig Professor of Maternal and Child Nutrition and director of the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell. iron.exercise.ssl.html (July 12, 2000)

Lake Source Cooling project enters pilot test phase
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell University's Lake Source Cooling project has entered the pilot-testing phase and is operating at about 25 percent of its full capacity to cool central campus facilities by utilizing the naturally cold water of Cayuga Lake. During the test phase, the new system is producing 5,000 tons (60 million Btu/hour) of cooling -- approximately one-third of the campus' needs on a warm summer day-- and an increase to 16,000 tons of cooling is expected within a month. The system of heat exchangers, pumps and underground water lines is designed for a full capacity of 20,000 tons of air conditioning and process cooling for buildings on the university campus and the Ithaca High School. LSC_test.hrs.html (July 12, 2000)

Gift of $3.5 million to enhance Johnson Museum's Asian galleries
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University has received a substantial increase in revenues from the sale of privately held stock that had been held by Cornell as a gift from the estate of George and Mary Rockwell. George Rockwell was a member of the College of Engineering Class of 1913. In late March 2000, General Latex and Chemical Corp., the company George Rockwell founded, was acquired by Dow Chemical Corp. About $3.5 million from the sale of the General Latex stock has been received by the university for the benefit of the Johnson Museum. Museum.gift.html (July 12, 2000)

Gene patents won't harm science communication
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The patenting of genes, or other scientific discoveries, need not interfere with the free exchange of information among scientists, and it is often the best way to bring the benefits of discoveries to the public, a Cornell University patent and licensing manager will tell Congress today (Thursday, July 13). James A. Severson, president of the Cornell Research Foundation, will testify before the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property, which is considering the question of whether or not it should be permissible to patent genes. The mission of the Cornell Research Foundation, a non-profit subsidiary of Cornell University, is to identify, protect and license for commercial development inventions made at the university. Severson will speak in his capacity as the president of the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM(r)). He is appearing as part of a panel of witnesses that included representatives of commercial biotechnology companies, specialists in intellectual property law, cancer researchers and a bioethicist. Severson.congress.ws.html (July 12, 2000)

Cornell gives Clinton a nanosaxophone
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In the wake of the nanoguitar, now there are 287,900 nanosaxophones. The tiny instrument images, carved on a silicon chip by engineers at the Cornell Nanofabrication Facility, together form a centimeter-square silhouette of President Bill Clinton playing his favorite musical instrument. The unique chip, embedded in a lucite paperweight, will be presented to the White House staff today (Wednesday, July 12) by Hunter Rawlings, president of Cornell University. nanosax.ws.html (July 12, 2000)

Bank analysts may be biased on IPOs
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Can you trust your analyst to pick the best performing stocks? Not always, suggests an award-winning study by two business school professors. When the analyst recommends investing in a newly public company whose initial public offering is underwritten by the corporate financing arm of the analyst's investment bank -- something that happens often -- the choice is likely to be biased and not the best, the study shows. Michaely.finance.stdy.html (July 10, 2000)

Cancer gene related to fruit and vegetable growth
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The genetic mechanism that through millennia of evolution has created plump and juicy fruits and vegetables could also be involved in the proliferation of human cancer cells. Plant biologists and computer scientists at Cornell University have essentially made a direct genetic connection between the evolutionary processes involved in plant growth and the processes involved in the growth of mammalian tumors. Tomato.bpf.html (July 3, 2000)

Human immunity to a virus from edible vaccine
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Human immunity to a virus has been triggered for the first time by a vaccine genetically engineered into a potato. The specific virus involved is the pervasive Norwalk virus -- the leading cause of food-borne illness in the United States and much of the developed world. Scientists from the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) for Plant Research at Cornell University and the University of Maryland School of Medicine at Baltimore report on the success of the first human clinical trials of the plant-based vaccine in the latest issue (July 2000) of the Journal of Infectious Diseases. BTI.Norwalk.bpf.html (July 5, 2000)

Denïz Omürgönülsen is Cornell Hotel School's Drown Prize winner
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Den�z Om�rg�n�lsen is the top winner of Cornell University School of Hotel Administration's prestigious 2000 Drown Prize. The Drown Prize, which comes with a $15,000 stipend, was established by hotelier Joseph W. Drown and is presented yearly to the Hotel School student who holds the promise of making a significant contribution to the hospitality industry. Omurgonulsen.Drown.prize.html (July 5, 2000)

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