Cornell University News Service Releases

March, 2000

Index to all months

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.

$4.1 million NSF grant to mine Census data
ITHACA, N.Y. -- A gold mine of information collected by the U.S. Bureau of the Census but previously inaccessible to researchers could be used to tackle a range of social issues, according to John M. Abowd, professor of labor economics in Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. "The new knowledge that can be generated from these data is potentially far-reaching," he said, "covering everything from where the best jobs are to how to make public policy more responsive to people's needs." Now a $4.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation is helping Abowd and his colleagues, Julia Lane at the Urban Institute and John Haltiwanger at the University of Maryland, harness new technologies to link disparate databases and protect the confidentiality of the underlying data while enabling economic and other researchers to use them. Abowd.CISER.NSF.grant.html (March 31, 2000)

Cornell seniors win two of 11 Churchill Scholarships to Cambridge University
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Soon there will be enough Cornell University alumni at Cambridge University's Churchill College to start a small Cornell Club. Two of the 11 American students selected this year for the prestigious Winston Churchill Scholarships are Cornell undergraduates: William K. Cornwell, a senior majoring in natural resources in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Michael A. Seidman, a senior biochemistry major in the College of Arts and Sciences. The scholarships, funded by the Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States, provide for a year of graduate study in engineering, mathematics or the sciences for students with exceptional academic records and research proposals that can be carried out at Cambridge University. ChurchillScholars2000.hrs.html (March 31, 2000)

Science historian Curtis M. Hinsley to deliver University Lecture April 3
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Curtis M. Hinsley, Regents Professor of Arts and Sciences at Northern Arizona University, will deliver a public lecture and slide presentation titled "Reading the Ruins: Archaeology and the Interpretation of Landscape in the American Southwest, 1850-1900," on Monday, April 3, at 4:30 p.m. in the Guerlac Room of the A.D. White House. This University Lecture is free and open to the public. For the past seven years, Hinsley has been working with the Museum of Northern Arizona on a multi-volume study of the Hemenway Southwestern Archaeological Expedition, which was funded by Mary Tileston Hemenway, a wealthy Boston widow. Led by Frank Hamilton Cushing from 1886 to 1889, it was the first major archaeological expedition to the American Southwest. The expedition was deemed a failure because Cushing was fired and never published his findings. However, Hinsley has discovered quantities of valuable archival material, including Cushing's 350-page "Itinerary" of the first months of the Hemenway expedition. Hinsley.Lect.Rel.html (March 31, 2000)

Fighting international corruption is theme of law symposium
ITHACA, N.Y. -- "Fighting International Corruption and Bribery in the 21st Century" is the topic of the Cornell International Law Journal's Symposium 2000 at the Cornell Law School, Myron Taylor Hall, this Friday and Saturday, March 31 and April 1. The journal was launched in 1967 and is student-run, as is the conference. The event begins with a keynote address by Robert Frank, Friday, from 6 to 8 p.m. in the MacDonald Moot Court Room of Myron Taylor Hall. Frank is the Goldwin Smith Professor of Economics, Ethics and Public Policy at Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management, the author of Luxury Fever and The Winner-Take-All Society and teaches a course on business ethics at the Johnson School. ILJ.symposium.lm.html (March 31, 2000)

Employment practices changing worldwide
ITHACA, N.Y. -- A new book by a world-renowned Cornell University labor economist and an Oxford scholar shows how established employment practices - how people are hired and trained - are being challenged in seven industrialized countries, including the United States. It identifies a pattern in those diverse changes, documents the costly and sometimes dangerous problems that can ensue when employment practices change, and suggests ways to improve things. The book, Converging Divergences: Worldwide Changes in Employment Systems, explores recent changes in employment practices in the automobile and telecommunications industries in Australia, Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan and Sweden as well as the United States and is based on extensive comparative studies. The authors are Harry C. Katz, the Jack Sheinkman Professor of Collective Bargaining and director of the Institute of Collective Bargaining in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell, and Owen Darbishire, a university lecturer in the Said Business School and fellow, Pembroke College, University of Oxford. Katz.book.html (March 31, 2000)

Southeast Asian studies expert Anthony Milner to launch Cornell conference
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Anthony Milner, the Basham Professor of Asian History and dean of the faculty of Asian Studies at Australian National University, will deliver the fifth Frank H. Golay Memorial Lecture Friday, April 7, at 4:40 p.m. in B-14 Hollister Hall on the Cornell University campus. Milner's lecture, titled "Southeast Asian Studies as a Resource: A View from Australia," is free and open to the public. The lecture also launches the Cornell Southeast Asia Program's conference titled "Reassessing Resources: Teaching, Writing, and Civic Action." The conference will be held at the Kahin Center, 640 Stewart Ave., April 7-9. SEAP.Lecture.rel.html (March 31, 2000)

Free tickets now required for Archbishop Tutu's lecture at Cornell
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Because of the enthusiastic response to the news that Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu is giving an open lecture at Cornell University April 10, the venue for the address has been changed and free tickets now are required. Tutu, winner of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize for his leadership in the struggle against racial segregation in South Africa, will be the 2000 Henry E. and Nancy Horton Bartels World Affairs Fellow at Cornell April 10 and 11. Tutu.adv.2.jp.html (March 31, 2000)

Turning biomass waste into auto fuel
SAN FRANCISCO -- Worried by rising gas prices? Top off the tank with paper pulp. Fill 'er up with maple chips. Drive down the freeway using cheese whey. As average U.S. gasoline prices soar beyond $1.80 a gallon, proponents of using bio-based fuels and chemicals are gaining momentum. Gasoline-replacement research in the past has focused on ethanol derived from corn, but now agricultural engineers are beginning to understand how biomass waste also can be used as a substitute for petroleum. Larry Walker, Cornell professor of agricultural and biological engineering, and his students are using enzymes to break down solid biomass waste into a renewable energy form. In a talk at the American Chemical Society national meeting today (March 29) at the Moscone Convention Center, San Francisco, Walker said there is sufficient biomass waste available to supply all of the organic chemicals that are consumed annually in the United States and still have enough waste left over to convert to auto fuel. ACS.Energy.bpf.html (March 24, 2000)

Potato resists late blight and other diseases
ITHACA, N.Y. -- In the 1840's, the late blight fungus, P. Infestans, swept across the potato fields of Ireland, turning the vegetables into a rotten mess and leaving the country's people to fight a losing battle against famine. A million Irish perished, and a great many others left the country to land on North American shores. Now the fungus might have met its match in a potato developed at Cornell University, the New York 121. PotatoBlight.bpf.html (February 1, 2000)

Cornell to maintain membership in Fair Labor Association and participate in founding conference of Worker Rights Consortium
After careful consideration and analysis of the merits of programs aimed at monitoring and ending sweatshop conditions in the apparel industry, Cornell University will maintain its membership in the Fair Labor Association (FLA) and will participate in the founding conference of another organization, the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC). Cornell has been a leader in the development of a code of conduct and in monitoring efforts, and Cornell President Hunter R. Rawlings said the decision to stick with the FLA and to join the WRC is an effort to have a positive impact on both organizationssweatshop.fla.wrc.html (March 28, 2000)

Creating a standard spectrum of smell
SAN FRANCISCO -- Distinguishing the difference between the aroma of pepperoni pizza and boiling cabbage is not as simple as it seems for everyone. Some people have a heightened sense of smell and can be overwhelmed by aromas. And some suffer from smell blindness, a condition appropriately called "anosmia," that could make the cabbage smell like a four-star restaurant. But, who is who? In the commercial world, how do you distinguish between those with perfect sniff pitch and those with none? Cornell University food chemists are finding out by standardizing the spectrum of smell. ACS.SmellStandards.bpf.html (March 24, 2000)

Tiny polymer structures for drug delivery
SAN FRANCISCO -- By using a process analogous to the way that tires and refrigerator doors are made, Cornell University materials engineers are hoping to find a new mechanism to deliver drugs to the human brain or bloodstream. The difference is that the Cornell engineers, working under Emmanuel Giannelis, professor of materials science and engineering, are working with inorganic fillers, not in large clumps as in industry, but at close to the molecular level. By inducing chains of polymer molecules to slide between silicate layers, each a few atoms in thickness, they have produced a material, called a polyvinylalcohol (PVA) nanocomposite, that holds promise as an injectable drug delivery system. ACS.drugdeliver.deb.html (March 24, 2000)

30th Earth Day celebration spans a month
ITHACA, N.Y. -- With more events than even a special day can handle, the 30th anniversary celebration of Earth Day (April 22) will span the month of April at Cornell University and off-campus locations. Free, public events begin April 3 with the first in a series of lectures at Cornell, and culminate Friday, April 21, with the Cornell Earth Day Fair on campus and Saturday, April 22, with an Earth Day Festival in Ithaca's Stewart Park. Earthday2000.hrs.html (March 27, 2000)

Beetle uses fecal defense against predators
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Like eccentric street people who deter muggers by acting crazily, one crafty beetle has developed an equally outrageous defense: Larvae of the tortoise beetle species Hemisphaerota cyanea cover themselves with their own feces, persuading most predators to pass them by, Cornell University biologists have discovered. But at least one kind of one predator is not repulsed by beetle feces, Thomas Eisner and Maria Eisner report in the March 14 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Vol. 97, pp. 2632-2646). The reason for the breakdown in a nearly perfect defense remains a mystery. fecal.defense.hrs.html (March 27, 2000)

Support sessions and memorial service planned in wake of student's death
ITHACA, N.Y. -- On Thursday, March 16, the Cornell University community suffered the tragic loss of Michelle Evans, 21, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. She died as a result of an accident involving a Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (TCAT) bus at the corner of Wait and Thurston avenues. In the wake of her death, support sessions for members of the campus community and a memorial service are planned for next week. Michelle.Evans.release.html (March 27, 2000)

TCAT shocked and saddened by circumstances of bus crash
ITHACA, N.Y. -- In the wake of last week's tragic accident, shock and grief have overwhelmed the entire TCAT (Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit) organization. As the police investigation proceeds, each succeeding revelation brings more pain and sadness. "Our hearts go out to Michelle Evans' family and friends. TCAT chairman Hal Craft and I have sent a letter to Ms. Evans' parents, trying to put into words the grief and sorrow we feel over this tragedy," said TCAT general manager Rod Ghearing. TCAT.accident.reaction.html (March 27, 2000)

Hotel Ezra Cornell April 7-9 is all-star event for hospitality industry's top recruiters
ITHACA, N.Y.-- How do the people who run the world's best hotels and restaurants scout out new talent? They come to Hotel Ezra Cornell (HEC) at Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration and take careful notes. Considered the premier event at the premier hospitality program in the world, HEC is an extravaganza designed to dazzle hospitality industry pros, many of whom are graduates of the Hotel School themselves. Think of it as the equivalent of the college all-stars for hotel students, with all the big-league recruiters in attendance. HEC.2000.final.html (March 24, 2000)

Name change: Veterinary teaching hospital becomes Cornell University Hospital for Animals
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine has changed the name of its clinical facility to the Cornell University Hospital for Animals. Formerly known as the Cornell University Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, the facility will continue to emphasize patient care, administrators say. hospital_name.hrs.html (March 24, 2000)

Students aid 2nd Ellis Island historic building
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Last year they stripped away a half century's worth of weeds and overgrowth to reveal the sleeping beauty that was once the Commissioner's House on Ellis Island. This March 23-25, a new group of Cornell students will spend their spring break stabilizing the isolation ward, another neglected, historically important building on the island in the bay between lower Manhattan and Jersey City that once was the gateway to the United States for millions of immigrants. This year's group of volunteers, students from Cornell's Historic Preservation Planning (HPP) program and the city and regional planning department in the College of Architecture, Art and Planning, will once again be joined by alumni and faculty of the college for the three-day intensive undertaking. Ellis.Island.2000.html (March 22, 2000)

Potato late blight threatens Russian crop
ITHACA, N.Y. -- New virulent types of the potato late blight pathogen have emerged in Russia, threatening farmers and consumers with the destruction of an essential staple crop there, according to the Cornell-Eastern Europe-Mexico (CEEM) Potato Late Blight Program. The new strains of Phytopthora infestans, better known as potato late blight, are far more aggressive than the pathogen that triggered the Irish potato famine of the 1840s, having evolved through sexual mating. Unlike the old strains, the new pathogen can survive harsh winters in the soil, further endangering crops. RussiaBlight.bpf.html (March 22, 2000)

Synchrotron hosts first poet-in-residence
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell University already offers several courses nicknamed "Physics for Poets." Now poet Bridget Meeds has proposed just the opposite. "I'll be offering a workshop called 'Poetry for Physicists,'" said Meeds, the first-ever poet-in-residence at Wilson Laboratory, home of the often misunderstood synchrotron, a so-called "atom smasher" in which elementary particles are annihilated and other elementary particles are created. "I see myself as an emissary between the scientific world and the public," Meeds said. synchro.poet.rel.html (March 22, 2000)

Simulation shows bumblebees really can fly
MINNEAPOLIS -- A computer simulation of rapidly oscillating wings and the complex motions of fluids has proved that insect flight conforms to the physical principles of aerodynamics. The computer-modeling accomplishment - which is expected to aid the future design of tiny insect-like flying machines and should dispel the longstanding myth that "bumblebees cannot fly, according to conventional aerodynamics" - was announced by Cornell University physicist Z. Jane Wang today (March 20) at the Minneapolis meeting of the American Physical Society (APS). APS_Wang.hrs.html (March 16, 2000)

CNN President Richard Kaplan to speak March 30
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Richard N. Kaplan, president of CNN/U.S. of the CNN News Group, will give an address followed by a question-and-answer session Thursday, March 30, at 8 p.m. in the David L. Call Alumni Auditorium, Kennedy Hall, on the Cornell University campus. The address, titled "News Reporting Today: Issues in Impartial Reporting," is free and open to the public. Kaplan heads CNN/U.S., the U.S. news network and flagship network of the CNN News Group. Kaplan joined CNN after a distinguished career at both ABC and CBS News, where he was one of the most honored news executives in television history. CNN.Prez.rel.html (March 20, 2000)

Updated greenhouse guide shows how to do your plants a fava
ITHACA, N.Y.-- Have you ever wondered how to use yellow sticky cards to count whiteflies in a geranium greenhouse? Or, the best way to use fava bean plants to spot the presence of virus-carrying thrips? Do you know how to use duct tape to help your plants? Those questions and many others are answered in the new edition of "Integrated Pest Management for Bedding Plants: A Scouting and Pest Management Guide" from Cornell University's New York State Integrated Pest Management Program (IPM). IPMbook.bpf.html (March 20, 2000)

NYU performance studies creator Richard Schechner to visit as A.D. White Professor-at-Large March 28-April 1
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Richard Schechner, founder of the performance studies department at New York University, will conduct theater classes and performances on and off the Cornell University campus during his visit as an A.D. White Professor-at-Large March 28 through April 1. He also will participate in several events that are free and open to the public.: schechner.prof.at.large.html (March 20, 2000)

College of Veterinary Medicine's annual open house is Saturday, April 8
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The students, faculty and staff of the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine are inviting the public to the college's 34th annual open house, scheduled this year for Saturday, April 8, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. "Open house is our opportunity to share the joys of our profession with the community," says Karen DeAngelis, Cornell DVM Class of 2002 and event co-chair. Veterinary students and members of the faculty and staff host this annual event that provides a chance for those interested to get a closer look at veterinary medicine. Vet_open2000.hrs.html (March 20, 2000)

William W. Austin, renowned Cornell musicologist, dies
ITHACA, N.Y. -- William W. Austin, the Given Foundation Professor of Musicology emeritus at Cornell University, died at his home in Ithaca, March 15, two days after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage. He was 80. Austin was born in Lawton, Okla., and was a graduate of Harvard University, where he earned his bachelor of arts degree in 1939, his master of arts degree in 1940 and his Ph.D. in 1951. Austin.obit.fc.html (March 16, 2000)

Proposals requested for 2000 community-project grants
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The committee for the 2000 Robert S. Smith Award for community progress and innovation is calling for proposals from local community organizations and agencies. Proposals are due by April 14. An award or awards of up to $3,500 will be given to a sponsoring program using a Cornell University student or students to help carry out a community development project. SmithAward2000.bpf.html (March 16, 2000)

Cornell Theory Center nominated by Michael Dell for Computerworld Smithsonian Awards
ITHACA, N.Y. -- An innovative approach to supercomputing at the Cornell Theory Center (CTC) will become part of the Permanent Research Collection on Information Technology at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History on April 3. Induction into the collection is a result of the nomination of CTC and its Advanced Cluster Computing Consortium (AC3) for a Computerworld Smithsonian Award in the education and academia category. CTC and the AC3 were nominated for the award by Michael Dell, chairman and chief executive of Dell Computer Corp. The awards, to be announced in June, were established in 1988 to document the progress of information technology. theory.smithsonian.deb.html (March 16, 2000)

Dragon warning issued for Thursday, March 16
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Reports of the impending appearance of a dragon on the Cornell University campus Thursday, March 16, have prompted university officials to issue a dragon warning and road closure alert for Thursday afternoon. From 1 to 3:30 p.m., vehicular access to central campus will be restricted, and buses dragon.watch.2000.html (March 15, 2000)

Tough standards boost high school dropouts
ITHACA, N.Y. -- In a comprehensive study finds that an average increase in stricter high school graduation requirements results in a 3 to 7 percent jump in the dropout rate. The Cornell University and University of Michigan economists who conducted the study say this translates to between 26,000 and 65,000 more high school dropouts a year nationwide. "We can't judge whether this increase is significant enough to prompt administrators to reconsider higher standards. But they do need to be aware of what the other side of the equation is when they institute more stringent graduation requirements," says Dean R. Lillard, an economist and research associate in the Department of Policy Analysis and Management at Cornell. Lillard and Philip P. DeCicca, Cornell B.S. '93, and now a research associate at the University of Michigan, conducted five different analyses to draw their conclusions. hS.dropouts.req.ssl.html (March 15, 2000)

Archbishop Desmond Tutu will deliver Bartels Fellowship Lecture April 10
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu, winner of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize for his leadership in the struggle against racial segregation in South Africa, will be the 2000 Henry E. and Nancy Horton Bartels World Affairs Fellow at Cornell University April 10 and 11. Tutu will present the Bartels Fellowship Lecture Monday, April 10, at 8 p.m., in the Alice Statler Auditorium of Statler Hall on the Cornell campus. Tutu.jp.html (March 15, 2000)

University Faculty Forum March 15 in Kennedy Hall will focus on students, teaching and learning
ITHACA, N.Y. -- A University Faculty Forum, titled "Connecting with Students: Some Best Practices in Teaching and Learning at Cornell," will be held Wednesday, March 15, 4:30--6 p.m. in David L. Call Alumni Auditorium of Kennedy Hall. The forum is co-sponsored by Dean of the Faculty J. Robert Cooke and John Ford, the R.W. and E.C. Staley Dean of Students. Faculty.Forum.html (March 10, 2000)

Founders of theglobe.com will talk about the ups and downs of dot commerce March 14
ITHACA, N.Y. -- In November 1998 theglobe.com, a fledgling Internet company dreamed up in a Cornell University dorm room, ventured onto Wall Street and set a record for a first-day price gain, gaining a cool $50 million each for its two founders, who were then 24 years old. Since then the value of theglobe.com's stock has both risen and fallen significantly, and its founders, Todd Krizelman and Stephan Paternot, have stepped down and are helping to choose a new CEO. On March 14 they will talk about their experiences riding the rollercoaster of a dot-com startup and the qualities that the future CEO will need to lead the company in its next phase of development. The event will take place from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in the David L. Call Alumni Auditorium, Kennedy Hall, on Cornell's campus and is free and open to the public. Paternot.Krizelman2.html (March 10, 2000)

Trustees approve statutory tuition rates for 2000-01
ITHACA, N.Y. ---- The Cornell University Board of Trustees, at its regular meeting March 10, approved the following tuition rates for the New York state statutory colleges for 2000-01: Stat.Tuition.00.html (March 10, 2000)

Forum on sweatshops and collegiate apparel set for March 13
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell University will sponsor a public forum on sweatshop labor and collegiate apparel production Monday night, March 13, in 305 Ives Hall on campus. The 8 p.m. forum will include Sam Brown, a human-rights activist who is the first executive director of the Fair Labor Association (FLA). More than 130 colleges and universities belong to FLA, a monitoring and enforcement organization that also includes manufacturers and nongovernmental organizations. Brown's career includes a mix of anti-war and human rights activism. He has also held elected office, as treasurer of Colorado, and served as head of the Peace Corps and Vista and as U.S. ambassador in Eastern Europe, where he worked with human rights groups in implementing the Helsinki Accords. Brown also was founder of a company that builds low-income housing. Sweatshop.forum.dis.html (March 10, 2000)

Trustees approve resolution to create e-Cornell
ITHACA, N.Y. ---- The Cornell University Board of Trustees has approved a recommendation to create e-Cornell, a legally separate but Cornell-controlled for-profit company to create and market distance learning programs. The board approved the recommendation from President Hunter Rawlings at its regularly scheduled meeting held today (Friday, March 10, 2000), at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art on campus. The vote authorizes the administration to take such steps as are necessary to create e-Cornell, but the resolution does not include any material financial commitment by the university to the new entity. trustees.ecornell.2.html (March 10, 2000)

Three new Liberty Hyde Bailey Professors named in College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell University's New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) has named three new Liberty Hyde Bailey professors. They are: Carl A. Batt, professor food science; Thomas A. Lyson, professor of rural sociology; and Karl J. Niklas, professor of plant biology. In 1972 CALS proposed that a named professorship be established to honor agriculture researcher Liberty Hyde Bailey, and to recognize distinguished faculty in agriculture and related sciences. Since then, a total of 13 Bailey professors have been named. LibertyHyde.bpf.html (March 9, 2000)

Difference between Martian poles is the 'cheese'
ITHACA, N.Y. -- New high-resolution images from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft comparing the ice caps at the red planet's north and south poles show the difference between the two regions is the "cheese." The north polar cap has a relatively flat, pitted surface that resembles cottage cheese, while the south polar cap has larger pits, troughs and flat mesas that give it a Swiss cheese appearance. "Looking like pieces of sliced and broken Swiss cheese, the upper layer of the Martian south polar residual cap has been eroded, leaving flat-topped mesas into which are set circular depressions," says Peter Thomas, a senior researcher with Cornell University's astronomy department and lead author of a paper published today (March 9) in the journal Nature. "Nothing like this has ever been seen anywhere on Mars except within the south polar cap, leading to some speculation that these landforms may have something to do with the carbon dioxide thought to be frozen in the south polar region," says Thomas. Mars.NASA.deb.html (March 9, 2000)

Hillary Clinton to speak on women's leadership at Cornell March 10
ITHACA, N.Y. -- First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton will address issues of women's leadership and her view of women leaders in the 21st century Friday, March 10, in a public lecture in Barton Hall on the Cornell University campus. She is a keynote speaker at the March 10-12 conference, "Cornell Women: Celebrating Leadership," sponsored by the President's Council of Cornell Women (PCCW), in honor of the alumnae group's 10th anniversary. Free tickets have been distributed on campus and in the community and are no longer available. pccw.hillary.advance.html (March 9, 2000)

Cornell trustees to meet in Ithaca March 9 and 10
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell University Board of Trustees will meet in Ithaca March 9 and 10. The board will meet from 9 a to 11:45 a.m. and again from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Friday, March 10, in the Trustee Meeting Room of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art on the Cornell campus. The morning session will be open to the public from 9 to approximately 10 a.m. Topics will include a report from President Hunter Rawlings; a presentation by Ithaca Mayor Alan Cohen; a report on the Student Assembly by assembly President Emanuel Tsourounis, a senior; and an update on the state budget, including proposed statutory college tuition. Trustee.adv.3.00.html (March 6, 2000)

Field refuges prevent moth's resistance to genetic insecticides
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell University scientists have demonstrated that creating a refuge in a crop field reduces the chance of insects developing resistance to transgenic insecticidal plants. Researchers report on their finding in the current (March) issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology. "The whole concept of a refuge really works," says Anthony M. Shelton, Cornell professor of entomology and the lead author on the Nature Biotechnology article. "Before it has been theory, and this is the first demonstration of it in a field situation. This is all about managing resistance, and we found that, yes, it is important to have a refuge and to manage those insects within the refuge carefully." BrocMoth.bpf.html (March 3, 2000)

Cornell's new executive MBA has leadership focus
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The EMBA -- or executive option to the MBA program at Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management -- allows working professionals to earn a master's degree in business administration in just two years, without a break in service from their regular jobs or a loss in salary. The flexibility of the arrangement is extremely appealing to seasoned professionals. Thirty-two enrolled in the first EMBA class last August and are now in their second semester. "We have CFOs, executives from businesses ranging from communication to finance, even a chief cardiac surgeon among us," said Richelle George, a manager of marketing communications with IBM who was an English major as a Harvard undergraduate. "You couldn't ask for a better cross section of colleagues." Exec.MBA.html (March 3, 2000)

Rocco Scanza is first executive director of dispute resolution alliance
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Rocco Scanza, a nationally known mediator who lives in Los Angeles, was appointed the first executive director of the Alliance for Education in Dispute Resolution. The alliance is a national consortium of university and professional dispute resolution programs housed at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR). Scanza simultaneously was named deputy director of the ILR School's Institute on Conflict Resolution and a member of the school's extension faculty. He assumed his new responsibilities Oct. 1, 1999. The alliance was formed in 1999 in response to an explosion in court-ordered mediation and an accompanying demand for trained mediators, or "neutrals," versed in the ins and outs of new employment legislation and other laws. The alliance trains and educates specialized mediators, arbitrators, advocates and fact finders. Alternative dispute resolution is not only used widely by corporations to resolve complex business disputes but is seen by most of them as a more satisfactory process than litigation in the courts, both in terms of cost control and outcome, according to a 1998 survey of 530 top U.S. corporations by Cornell, Price Waterhouse and a conflict resolution group. Scanza.ILR.apptmt.html (March 3, 2000)

Astronomers meet at Arecibo to discuss next-generation radio telescope
ARECIBO, P.R. -- It would be one of the largest scientific instruments ever assembled, a radio telescope composed of perhaps 1,000 antennas spread out over more than 600 miles and costing more than $600 million dollars. And it would make possible high-resolution probes of the outer edges of the universe, giving a window on the evolution of galaxies, the birth and death of stars and a detailed portrait of our own solar system. The global astronomy community has dubbed the new telescope the Square Kilometer Array, or SKA, and it hopes that if funding and technical problems can be overcome, the massive instrument will be focusing its beams on the distant universe within a decade or so. SKA_meeting.deb.html (March 3, 2000)

Biologists' curbside vigil could shed light on 'problem' wildlife
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The vanload of coveralled men begins cruising the suburban neighborhood around the same time the deer do. By 9 p.m., the biologists in the van will have conceded one round in humans' bout with way too many white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in some American communities. They also will have learned a little more about why a once-threatened species came back beyond all expectations and to the consternation of their human neighbors. deer_count.hrs.html (March 2, 2000)

Knight Foundation awards $5 million to Knight Writing Program
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The John S. Knight Writing Program at Cornell University has been awarded a $5 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to strengthen, broaden and extend the outreach of the program. The result of the grant will be to transform the program into the John S. Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines, said Jonathan Monroe, director of the Knight Writing Program, professor of comparative literature and the George Reed Professor of Writing and Rhetoric at Cornell. Knight.Foundation.grant.html (March 2, 2000)

For the first time in 14 years, astronomers spot two 'shepherd' Uranian moons
ITHACA, N.Y. -- One day before the space shuttle Challenger tragedy, Voyager II scientists proudly announced the discovery of two small moons around the planet Uranus. Initially dubbed 1986 U7 and 1986 U8, the moons later officially received the Shakespearean names Cordelia and Ophelia. And in the 14 years since their detection, astronomers have been unable to find them. Until now. Scientists from the University of Arizona, Cornell University and Wellesley College announced today the recovery of Cordelia and Ophelia. This recovery, accomplished by using physical theory and images from the Hubble Space Telescope, confirms, for the first time, the orbits of those Uranian moons, and it gives other astronomers the chance to monitor their travels. The astronomers believe these two moons keep Uranus' thin epsilon ring from gradual radial spreading and eventual dissolution, and thus they are referred to as "shepherd moons." UranusMoons.bpf.html (March 2, 2000)

State award to help prevent abuse, violence and risky behavior among youth
ITHACA, N.Y. -- New York Gov. George E. Pataki has announced a $425,000 state award to the Family Life Development Center (FLDC) of Cornell University, in collaboration with the University of Rochester Division of Adolescent Medicine and the Upstate Center for School Safety, to administer a component of the Assets Coming Together (ACT) for Youth program. The overall program is focused on preventing abuse, violence and risky behavior among New York's youth. Cornell's portion, which is part of $2.6 million in state awards to community-based organizations and local governments, is one of two Centers of Excellence in the program. ACT.youth.ssl.html (March 1, 2000)

Faculty-student panel to discuss National Summit on Africa, March 1 on campus
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Africana Studies and Research Center at Cornell University will host a panel discussion titled "The National Summit on Africa" Wednesday, March 1, at 4:30 p.m. in the Hoyt Fuller Room of the center, 310 N. Triphammer Road. The public is invited to attend. The panelists will include six faculty members and five students who served as part of the New York delegation to the five-day National Summit on Africa in Washington, D.C., Feb. 16-20. africa.summit.rel.html (March 1, 2000)

$490,000 for Central Europe Initiative promoting human, agricultural and environmental development
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Alfred Jurzykowski Foundation has presented Cornell University's International Agriculture Program (IAP) with a six-year, $490,002 gift for the program's Central Europe Initiative. The gift will help the program improve human, agricultural and environmental development in that region. "Central Europe is a very important region of the world that is quickly becoming part of the larger European economic community," says James Haldemann, director of IAP, which is a program in Cornell's New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. "As Central European countries complete the major economic transition to a free market economy and become potential trade partners, we can help those countries become better prepared for trade." CentralEurope.bpf.html (March 1, 2000)

Mother of anti-gay murder victim Matthew Shepard lectures March 7 in Bailey Hall
ITHACA, N.Y. -- In October 1998, Judy Shepard lost her 21-year-old son to a murder inspired by anti-gay hatred. Matthew Shepard, a student at the University of Wyoming, died five days after his skull was smashed with a pistol butt and he was lashed to a fence outside Laramie, Wyo., in near-freezing temperatures. Two 21-year-old men were charged and later convicted of his murder. On March 7, Judy Shepard will deliver a lecture titled "The Legacy of Matthew Shepard" at 8 p.m. in Bailey Hall on the Cornell University campus. Tickets for the lecture are free and open to the public and will be available beginning March 2 on campus at the Willard Straight Hall ticket office and the Robert Purcell Community Center and Noyes Community Center service desks and in downtown Ithaca at the Clinton House, 116 N. Cayuga St. A question-and-answer session will follow the lecture. Shepard's appearance is sponsored by the Cornell University Program Board. Matthew.Shepard.mother.html (March 1, 2000)

The snowiest place in the Northeast this season might be É Rochester?
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Will Rochester, N.Y., beat out perennial favorite Caribou, Maine, as the snowiest city in the Northeast this year? It could happen, according to statistics provided by the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University. Rochester had seen 91.5 inches of snow through Feb. 27, while snowmobile haven Caribou had a paltry 87.2 inches of snow through the same period. For Rochester, this plethora of precipitation is 15.5 inches above their normal snowfall accumulation through February, and their statistically expected snowfall for the rest of the season would be about 17.3 inches, says Keith Eggleston, a senior climatologist at the center. NRCC.SnowTotals.bpf.html (March 1, 2000)

Ag biotech is topic for Rockefeller Foundation President Gordon Conway talk at Genomics Colloquium
ITHACA, N.Y. --Gordon Conway, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, will speak on "Biotechnology: Challenges and Opportunities for Global Agriculture" when he addresses the Cornell Genomics Colloquium on Friday, March 10, at 10 a.m. in the G-10 conference room of the Biotechnology Building on the Cornell University campus. The talk by Conway, author of the recently released book, The Doubly Green Revolution: Food for All in the 21st Century, is free and open to the public. rockefeller_conway.hrs.html (March 1, 2000)

Memorial service for physicist Robert R. Wilson is March 11 in Sage Chapel
ITHACA, N.Y. -- A memorial service for Robert Rathbun Wilson, professor of physics emeritus at Cornell University, is set for Saturday, March 11, at 2 p.m. in Sage Chapel, Cornell University. An informal reception in the Memorial Room of Willard Straight Hall will follow the service. Wilson, the experimental physicist who designed some of the world's most powerful particle accelerators used to study the fundamental nature of matter, died Jan 16 at home in Ithaca. The former director of the Cornell Laboratory of Nuclear Studies and of the Enrico Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) was 85. Wilson_memorial.hrs.html (March 1, 2000)