Cornell University News Service Releases

May, 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.

Jim Roberts named editor and publisher of Cornell Magazine
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Jim Roberts, a 1971 Cornell University graduate and a third-generation Cornellian with 20 years of experience in the publishing industry, has been named editor and publisher of Cornell Magazine. He succeeds David Gibson, who became managing editor of Yankee in April. "We received applications from numerous people who have outstanding professional skills, but Jim was the only one who had that extra Cornell dimension," said Larry Eisen, head of the committee that hired Roberts. "His management skills are well-suited to the job. He's delightful to work with, and he has a good sense of humor. He'll be a pleasure to have as an addition to the staff." CU.Magazine.editor.html (May 31, 2000)

Morning sickness protects mother and child
ITHACA, N.Y. -- As unpleasant as it is, the nausea and vomiting of "morning sickness" experienced by two-thirds of pregnant women is Mother Nature's way of protecting mothers and fetuses from food-borne illness and also shielding the fetus from chemicals that can deform fetal organs at the most critical time in development. That is the conclusion of two Cornell University evolutionary biologists who examined the outcomes of thousands of successful and unsuccessful pregnancies. In the latest issue of The Quarterly Review of Biology (Vol. 75, No. 2, pp. 113-148, June 2000), Samuel M. Flaxman and Paul W. Sherman report that NVP (for nausea and vomiting in pregnancy, as morning sickness is known in medical terms) serves a beneficial function. The finding helps explain why many pregnant women develop an aversion to meats, as well as to certain vegetables and caffeinated beverages, in early pregnancy and prefer bland-tasting foods instead. morning.sickness.hrs.html (May 31, 2000)

Spiders get better web sites by rising early
ITHACA, N.Y. --T he early spider catches the web site. Researchers at the University of Cincinnati and Cornell University have discovered how large female spiders in colonies are able to claim enough territory to rebuild their daily webs in the face of competition from other large spiders and smaller ones. The researchers assumed they would observe belligerent behavior every day as the spiders fought for space. Not so. Instead they found that large spiders in colonies use the time-honored capitalist technique of getting to market first. Spider.bpf.html (May 31, 2000)

Mellon Foundation funds online math archive
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell University Library is the recipient of a $750,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for a three-year project to create an online repository for mathematics and statistics publications. Titled "Project Euclid," its primary mission is to support the transition of independent mathematics and statistics journals to the online environment. Independent journals have long been very important as an affordable means of disseminating high-quality research in theoretical and applied mathematics and statistics. The majority of these journals, however, have faced economic tensions and technical hurdles in making a transition to a web-based publication. Project Euclid will help publishers of independent mathematics journals by creating an infrastructure that will empower them to publish on the World Wide Web, create economies of scale and increase their visibility by a combined online presence. Mellon.Release.html (May 30, 2000)

Body of Cornell student is recovered from Fall Creek
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The body of Jun Wang, a freshman engineering student at Cornell University, was recovered from Fall Creek Friday, May 26. Wang, 18, was last seen in his residence hall at 2 a.m. May 19. He was reported missing to Cornell police that evening. Wang.obit.html (May 30, 2000)

NEAR shows Eros is relic of solar system birth
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Shortly before the Memorial Day weekend, NASA's mission to orbit and study a distant asteroid presented researchers with a glimpse of the birth of the solar system. The spacecraft orbiting the asteroid Eros nearly 100 million miles from Earth was, for the first time, able to reveal, through a brief "snapshot," the chemical composition of an asteroid. And the data indicate that Eros is a primitive relic of the emergence of the solar system from a cloud of gas and dust. Near.Squyres.deb.html (May 30, 2000)

Sheila Hemami wins Eta Kappa Nu teaching award
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Sheila S. Hemami, assistant professor and Kodak Term Professor of Electrical Engineering at Cornell University, is the winner of the 2000 C. Holmes MacDonald Outstanding Teaching Award from Eta Kappa Nu, the national electrical and computer engineering honor society. The award is given annually to an outstanding young electrical engineering educator. Selection is made by a national jury of prominent educators. Hemami.awards.deb.html (May 25, 2000)

How stress maintains population levels
ITHACA, N.Y. -- A continent-wide network of bird-feeding enthusiasts have helped researchers at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology prove a long-standing theory that a naturally occurring disease can regulate a wildlife population. The findings, from a study of mycoplasmal conjunctivitis in house finches (Carpodacus mexicanus) that was published May 2, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could give scientists insight into the dynamics of other host/disease systems as well, including an epidemic currently affecting fish in the Chesapeake Bay -- and possibly even AIDS. house_finch_disease.hrs.html (May 25, 2000)

"Kids Growing Food" program funds school gardens
ITHACA, N.Y. -- In this shrink-wrapped, vacuum-packed, pre-cooked world, Cornell University is striving to keep a strong agricultural connection active in the minds of 21st century children. The university's Agriculture in the Classroom program has developed the New York "Kids Growing Foods" school-garden program, and this spring grants are being awarded to 34 elementary schools in the state to establish or maintain these gardens. "We're teaching children that food grows from the ground, it just doesn't come from a grocery store," says Margaret Barker, a program coordinator. "New York state is encouraging teachers to be more hands-on, and there's nothing more hands-on than a garden. Building a garden is a real-life experience." KidsGrowingFood.bpf.html (May 24, 2000)

Program on ethics and public life gets new director and new initiatives
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Michele Moody-Adams, a moral philosopher who works on contemporary ethical issues in law, politics, class, race and gender, as well as on theoretical issues in moral objectivity and moral psychology, has been appointed the Hutchinson Professor and Director of the Program on Ethics and Public Life at Cornell University. A search committee, chaired by Vice Provost Mary Sansalone and consisting of faculty members from five of Cornell's colleges, as well as the Program on Ethics and Public Life, unanimously endorsed the selection. ethics.moody.adams.shue.html (May 22, 2000)

Female cats that spray are recruited for treatment trial at veterinary college
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Animal-behavior experts at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine are looking for a few good cats with one irksome habit -- spraying. Female cats that spray, that meet the criteria for the study and whose owners live within driving distance of Ithaca will receive a full medical exam, including urinalysis and X-rays, and two months' worth of two different anti-anxiety drugs. In return, their owners are asked to keep a diary of the cats' spraying behavior for 10 weeks and to pay a nominal fee ($14) to help with record-keeping costs of the study. spray_cats.hrs.html (May 22, 2000)

Board of Trustees to meet May 26-27 in Ithaca
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell University Board of Trustees will meet in Ithaca on Friday, May 26, and Saturday, May 27. The Executive Committee of the board will hold a brief open session at the start of its meeting at 3:30 p.m. Friday, May 26, in the Pennsylvania Room of the Statler Hotel on campus. The open session will include a discussion of the 2000-2001 financial plan for the statutory colleges. Trustee.adv.html (May 22, 2000)

Search is underway for missing student
ITHACA, N.Y. -- A search is under way for an 18-year-old Cornell University student who has been reported missing since May 19. Jun Wang, a freshman engineering student, was last seen in his residence hall, Class of '18 Hall on West Campus, at about 2 a.m. on May 19. He was reported missing to Cornell police at approximately 6 p.m. that evening. Wang.missingstudent.html (May 21, 2000)

Rodney Dietert named director of Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors (BCERF) program
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Rodney R. Dietert, professor of immunotoxicology in the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, has been named director of the Program on Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors (BCERF) at Cornell. He replaces June Fessenden-MacDonald, founding director of the program that addresses the relationship between environmental risk factors and breast cancer through a variety of research and education strategies. Fessenden-MacDonald is retiring from the university as an associate professor of molecular biology and genetics. BCERF_Dietert.hrs.html (May 18, 2000)

Roger A. Morse, who championed the art and science of beekeeping, dies at 72
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Roger A. Morse, a Cornell University entomology professor who brought the science of apiculture to the practice of beekeeping, died May 12 in Ithaca. He was 72. For a half century, Morse championed professional and amateur beekeeping. His books became necessities for a beekeeper's shelf, and his seminal The Complete Guide to Beekeeping became an instant classic in the field and evolved through four editions. OBIT.Morse.bpf.html (May 18, 2000)

Cornell designers win 5K webcontest
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Out of about 1,200 international contestants, the Cornell University Web Production Group of Media and Technology Services came in first place in a contest sponsored by Sylloge.com for designing the best "low-fat" web site. Web pages entered could be no larger than 5 kilobytes in size. Typical pages weigh in at around 100K; 5K is roughly the size of a regular e-mail file. Though the contest was for single pages, Cornell's group created an entire web site in the allotted file size. webdesign.winners.ssl.html (May 18, 2000)

Law professor Kathryn Abrams is honored for motivating Law School women
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Kathryn Abrams, professor of law at Cornell University's Law School and a nationally recognized scholar on feminist jurisprudence, has been named the winner of the 2000 Anne Lukingbeal Award. The Lukingbeal annual award, which was presented to Abrams in April of this year, was established in 1999 by the Women's Law Coalition (WLC), a student group at the Law School. Its members created the award to celebrate those who have contributed to the positive experience of women at the Law School. In doing so, they also hoped to create an enduring tribute to Anne Lukingbeal, an associate dean and dean of students at the school who was also the first winner, in 1999. Abrams.Lukingbeal.html (May 17, 2000)

Journalists offered a chance to genetically modify an organism at Cornell workshop
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Step away from the pen, holster up a gene gun, and give your readers, viewers and listeners something they can chew on: Your very own genetically modified organism. Journalists and editors are invited to splice, dice, graft, mix and match genes at a workshop, "Genetically Modified Organisms: Promise and Perils," which features hands-on laboratory demonstrations of the latest techniques used in genetic engineering. The sixth annual Josephine L. Hopkins Foundation science workshop for journalists will be held at Cornell University June 22-24. HopkinsADV.bpf.html (May 17, 2000)

Conference to examine polymer technology
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The materials and technology of the 21st century will be under examination when a major industrial research conference, the 11th annual Polymer Outreach Program symposium, is held at Cornell University May 22 and 23. The symposium, organized by the Cornell Center for Materials Research, is free and open to all participants. Registration is from 8 to 8:30 a.m., May 22, at 700 Clark Hall. polymer.outreach.deb.html (May 17, 2000)

Nanofabricated 'gel' separates DNA
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Researchers have long sought to create a "laboratory on a chip" that could greatly speed up the process of DNA sequencing. That goal has come a step closer with the announcement that Cornell University researchers have built and tested a nanofabricated device that can separate DNA fragments by length. The silicon-based device performs the same function as the cumbersome gel electrophoresis process biologists now use but in as little as 15 to 30 minutes, rather than the 12 to 24 hours the gel process typically requires. It also can be more precisely controlled, the researchers say. DNAseparator.ws.html (May 16, 2000)

Workshop on genetic modification research
The organizers of the Hopkins workshop believe that in order for journalists to write about the biological impacts of genetically modified organisms, it is helpful for them to have an understanding of the genetic basis of the modified trait and its effect on the host organism, the agricultural system -- and the consumer. Thus, in the laboratory sessions, participants will be given a grounding in plant molecular and population genetics. They will be exposed to: (1) characterizing and tracking agriculturally useful genes using genomic technologies, and (2) processing and analyzing DNA sequence and genetic information using tools of bioinformatics. The workshop will cover three basic areas of the field of genetic modification: basic science, future applications and the political and social issues involved in the increasing use of the technology. Speakers will include Cornell researchers in molecular biology, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, nanobiotechnology, economics and food safety. Hopkins.adv.deb.html (May 11, 2000)

Archaeologist's book on Croesus' gold site
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell University archaeologist Andrew Ramage was a Harvard University graduate student when he struck gold at an excavation site in Sardis, Turkey, in 1968. Ramage's detective work led to a one-of-a-kind discovery: a gold refinery that belonged to legendary Lydian emperor King Croesus, the world's first "millionaire." The finding was hailed around the world at the time and proved a major public relations coup for the Cornell-Harvard Sardis expedition, of which Ramage was a member. But the final chapter on the subject stubbornly eluded completion -- until now. Recently released, King Croesus' Gold: Excavations at Sardis and the History of Gold Refining (distributed by Harvard University Press) is the definitive text, if not the final word, on this singular event and its historical implications. Ramage.Gold.release.html (May 11, 2000)

Parking garage closing for summer repairs and maintenance
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell University's 13-year-old parking garage, on Hoy Road next to Schoellkopf Field, will undergo a long-planned maintenance and repair project this summer. Work is scheduled to begin May 30 and continue through Aug. 17. The garage will be closed to all pedestrian and vehicle traffic during this time. A number of temporary parking provisions are being offered by Cornell's Transportation and Mail Services division to accommodate parking garage permit holders displaced by the project, including reserving the metered lot east of the Field House and constructing a temporary lot at the south end of Hoy Field for "G" lot parking. Parking.garage.html (May 10, 2000)

Phenomenon, Cornell's step team, reaches new Dimensions
ITHACA, N.Y. -- It's a good thing that Tiffany Matthew and her teammates have energy to burn. It's Phenomenon's turn at the Ujamaa talent show at Cornell University's Robert Purcell Student Union March 10, and several hundred fans of Cornell's one and only step squad are waiting to be amazed. "Pheh-nah«-meh-nahn, pheh-nah«-meh-nahn," the chant that ushers in the team of dancer-athletes begins slowly, gaining steam as they reach the small platform stage in the front of the Multipurpose Room and take their places. Dwane Morgan, head choreographer, gives the countdown, 10-3-2-1, and wham! they're into their first number, "No Sweat," a misnomer if ever there was one. The workout is so strenuous that by the time it's over, the team's performers are dripping in perspiration. Step, if you've never seen it, is a complex, rapid-fire series of freshly inventive movements that incorporate African-inspired rhythms and hard-hitting body percussion. The hand clapping and body slapping can get so fierce that some performers actually pop small blood vessel in their palms. It's also exhilarating to watch -- and do. Step.team.html (May 10, 2000)

Teatrotaller production triumphs in Belgium, heads to Mexico in July
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Teatrotaller, which means theater workshop in Spanish, offers the members of Cornell University's and Ithaca, New York's sizeable Spanish-speaking communities, an estimated 2,500 on and off campus, a chance to see and take part in high quality Hispanic theater. Founded in l993, Teatrotaller has since performed 17 full-scale, professional quality productions and has 45 active members, nearly all of them students or recent graduates of Cornell. The plays, usually three a year, in November, April-May and July-August, are by Spanish, Latin-American and U.S. Latino and Latina playwrights. Some students who participate in Teatrotaller's Spanish-speaking productions get course credit for their involvement. Teatrotaller.PR.html (May 10, 2000)

Cowbirds' winning songs reflect brainpower
ITHACA, N.Y. -- While ornithologists consider cowbirds the parasites of the bird world -- commandeering the nests of other birds, hoarding their food and causing starvation -- Cornell University behavioral researchers know these songbirds have a redeeming quality: They carry an important, evolutionary tune. Like the Mick Jaggers of music, male cowbirds attract females by strutting their masculine feather colors or by their singing ability. But the Cornell scientists have found that both songs and mating rituals correlate with the size of the cowbird brain. Cowbirds.bpf.html (May 9, 2000)

Accountability makes for better decisions
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Is there a way to get people to make workplace decisions using "just the facts," rather than their own biases? Yes, with some caveats, say the authors of a new study comparing auditors and salespeople. The study, by J. Edward Russo, Margaret G. Meloy and T. Jeffrey Wilks, shows that auditors are much less likely to distort new information when they make decisions than salespeople, who are drilled to believe in themselves and their message. Neither group is able to make completely unbiased decisions, however. And when salespeople are held more accountable for their decisions by supervisors, they are likely to shed their biases, whereas auditors' decisions don't improve with more accountability. Russo.paper.html (May 9, 2000)

Cornell University and Weill Medical College professors named Sloan fellows
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Two faculty members at Cornell University in Ithaca and two members of the New York-Weill-Cornell Medical Center faculty in New York City have been selected to receive Sloan Foundation Research Fellowships, the foundation has announced. The new fellows are: Piet W. Brouwer, assistant professor of physics, and H. Floyd Davis, assistant professor of chemistry and chemical biology, both at Cornell in Ithaca; and Jon S. Thorson, assistant professor in the programs of pharmacology and in biochemistry and structural biology at Weill-Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences and assistant member in pharmacology at the Sloan-Kettering Institute (SKI), and Gero Miesenbock, assistant professor in the programs of cell biology and genetics and in neuroscience at Weill-Cornell Graduate School and assistant member in cellular biochemistry and biophysics at SKI. sloan.fellows.deb.html (May 9, 2000)

Astronomer Martha Haynes elected to National Academy of Sciences
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Martha P. Haynes, professor of astronomy at Cornell University, has been elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Her election brings to 41 the number of Cornell faculty members in the NAS. Election to the academy, a private organization dedicated to the furtherance of science and its use for the general welfare, is considered one of the highest honors for a U.S. scientist or engineer. Haynes.NAS.deb.html (May 5, 2000)

Artist, activist Jolivette Anderson to give public performances and lectures
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Jolivette Anderson, an African-American activist, poet, performance artist, teacher and youth leader will visit Cornell University and present "Inspired by the Movement," dramatic works and a lecture that celebrate the history and legacy of the civil rights movement. Anderson's dramatic performances and talks are among several events taking place during her two-day visit to Ithaca and Cornell on Friday, May 5, and Saturday, May 6. On May 5, Anderson will lead an after-school drama workshop at the Greater Ithaca Activities Center (GIAC). Approximately 60 youth involved in GIAC's after-school programs are expected to participate. jolivette.release.html (May 5, 2000)

David W. Butler nominated to serve as dean of Cornell Hotel School
ITHACA, N.Y. -- David W. Butler, who has served as associate dean of executive education at Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration since 1993, has been nominated by President Hunter Rawlings to become the school's next dean, Rawlings announced today (May 4, 2000). The Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees will vote on the nomination at its May 26 meeting in Ithaca. Butler.hotel.dean.html (May 4, 2000)

Radar shows giant, bone-shaped asteroid
ARECIBO, P.R. -- Astronomers using the world's most powerful radar system, the massive Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico, have obtained radar images of a giant, dog bone-shaped asteroid, an apparent leftover from an ancient, violent cosmic collision. The new radar images are the first ever made of an asteroid in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter. The asteroid, named 216 Kleopatra, measures about 217 kilometers (135 miles) long and about 94 kilometers (58 miles) wide, roughly the size of the state of New Jersey. Its strong reflection of radar signals and its coloring indicate it is mostly metal, possibly nickel-iron alloy. Kleopatra was discovered in 1880, but until now its shape was unknown. Arecibo.Kleopatra.deb.html (May 3, 2000)

Chemists' play "Oxygen" to open in S.F.
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Combine the literary talents of two renowned chemists with a passion for theater and the result is "Oxygen," a two-act play by Carl Djerassi and Roald Hoffmann that is set for 10 performances at the Eureka Theatre Company in San Francisco, through May 14. Directed by Andrea Gordon, "Oxygen" is a fully staged professional workshop production at the same theatre where Tony Kushner's "Angels in America" began. Hoffmann, a Nobel laureate in chemistry and the Frank H.T. Rhodes Professor in Humane Letters at Cornell University, and Djerassi, professor of chemistry at Stanford University, best known as developer of the oral contraceptive pill, describe "Oxygen" as "a play about priority and competition in science and the moral consequences of these ... about the discovery of oxygen and revolutions, chemical and political ... and it is about the Nobel Prize." oxygen.release.html (May 3, 2000)

Ornithology Lab's 'Sapsuckers' expect to capture May 13 World Series of Birding
ITHACA, N.Y. -- New York's other World Series team, the Sapsuckers from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, are scanning the skies of the Garden State in hopes that 2000 will be the year they finally take top honors in the World Series of Birding, scheduled for Saturday, May 13, in New Jersey. After preliminary scouting missions, the Sapsuckers will compete against some of birding's best to see which team can identify the most species by sight and sound during 24 hours starting at midnight. WSB_2000.hrs.html (May 3, 2000)

Housework is as tough today as 60 years ago
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Despite the latest electronic, ergonomic and timesaving devices to aid housework, the most tiring household tasks are still scrubbing and mopping the floors, just as they were more than 60 years ago, according to a new Cornell University study. Tidying up, vacuuming and doing laundry also rank in the top five most tiring tasks, says Alan Hedge, professor of design and environmental analysis at Cornell and director of Cornell's Human Factors and Ergonomics Laboratory. He recently conducted an ergonomic survey of household tasks and products with Cornell student Michele Marut for her graduate thesis. housework.ergonomics.ssl.html (May 2, 2000)

Groundbreaking set for phase II of ILR complex
ITHACA, N.Y. -- A groundbreaking ceremony Thursday, May 4, to mark the beginning of Phase II of the reconstruction of Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) complex, is expected to draw 150 people - government officials, project leaders, administrators, faculty and students. The ceremony will take place from 1:30 to 3 p.m. in the lower (west) quadrangle of the ILR building complex at Cornell and is open to the media. In attendance will be state Assemblyman Martin A. Luster (D-125th), Henrik N. Dullea, vice president for university relations at Cornell, representatives of the State University Construction Fund, architectural team members from Herbert Beckhard & Frank Richlan, Architects, and project contractors. The project is anticipated to be completed in three years and will cost $19.8 million, most of it already allocated by the State of New York. Phase I of the project, which involved the construction of a new ILR teaching facility and Catherwood Library on Tower Road, was completed in 1998. ILRGroundbreaking.html (May 2, 2000)

Ithaca Breast Cancer Alliance's 'Cards that Care' fund-raiser is May 1-5
ITHACA, N.Y. -- From Monday, May 1, through Thursday, May 4, the Cornell Women's Resource Center will hold its annual "Cards that Care" fund-raiser to support the Ithaca Breast Cancer Alliance (IBCA) and its efforts to increase education and advocacy for people affected by breast cancer in Tompkins County and the surrounding area. The cards, commemorating Mother's Day, will be sold for $3 each day on Ho Plaza, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and at the Noyes and Robert Purcell Community Centers on campus, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. In addition, cards will be sold off campus at Collegetown Bagels on College Avenue, The Oak, Harvest Deli and the Women's Community Building. Cards.that.Care.html (May 1, 2000)