Cornell University News Service Releases
June, 2001
Index to all months
Index to all monthsFor the full text of any story, click on the headline. Electronic queries may be made to cunews@cornell.edu.
Two graduate students receive three-year Semiconductor Research Corp. fellowships
Two Cornell University graduate students have received generous graduate fellowships from the Semiconductor Research Corp. (SRC), the microchip industry's long-term research consortium. Leonard Harris, a second-year graduate student in chemical engineering, and Christianto Chih-Ching Liu, in his second year of study in electrical and computer engineering, each will receive complete funding for their tuition and fees and a living stipend for up to three years of study. Both are pursuing doctoral degrees at Cornell. (June 29, 2001)
Barbara Baird, leading investigator of allergic reactions, named director of Nanobiotechnology Center
Barbara Baird, a leading researcher in the allergic immune response system at the molecular level, has been named director of Cornell University's Nanobiotechnology Center (NBTC). She succeeds Harold Craighead, who has been named interim dean of the Cornell College of Engineering. The appointment is effective July 1. Baird, who has been a full professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Cornell since 1991, says she hopes to bring to the NBTC a combination of steady progress in those systems that are well understood with bold experimentation in riskier areas. "We have the latitude to do risky things while moving ahead more slowly on the solid parts. I think that's critical in providing the best possible contribution to biology," she said. (June 29, 2001)
Ugandan Prime Minister Apolo Nsibambi to speak July 2
Apolo Nsibambi, prime minister of the Republic of Uganda, will speak at Cornell University at noon Monday, July 2, in the Founder's Room of Anabel Taylor Hall. His talk is titled "Ugandan Elections of March 2001: Political and Constitutional Significance." It is free and open to the public and will be followed by a reception. Nsibambi was education minister of Uganda from May 1998 until April 1999, when he was named prime minister by President Yoweri Museveni, in a cabinet reshuffle. Museveni, a former guerrilla leader, was elected president of Uganda in 1996 but has been in power since 1986 in the East African country, which borders on Kenya and Rwanda. As president he launched a sweeping privatization program that has been hailed by international lenders as an economic success story but criticized for fostering corrupt practices. Nsibambi's appointment was intended to help rout out corruption. (June 28, 2001)
Agreement between Cornell and UAW Local 2300 is ratified
United Auto Workers Local 2300 and Cornell University today announced that the union, which represents more than 1,075 Cornell service and maintenance employees, has ratified a new, four-year agreement with the university, following several weeks of bargaining. The current agreement will expire June 30, 2001. "We believe the agreement is fair and equitable for both parties and that it addresses several issues which will allow our relationship with the university to continue to move forward and be a model for other organizations," said Scott Montani, UAW International representative. Brian Goodell, newly elected president of UAW Local 2300, said: "I look forward to developing my local union leadership team and working with managers and supervisors in a spirit of joint problem-solving." (June 28, 2001)
China Study II: Western diet might bring Western disease
The long-term health benefits to Chinese and other Asian people who have traditionally existed on a primarily plant-based diet might be lost as more people in Asia switch to a Western-style diet that is rich in animal-based foods. That conclusion is being drawn by some scientists after reviewing results from the latest survey of diets, lifestyles and disease mortality among Chinese populations -- this one comparing current dietary habits in Taiwan and mainland China -- and measuring them against a time when fewer meat and dairy products were available in rural China. (June 28, 2001)
New York Weill Cornell's Rare GEM Program Makes Homes Livable for the Elderly
New York, NY (June 2001) -- It doesn't take much imagination to see that preventing falls, brightening dark and depressing spaces, and generally making environments habitable can be among the most important elements for improving the health of the elderly. So perhaps the only thing surprising about Project GEM (Gerontologic Environmental Modification) in the Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology at New York Weill Cornell Medical Center is its uniqueness. It is the only Hospital-based program of its kind around.GEM has a dedicated leader, a research associate named Rosemary Bakker, who was an interior designer until her mother's experience with a hip fracture awakened her to a pressing need. Ms. Bakker got a graduate degree in gerontology; wrote a book, Elderdesign: Designing and Furnishing a Home for Your Later Years (1997); and connected with Dr. Mark Lachs, Co-Chief of Weill Cornell's Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology and a nationally renowned authority in geriatric medicine. Now, with Weill Cornell as her base, Ms. Bakker conducts research, gives talks, and organizes forums and task forces -- all with the aim of identifying what elders need in their environment and how it can be supplied.
How technology affects telecommunications workplace
The telecommunications services industry continues to undergo major technological changes affecting the nature of work, skills, training and income in a commercial sector vital to the international competitiveness of the U.S. economy. In order to further analyze the consequences of technological changes on employees within this sector, two professors in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University have launched a follow-up study funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The original study, also funded through the Sloan Foundation, was completed in 1999. Titled "The Impact of Technological Change on Work, Skills, Training and Income in Telecommunications Services," the latest study will continue under the direction of Harry Katz, professor of collective bargaining, and Rosemary Batt, assistant professor of human resource studies. Jeffrey H. Keefe, an associate professor at Rutgers University who received his Cornell doctorate in 1987, worked on the original study with Katz and will serve as a field research consultant. The core of the previous study was a survey of roughly 600 telecommunications firms and focused on employee incomes. (June 26, 2001)
Americans, Chinese have different childhood memories
How American adults and preschool children recall their personal memories are consistently different from the way indigenous Chinese do, finds a Cornell University developmental psychologist. These cultural differences are important, she says, "because how we remember personal experiences has a profound impact on our self and identity." "Americans often report lengthy, specific, emotionally elaborate memories that focus on the self as a central character," says Qi Wang, an assistant professor of human development at Cornell. "Chinese tend to give brief accounts of general routine events that center on collective activities and are often emotionally neutral. These individual-focused vs. group-oriented styles characterize the mainstream values in American and Chinese cultures, respectively." (June 26, 2001)
Janet Reno and Bill Nye appointed visiting professors
Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and science educator Bill Nye have been appointed Frank H.T. Rhodes Class of '56 Professors at Cornell University beginning July 1. The professorships are awarded for a period of one to five years, and appointees are considered full members of the Cornell faculty. Nye and Reno each will serve three-year appointments. During each year of their appointments, Rhodes professors visit the campus for a minimum of two weeks. (June 21, 2001)
X-ray crystallography at Advanced Photon Source
A Cornell University-led research group comprising 25 faculty members from six institutions has been awarded a $19.6 million, five-year grant by the National Institutes of Health to build a structural biology research facility at Argonne National Laboratory's Advanced Photon Source (APS). The amount of the first year's grant is $4.6 million. The scientists believe that the results of their research will have an important impact on human health care, pharmaceutical development and biotechnology. The goal is to apply the techniques of X-ray crystallography --- firing a beam of X-rays through a crystallized protein sample to determine its structure -- to the causes and treatments of human disease, including cancers and diseases of the immune system. Areas that will be investigated include cell-cycle regulation, DNA transcription, initiation and regulation, the structure and function of viruses and enzymes, and protein folding. (June 21, 2001)
Kent L. Hubbell is named Cornell's dean of students
Kent L. Hubbell, the Nathaniel and Margaret Owings Professor of Architecture, has been named Cornell University's dean of students, Susan H. Murphy, vice president for student and academic services, announced today (June 19). Hubbell, who has been actively involved in student life on campus, including the university's Residential Life Initiative, replaces John L. Ford as the Robert W. and Elizabeth C. Staley Dean of Students. Ford resigned in January to become vice president and dean of campus life at Emory University. (June 21, 2001)
Cornell's energy-efficient cooling and heating systems win major awards
Two organizations have honored Cornell University's Utilities Department for its energy technology and efficiency in supplying heating and cooling to a university community of nearly 30,000 people using environmentally sound methods. The university's Lake Source Cooling (LSC) project, which was launched in 1994 and began operating in 2000, was honored June 8 by the New York State Society of Professional Engineers (NYSSPE) as the society's outstanding engineering achievement of the year at a reception in Manhattan. LSC uses cold water from Cayuga Lake to cool a separate water supply that is pumped to the Cornell campus and circulated to cool campus buildings. Cornell's chilled-water cooling and its steam heating also have been named District Energy System of the Year by the International District Energy Association (IDEA). The award was presented at the IDEA's annual conference and trade show in Las Vegas June 19. Last year's winner of the award was Consolidated Edison Co.'s steam business unit in New York City. (June 21, 2001)
Cornell and Newfield grad Susanna Throop wins Gates-Cambridge Scholarship to study in England
N.Y. -- Susanna Throop, a May 2000 graduate of Cornell University's College of Arts and Sciences and a 1996 graduate of Newfield High School, has been awarded the prestigious Gates-Cambridge Trust Scholarship inaugurated this year. Throop will pursue a three-year doctoral degree in history at Cambridge University beginning in September of this year. "I am, of course, immensely grateful for the scholarship -- I would be unable to study at Cambridge without it," said Throop, a double major in history and English who received several prestigious awards while at Cornell. "One thing about the Gates-Cambridge Scholarship that struck me from the beginning was the emphasis placed on finding and funding people with specific academic and professional goals that focus on making a real contribution to society." (June 18, 2001)
Graduate student Ricky Soong to attend annual meeting of Nobel laureates
Cornell University graduate student Ricky K. Soong has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to attend the 51st convention of Nobel laureates in Lindau, Germany, June 25-29. Soong was among 31 researchers working on DOE-funded research projects at U.S. universities, national laboratories and other federal facilities selected to attend the meeting, which will focus on physics. (June 18, 2001)
Board of Trustees Executive Committee to meet June 21
The Cornell University Board of Trustees Executive Committee will meet in New York City Thursday, June 21. The meeting will be held in the Fall Creek Room of the Cornell Club of New York, E. 44th St. (June 14, 2001)
Instruments in Cayuga Lake help monitor water quality
If professors at the southern end of one of upstate New York's Finger Lakes furtively check their computers, then cancel class and go sailing -- blame
Potato variety sent to Russia to stave off potato crisis
WARSAW, Poland --Russia is teetering on the brink of a large-scale potato crisis ignited by the same virulent, fungal-like pathogen, Phytophthora infestans, more commonly called late blight, that was responsible for the 19th century Irish potato famine. But there is hope in the form of a blight-resistant potato variety, New York 121, which Cornell University scientists have provided to Russia for testing in the hopes of preventing food shortages. Currently, Cornell's CEEM program is the only non-Russian group actively trying to resolve the Russian potato problems. (June 13, 2001)
CONTOUR will show surface 'fingerprint' of comet nucleus
Instruments aboard a spacecraft that will be launched next year to explore two, and perhaps three or more, comets in the solar system will for the first time provide a "fingerprint" of the surface of cometary nuclei, giving the first firm evidence of the composition of the icy, rocky objects. About 50 of the world's leading comet experts, meeting at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass., recently, were told that the spacecraft's infrared imaging spectroscopy will map the composition of the nucleus of comet Encke at a resolution of 100 meters to 200 meters (109 to 218 yards), detailed enough to see craters and other large geologic features and to determine their composition. (June 13, 2001)
Three college deans are reappointed
Cornell University Provost Biddy Martin today (June 7) announced the reappointment of three college deans. Martin said she has recommended the reappointment of Edward J. Lawler, dean of the School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR); Robert J. Swieringa, the Anne and Elmer Lindseth Dean of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management (JGSM); and Donald F. Smith, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM). The appointments, which are for five years beginning July 1, 2002, will be forwarded to the Executive Committee of the Cornell Board of Trustees. (June 8, 2001)
Gene Therapy Pioneer Ronald Crystal to Open "Cancer Biology" Media Workshop in NYC
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Ronald G. Crystal, M.D., professor of genetic medicine and director of the Institute for Genetic Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, will be the opening speaker at a day-long media workshop, "Cancer Biology: From Research to Recovery," in New York City, June 21. Crystal is one of the world's leading authorities on what he describes as "using genes as drugs."Crystal's major research interests concern a new technique for transferring genes to specific organs in the body. The technology has opened a broad range of therapeutic possibilities for the treatment of hereditary and acquired diseases, including cancers, pulmonary disease, and cardiovascular disease. Crystal's laboratory at New York Weill Cornell Medical Center has collaborated in the use of the first gene-based therapeutic angiogenic agent to treat cardiac ischemia, in effect, employing the first "drug" to produce blood vessels on demand. Crystal was the first to employ the common cold virus - the adenovirus - as the delivery system in gene therapy and the first to use such in vivo gene therapy to treat cystic fibrosis and other diseases.
Lee Teng-hui visit to Cornell set June 26-28
Lee Teng-hui, former president of Taiwan, will travel to Cornell University, where he earned his Ph.D. in agricultural economics in 1968, for a personal visit June 26-28. On campus, Lee will see his granddaughter, a Cornell undergraduate student who is taking summer courses. The university will use the occasion of his visit to announce the establishment of the Lee Teng-hui Institute for Scientific Research in honor of its distinguished alumnus. He has previously been honored by the university with the endowment of the Lee Teng-hui Professorship of World Affairs, made possible by a $2.5 million endowment gift to Cornell in 1994, presented anonymously by friends of Lee in Taiwan. (June 7, 2001)
Alumni donate American Woman Suffrage collection
To celebrate their 45th alumni reunion, June 8--10, Jon A. and Virginia M. Lindseth, both members of the class of 1956 have bestowed a major collection of material documenting the American women's suffrage movement to Cornell University Library. The Jon A. Lindseth Collection of American Woman Suffrage chronicles the history of women's struggle for the right to vote, from the early 19th century through 1920, when the 19th amendment to the United States Constitution enfranchising American women was signed into law. The gift augments and strengthens Cornell's significant collections on 19th century American reform movements, such as abolitionism and temperance. (June 7, 2001)
"Good" cholesterol reduces stroke risk
New York, NY- June 4, 2001-High levels of so-called "good" cholesterol in the blood sharply reduce the risk of stroke among elderly whites, blacks and Hispanics, Columbia researchers have found.The finding adds to growing evidence that healthy behaviors such as exercise, weight loss, smoking cessation and moderate alcohol use may help prevent stroke.
Genetic study of diabetic kidney disease
New York Weill Cornell Medical Center of New York-Presbyterian Hospital today announced its participation in a new international study organized by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International (JDRF) to understand how genes contribute to the development of diabetic kidney disease, also known as nephropathy, in more than 30 percent of people with Type 1 diabetes. More than one million Americans currently have Type 1 diabetes, which can reduce the average lifespan by 15 years. New York Weill Cornell is the only medical center in the New York metropolitan area participating in the GoKinD Study.A one-time, one-hour clinic visit is needed to participate in the Genetics of Kidneys in Diabetes (GoKinD) Study. The study will establish a repository of DNA and clinical information from 1,100 adults with Type 1 diabetes, along with their parents, in order to facilitate studies into the genetic basis of diabetic kidney disease. The GoKinD Study is seeking people with diabetes who have diabetic kidney disease as well as people with diabetes who are free of kidney disease. Participants are asked to supply a blood sample, and urine sample, and their medical history. Parents do not need to have diabetes or kidney disease to participate.
Arecibo finds radio beacons from galaxy collisions
When galaxies collide, they leave clues in the wake of their primordial history: radio beacons from their tell-tale hearts. Thanks to an upgrade of the radio telescope at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, these radio beacons 50 peculiar extragalactic objects called OH megamasers -- have been revealed. Astronomers from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., said today (June 5) at the national meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) that these newly discovered OH (oxygen-hydrogen) megamasers could yield major clues in understanding the physics behind the formation of galaxies. (June 4, 2001)
Feline anemia drug starts clinical trials
The lives of cats suffering from nonregenerative anemia might be improved with the beginning of clinical trials of recombinant feline erythropoietin (rfEPO) developed by Cornell University veterinary researchers. Nonregenerative anemia is the failure of bone marrow to produce red blood cells as a result of chronic renal disease, certain types of cancer and other chronic diseases. (June 4, 2001)
Pioneering female chemist tells her story in new autobiography
In the 1940s, Nell I. Mondy was usually the only woman in chemistry wherever she went. How the young woman from the deep South broke into the male-dominated academic world, improving food and nutrition from India and Nigeria to Peru and Poland and becoming an international expert on the common potato, is the focus of her new autobiography. You Never Fail Until You Stop Trying: The Story of a Pioneer Woman Chemist (Dorrance Publishing, 2001) starts in the small town of Pocohontas, Ark., where Mondy grew up as the only child of a young widow. Getting her first degree at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Ark., in 1943 during World War II, Mondy describes how she made her way to becoming a professor emerita of nutrition, food science and toxicology at Cornell University, and traveled the world. (June 1, 2001)