Cornell University News Service Releases

January, 2002

Index to all months

For the full text of any story, click on the headline. Electronic queries may be made to cunews@cornell.edu.

Science curriculum guide uses hometown toxic issues
When science students at Ithaca High School wondered if chemicals proposed for de-icing snow-covered hills in their hometown really were environmentally safer than road salt, they didn't take the word of manufacturers and government officials but began testing the chemicals themselves. Nearby, in Moravia, N.Y., high school students doubling as volunteer firefighters became concerned that foaming chemicals used to extinguish blazes might harm plants and animals. They, too, didn't take the official word but designed their own laboratory experiments. Now, the experimental protocols tested by these high school students, in collaboration with Cornell University researchers and science educators, are available to students and teachers nationwide with the publication of the first curriculum in the Cornell Scientific Inquiry Series, "Assessing Toxic Risk." (January 30, 2002)

Big Red, white and blue: Cornell's Hardaway and Mayer to ski for U.S. at 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City
It will be a bumpy ride, but it's all downhill for Hannah Hardaway and Travis Mayer, two students from Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Science, who both have earned coveted spots in moguls on the U.S. Olympic ski team. The 2002 Winter Olympics will be held in Salt Lake City Feb. 8 to 24. There are only eight places -- four each for men and women -- on the U.S moguls squad. Moguls are large bumps of closely packed snow set on a downhill skiing course. (January 30, 2002)

Response to a website report on Cornell incidents
Cornell University officials responded today (Jan. 29) to an article on a website originating in Los Angeles that reported that Mexican-American students at Cornell are "under siege." The article describes two incidents that occurred on campus Jan. 26 and 27. The first incident was described in an e-mail written by a female undergraduate student of Mexican descent. In the e-mail, which she distributed to a number of friends, she said that she and another student were victims of verbal harassment and menacing. She said that on Jan. 26 she was walking with the other student shortly after 9:30 p.m. on East Avenue between Tower Road and the Thurston Avenue bridge when a group of men in a pickup truck began to follow them and yell ethnic slurs. The student reported that at one point several men chased her and her friend. They were able to elude the pursuers, she said. (January 29, 2002)

Cornell police are investigating hate crime incident
Cornell University Police are investigating a report by an undergraduate student that she and another student were victims of a hate crime involving verbal harassment and menacing that occurred Saturday, Jan. 26 on campus. A female undergraduate student reported to campus police Jan. 28 that on Jan. 26 she was walking with the other student shortly after 9:30 p.m. on East Avenue between Tower Road and the Thurston Avenue bridge when a group of men in a pickup truck began to follow them and yell racial slurs against Latinos/Hispanics. The student reported that two men carrying planks or bats chased her and her friend when they reached Reservoir Drive between Baker Lab and Rockefeller Hall. They ran to the footbridge at the west end of Beebe Lake and the chase ended, she said. The students were physically unharmed. (January 29, 2002)

Are Super Bowl ads worth it? Students will decide
ITHACA, N.Y. -- On Super Bowl Sunday this Feb. 3, Douglas Stayman's students at Cornell University will be taking careful notes -- not on whether Drew Bledsoe is starting quarterback for the Patriots or how many yards Marshall Faulk is racking up for the Rams, but on who is advertising this year and why. Stayman, an expert on advertising patterns, says that this year the big news is a shift in the kinds of companies willing to spend big bucks on a Super Bowl ad. "While it's no surprise that we're seeing changes, the surprise is how large the shift is," he says. Two years ago more than 20 e-businesses bought ads, while this year only three have signed up, two of them online job search firms. Instead, says Stayman, "most of the advertisers this year are more traditional companies, like AT&T, Anheuser-Busch, Pepsi and film companies, that have longstanding reasons to spend large sums to launch or promote a product on Super Bowl." The change reflects not only such occurrences as the burst dot-com bubble but also the events of September 11, the war on terrorism and the recession, he says. (January 29, 2002)

The Rev. Amos C. Brown is annual Martin Luther King Jr. speaker Feb. 5
Two free public events will mark the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration at Cornell University in February. On Tuesday, Feb. 5, at 5 p.m. in Sage Chapel, the speaker will be the Rev. Amos Cleophilus Brown Sr., the pastor of San Francisco's Third Baptist Church since 1976. On Wednesday, Feb 6, at noon, Brown will participate in a panel discussion titled "African American Political Empowerment: Preparing for 2004" in the Founders Room of Anabel Taylor Hall on campus. The Rev. Kenneth Clarke, director of Cornell United Religious Work (CURW), will serve as moderator. Other panelists will include: James Turner, Cornell professor of Africana studies, and Dorothy Cotton, who was education director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference under King. (January 29, 2002)

How green grows your garden? Find out March 23 at Cornell Gardening Day
If you want to manage your mint plants, tend your tomatoes, know why you should mow your grass high or how to cultivate cabbage correctly, then register for the first annual Cornell Gardening Day, March 23, from 8 a.m. to 3:45 p.m., at DeWitt Middle School, Ithaca. The event is sponsored by the Cornell University's Department of Horticulture, Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) of Tompkins County and Cornell Plantations. The day-long program will feature more than 30 lectures and workshops, plus a resource fair and free soil pH testing. Classes will be taught by faculty at Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, as well as by staff from Cornell Plantations and CCE educators, staff and master gardeners. Topics will include landscaping with perennials, shrubs and bulbs; growing fruits and vegetables; garden photography; water gardens; fertilizers; wildlife damage control; mulches; composting; soils and soil creatures; propagation; and pest management. (January 29, 2002)

Cornell entrepreneurs and principal investors to offer recession-proof lessons for success at Feb. 8 symposium
Learn from the pros about how to turn business ideas into plans that attract investors, or, if you're an aspiring venture capitalist, how to spot good investments, even in a recession. A stellar lineup of successful entrepreneurs and principal investors will share their insights Feb. 8 in Sage Hall on Cornell University's campus. The 2nd Annual Cornell Entrepreneurship and Principal Investing Symposium (EPIS) is organized by students at Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management who are aspiring entrepreneurs and principal investors. (January 29, 2002)

Cornell police investigate death on campus
Cornell Police responded to a report of a body discovered on campus in the wooded area at the northeast end of Beebe Lake yesterday (Jan. 28) at approximately 9 p.m.. The person has been identified Timothy Lewis Keery, 45, who resided in the Town of Ithaca. He was not affiliated with Cornell. (January 29, 2002)

'Bucket Brigade' of Proteins Produces Tubercle Bacillus's 'Stubborn Defense' Against the Body's Immune System
New York, NY (January 25, 2002) - One of the challenges posed by the tubercle bacillus, which causes tuberculosis (TB), is to understand how the bacillus, once it infects tissue, persists for a person's entire lifetime despite the attack of the body's immune system. Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) persists despite prolonged oxidative and nitrosative stress-forces that the immune system uses to kill many other invading pathogens. Scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College, led by Dr. Carl Nathan, have now found that Mtb defends itself against oxidative stress by using a "bucket brigade" of proteins - including two proteins that have been widely known as being involved in essential metabolism.

Cornell Police arrests five students in fire incident
Following a joint investigation by the Ithaca Fire Department and Cornell University Police, five Cornell students have been charged with reckless endangerment of property, a class B misdemeanor. The arrests are the result of an investigation into an intentionally lit fire on the patio area of Delta Upsilon fraternity, 6 South Ave. The fire was reported to the Ithaca Fire Department on Dec. 21, 2001, at approximately 2 a.m. (January 28, 2002)

Great Backyard Bird Count includes Harry Potter's snowy owls
Harry Potter fans and bird enthusiasts from all walks of life are invited to help track "Harry Potter's owl" and other birds Feb. 15-18, in the fifth annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC). A project of Audubon and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology with sponsorship from Wild Birds Unlimited, the GBBC asks everyone with an interest in birds -- families, individuals, classrooms, community groups -- to count the numbers and kinds of birds they see during any or all of the four count days. They can count in their backyards, schoolyards, local parks, nature centers, even at the office. (January 28, 2002)

Trustees approve site for life sciences technology building
ITHACA, N.Y. ---- The Cornell University Board of Trustees today (Jan. 26) approved a recommendation to place the proposed $110 million Life Sciences Technology facility on the west end of Alumni Field, on the university's central campus. The action by the board was taken subsequent to the prior approval of the proposed site by the board's Buildings and Properties Committee at its meeting Jan. 24. The committee added an amendment that requested the university administration to develop both short-term and long-term plans for athletic facilities and to replace two varsity practice fields lost to the construction with two new practice fields of superior quality. When the project is completed, one practice field on Alumni Field will be restored to athletics, with a net increase in the number of practice fields from two to three. (January 28, 2002)

Trustees approve plan for 5 percent endowed tuition increase
The Cornell University Board of Trustees approved a set of planning parameters for the 2002-03 budget that calls for a 5 percent tuition increase for most endowed Ithaca students at its meeting in New York City, Jan. 25. The 5 percent increase sets tuition for Cornell's endowed undergraduate and Graduate School students at $27,270 for the 2002-03 academic year. Currently this tuition is $25,970. (January 28, 2002)

Peter C. Meinig elected Board of Trustees chair
Peter C. Meinig, a 1962 graduate of Cornell University and chairman and chief executive officer of HM International Inc. of Tulsa, Okla., was unanimously elected chairman of the Cornell Board of Trustees at its first meeting of 2002 in New York City, Jan. 25. Meinig's one-year term begins July 1. He will succeed Harold Tanner, a 1952 Cornell graduate who has served as chairman since 1997. (January 28, 2002)

Nine Cornell Researchers among world's most often-cited authors
New York, NY -- Cornell University, in Ithaca, N.Y., and Weill Cornell Medical College, in New York City, together have nine researchers who are among the world's most often-cited authors, according to a new World Wide Web service, ISIHighlyCited.com, a unit of Thomson Corp. The free, online service, which brings together the publication and career records of preeminent researchers worldwide, culled the Cornell names from Thomson's authoritative ISI Citation Database. (January 27, 2002)

Author of 'The Girls in the Van' to discuss covering Hillary Clinton's campaign, journalism careers, Feb. 4
Reporter Beth (Jackendoff) Harpaz, a 1981 graduate of Cornell University's College of Arts and Sciences and author of the new book, The Girls in the Van: Covering Hillary (St. Martin's Press), will visit the Cornell campus Feb. 4 to discuss her two years covering Hillary Clinton's senatorial campaign as well as careers in journalism with a liberal arts education. Harpaz has been an Associated Press reporter for more than a dozen years. The talk, which is co-sponsored by the Cornell departments of English and American Studies and Cornell Career Services, is slated for 3:30 p.m. in 253 Mallott Hall. (January 24, 2002)

Fingerprints unlikely to be replaced by DNA profiling
Fingerprint identification, which recently was ruled by a Philadelphia federal judge to be scientifically flawed as evidence, is unlikely to be replaced by DNA profiling in the courts, says a Cornell University researcher. The main reason, he says: Police have come to rely on fingerprint analysis so heavily in presenting evidence. "There are so many cases in which there are no evidentiary equivalents, including DNA profiling. Practical reasons militate against wholesale rejection of fingerprinting, and I expect that the FBI and other organizations will try to upgrade its scientific credentials," says Michael Lynch, professor of science and technology studies at Cornell. (January 24, 2002)

Edward Cohen-Rosenthal, advocate for healthful workplaces and Cornell program director, is dead at 49
A vigorous advocate for healthful and environmentally "green" workplaces, Edward Cohen-Rosenthal died Jan. 19 at Gilchrist Hospice Center in Baltimore, Md., after a six-year struggle with cancer. The senior extension associate in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) at Cornell University and founding director of the Work and Environment Initiative in the Cornell Center for the Environment, Cohen-Rosenthal was 49. "Ed was an advocate for environmental, labor and social issues who succeeded in working across academic disciplines," said John Forester, professor of city and regional planning at Cornell. Forester praised Cohen-Rosenthal for his fierce optimism. "Everyone who worked with him will miss that hopeful gleam always in his eyes. His persistence, his continual creativity and his political commitment and courage, always against long odds, forced attention to inconvenient problems of industrial ecology that citizens of every industrial nation have to face." (January 24, 2002)

How to market Main Street is a click away
Congratulations! You have just been elected to the village council. Unfortunately, you are not yet an expert in land-use policy, economic development, agricultural development or roads and corridor issues. What are you going to do? "You need to get a fast education on community development," suggests Timothy Cullenen of Cornell University's Community and Rural Development (CaRDI) program. Learning quickly online is now possible at , a new Web site developed by faculty and researchers at CaRDI and Pennsylvania State University's Cooperative Extension division. The education site went online this month. (January 23, 2002)

Digitizing Cornell humanities, social sciences card catalog
Cornell University Library has received an $830,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to digitize the remaining records in its card catalog and add them to its online catalog. The project is expected to make known to the world at large more than a quarter of a million bibliographic records for items in Cornell's collections, including a large number of humanities and social science titles in such areas as bibliography, political science and religion. (January 22, 2002)

How Vitamin C prevents cancer--but apples are better
GENEVA, N.Y. -- Writing in the medical journal, The Lancet, scientists from Cornell University and Seoul National University offer a more precise explanation for vitamin C's anti-cancer activity. And they suggest that a natural chemical from apples works even better than vitamin C. Their report appears in the Jan. 12, 2002, issue of The Lancet, (Vol. 359, No. 9301), the weekly journal for physicians published in London. (January 22, 2002)

Web-based 'Co-Composter' helps farmers cut pollution
Environmental engineers and waste-management specialists at Cornell University are offering a new Web-based planning tool, Co-Composter, free of charge to farm managers and composters who want to meet toughened environmental regulations while making the most of excess animal waste. Developed by Douglas Haith, professor of biological and environmental engineering, and Jean Bonhotal, composting specialist in the Cornell Waste Management Institute, the planning tool is at , the Cornell Center for the Environment web site. (January 22, 2002)

International business school group accredits Cornell undergraduate program
Cornell University's undergraduate business program in the Department of Applied Economics and Management (AEM) was accredited Jan. 9 by AACSB International, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. The course becomes only the second general undergraduate business program in the Ivy League, after the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, to earn accreditation. AEM is a department within Cornell's New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Accreditation provides recognition of the content and quality of its business program. The designation means that a peer group of scholars has examined the undergraduate business program in AEM and has approved it. (January 18, 2002)

First Robot-Assisted Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery in the U.S.Performed at New York-Presbyterian Hospital
New York, NY (January 17, 2002) - A 71-year-old retired businessman from New Jersey is the first patient in the U.S. to receive robotically-assisted coronary artery bypass surgery without a chest incision of any kind. The operation was performed by Dr. Michael Argenziano, director of robotic cardiac surgery, and Dr. Craig Smith, chief of cardiothoracic surgery, as part of a clinical trial sanctioned by the Food and Drug Administration at NewYork-Presbyterian's Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center on January 15, 2002. Until this point, coronary artery bypass surgery required open-chest surgery, which involves an eight to ten-inch incision made in the chest. Robotically-assisted surgery requires only three pencil-sized holes made between the ribs. Through these holes, two robotic-arms and an endoscope (a tiny camera) gain access to the heart, making surgery possible without opening the chest.This historic operation follows the successes of other robotically-assisted surgeries at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. Cardiac surgeons at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center have performed more than 40 robotic cardiac operations including internal mammary artery harvests, mitral valve repairs, and the first robotically-assisted atrial septal defect repair in the United States. The surgical robot, Intuitive Surgical's da Vinci ' Surgical System, has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for a number of clinical trials in which NewYork-Presbyterian's New York Weill Cornell Medical Center also participates.

Trustees to meet in New York City Jan. 24-26
The Cornell University Board of Trustees will hold its first meeting of 2002 at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York City, Jan. 24 through 26. The full board will meet from 1:45 to 3:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 25, and approximately the first 15 minutes of the meeting will be open to the public. The rest of that meeting and a meeting Saturday, Jan. 26, from 9 to 11 a.m., will be closed. Both meetings will be in the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Education Center, 1300 York Ave. Among topics of discussion will be a report from President Hunter Rawlings. The board is expected to approve 2002-03 tuition rates for the endowed colleges. (January 17, 2002)

Popular Mind and Memory lectures begin Jan. 21
The Mind and Memory: Exploring Creativity in the Arts and Sciences course begins this month at Cornell University and runs through April. This annual course, the brainchild of Cornell emeritus professor and author James McConkey, features weekly lectures by distinguished members of the Cornell faculty and other creative people from a wide range of disciplines. Lectures are Mondays from 2:55 to 4:10 p.m. in 155 Olin Hall and are free and open to the public. This year's speakers and their topics are: (January 15, 2002)

Hotel performance measure may be flawed
Are America's hotels measuring their performance accurately? No, according to a recent Cornell University study, which shows that industry performance averages, commonly used by hotels throughout the United States, are not reliable as the only gauge of how hotels are doing. The study was conducted by Cathy A. Enz, Linda Canina and Kate Walsh, faculty members at Cornell's School of Hotel Administration, under the aegis of the Hotel School's Center for Hospitality Research in alliance with Smith Travel Research, which supplied data from its database of name-brand hotels in the United States. (January 15, 2002)

D. Merrill Ewert, director of Cornell Cooperative Extension, named president of Fresno Pacific University
D. Merrill Ewert, director of Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE), has been named president of Fresno Pacific University, Fresno, Calif. His appointment is effective July 1. Ewert joined the Cornell University faculty in 1991 as a professor in the Department of Education, where he taught, conducted research and implemented extension programs focused on community-based development. In April 1998, Ewert was appointed director of CCE and associate dean for outreach in Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) and in the College of Human Ecology. (January 15, 2002)

Cornell to offer wide-ranging course in global conflict and terrorism
In response to the Sept. 11 attacks, Cornell University is offering a new course for the 2002 spring semester that will take a wide-ranging look at the issues of terrorism, religious warfare, global conflict and civil liberties. "This new course presents an opportunity to review and discuss issues concerning global development and its relationship to conflict and terrorism," says James E. Haldeman, senior associate director of International Programs in Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and one of the class's organizers. (January 14, 2002)

Canis Majoris has sand and whiskers in its eyes
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- About 5,000 light years away across our Milky Way galaxy, a highly brilliant star called VY Canis Majoris has long been thought to have smoke in its eyes because most of its light is blacked out by a cloud. Now the mystery of this smoky shroud is partly unveiled. It turns out that the star appears to be blinded not by smoke but by sand and by whiskers, a form of iron. (January 9, 2002)

USDA establishes Honeybee Genetics and IPM Center
Cornell University will be the home for a new Honeybee Genetics and Integrated Pest Management Center that will study the continuing threat from deadly parasitic mites and Africanized honeybees. The center is funded by a $1.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems. The grant will establish the largest university-based, honeybee research and extension infrastructure in the country. (January 10, 2002)

Lake Source Cooling project wins prestigious New York Governor's Award for Pollution Prevention
Cornell University's Utilities Department has won the 2001 New York Governor's Award for Pollution Prevention in the institutional/educational category for the university's Lake Source Cooling (LSC) project. The project, which was launched in 1994 and began operating in 2000, will be honored Jan. 14 at a ceremony at 1 p.m. at the offices of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), 625 Broadway, Albany, N.Y. The award will be presented to Cornell engineers by DEC Commissioner Erin M. Crotty. Three other Governor's Awards, to small and large businesses, also will be presented. (January 9, 2002)

Glee Club ends January tour with concerts in Elmira and Ithaca
The Cornell University Glee Club, an internationally acclaimed 60-member male choir whose members are Cornell students, will give concerts at Elmira College's Gibson Theater, Elmira, N.Y., on Jan. 17 at 8 p.m., and at Sage Chapel on Cornell's campus in Ithaca on Jan. 25 at 8 p.m. The two concerts conclude a two-week tour of the southeastern United States, with performances in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Washington, D.C. For ticket information and other concert details, see this web site: . (January 9, 2002)

Turbulence and thick gas are clues to galactic evolution
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In a huge river of primordial hydrogen flowing from the neighboring Magellanic Clouds into our own Milky Way galaxy, astronomers have discovered the first evidence of turbulence and concluded that the invisible, hot mass of gas surrounding our galaxy is much thicker than physicists previously thought. Galactic turbulence, an ingredient in cosmic cloud and star formation, has never before been seen in starless areas of the cosmos. "What causes turbulence in a star-free cosmic stream is unclear, but this finding could be important in understanding the cosmic-cloud and star-formation processes," says Snezana Stanimirovic, an astronomer at the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center at Arecibo, Puerto Rico, which is operated by Cornell University in a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. (January 7, 2002)

Sanford I. Weill and Maurice R. Greenberg Give $150 Million to Weill Medical College
New York, N.Y. -- Antonio M. Gotto, Jr., M.D., the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Medical College of Cornell University, announced today that Sanford I. Weill, chairman and chief executive officer of Citigroup Inc., and his wife, Joan, and Maurice R. Greenberg, chairman and chief executive officer of American International Group, Inc. (AIG), and his wife, Corinne, are giving $150 million to the medical college. Their gifts kick off Weill Cornell's $750 million Capital Campaign to advance and support its clinical mission. The launching of the campaign at the start of this new year reconfirms the Medical College's confidence in the resilience of the philanthropic community in the aftermath of the tragedy of September 11. (January 8, 2002)

Annual Martin Luther King Day celebration at GIAC is Jan. 21
A community program to celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will be held at the Greater Ithaca Activities Center (GIAC), 318 N. Albany St., on Martin Luther King Day, Monday, Jan. 21, from noon to 4:30 p.m. The program is free and open to all. The annual event will begin with a luncheon, a keynote speech and performances by local choirs. This year's keynote speaker is the Rev. Kenneth Clarke, director of Cornell United Religious Work. Two hours of workshops will follow the luncheon, including an "Elders Speak-Out," children's workshops and a panel discussion on welfare reform. The program will conclude with dessert and additional performances by local choirs. (January 7, 2002)

Haitian AIDS Center Establishing New Institute to Fight AIDS and Other Infectious Diseases
New York, NY (January 2, 2002) - GHESKIO -- a leading Haitian health facility dedicated since 1982 to research, services, and training in HIV/AIDS and other deadly infectious diseases -- observed World AIDS Day last December 1 by holding a gala with hundreds of guests to raise funds for a new Institute to replace its present, outgrown quarters. GHESKIO (Groupe Haitien d'Etudes du Sarcome de Kaposi et des Infections Opportunistes) is the second oldest institution in the world, after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, dedicated to the fight against AIDS, and it has been in the forefront of many medical achievements.Its new and expanded Institute, to be constructed on a new site, will be known as the Institute of Infectious Diseases and Reproductive Health.

Weill Cornell Researchers Describe the Immune Deficiency at Root of the Commonest Form of Type 1 Diabetes
New York, NY (January 2, 2002) -- An article just published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation -- by lead authors Drs. Noel Maclaren and Anjli Kukreja of the Department of Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medical College -- sets out the results of an investigation into the immune defects of some 60 persons with immune-mediated diabetes, the most common form of type 1 diabetes. The study delineates precisely what predisposes a person to this condition, and the latest, best measures for diagnosis, prediction, and therapy. Above all, the authors suggest a new strategy for combatting the disease: stimulate rather than suppress the patient's immune system.

Cornell sues Hewlett-Packard for patent infringement
Cornell University officials announced today (Jan. 4) that the university and the Cornell Research Foundation have filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, asserting that the Hewlett-Packard Company infringed, and continues to infringe, a patent issued in 1989 basically to protect a computer instruction processing technique created by Professor Emeritus H.C. Torng of Cornell's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The invention protected by the patent (U.S. patent No. 4,807,115) substantially accelerates a computer's processing speed. More specifically, the patent involves a technique for computer processors with multiple functional units that permits multiple instructions to be issued per machine cycle and out of program order, thereby substantially increasing the efficiency and speed of the processors. (January 4, 2002)