Cornell University News Service Releases

May, 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.

Cornell joins federal-state agricultural homeland security network
Cornell University's expertise in plant and animal diseases has been enlisted in the war on bioterrorism, with funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) program to bolster food and agricultural homeland security protections. Part of the $2.1 million channeled through New York state by the USDA will help establish facilities in both Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and College of Veterinary Medicine. The facilities will join a network of laboratories sited strategically throughout the nation to permit rapid and accurate diagnosis of animal-disease threats and to assist states in improving their capabilities to detect plant pests and diseases, according to the USDA announcement of the $43.5 million appropriation to the states. (May 31, 2002)

Applicants sought for the Cornell Civic Leaders Fellowship Program
The Cornell University Public Service Center is seeking applications for its Cornell Civic Leaders Fellowship Program for the second year. The Civic Leaders Program , which aids community-building projects and the people who carry them out, seeks to: (May 30, 2002)

Weill Cornell scientists unlock mechanism for recovering bone marrow stem cells
New York, NY (May 28, 2002) Scientists from Weill Medical College of Cornell University have discovered the mechanism by which a renewable source of autologous organ-specific adult bone marrow stem cells may be recruited. While embryonic stem cellsthat is, stem cells derived from embryoshave been the subject of much recent attention and ethical debate, stem cells derived from adult bone marrow may prove to be even more suitable for therapeutic purposes, both as the key to blood vessel formation (angiogenesis) in tumors and as an alternative source of replaceable stem cells that can be used readily for fighting disease through organ regeneration and gene therapy.The use of organ-specific stem cells from adult bone marrow has long been hampered because of the lack of knowledge regarding the mechanism by which these scarce populations of stem cellswhich normally hibernate in the safe haven of the bone marrowproliferate, self-renew, and are recruited to be mobilized to the peripheral blood, where they incorporate into damaged tissue.

Weill Cornell Scientists Unlock Mechanism For Recovering Autologous Adult Bone Marrow Stem Cells For Tissue Regeneration
New York, NY (May 28, 2002) Scientists from Weill Medical College of Cornell University have discovered the mechanism by which a renewable source of autologous organ-specific adult bone marrow stem cells may be recruited. While embryonic stem cellsthat is, stem cells derived from embryoshave been the subject of much recent attention and ethical debate, stem cells derived from adult bone marrow may prove to be even more suitable for therapeutic purposes, both as the key to blood vessel formation (angiogenesis) in tumors and as an alternative source of replaceable stem cells that can be used readily for fighting disease through organ regeneration and gene therapy.The use of organ-specific stem cells from adult bone marrow has long been hampered because of the lack of knowledge regarding the mechanism by which these scarce populations of stem cellswhich normally hibernate in the safe haven of the bone marrowproliferate, self-renew, and are recruited to be mobilized to the peripheral blood, where they incorporate into damaged tissue.

TCAT adds some new routes, expanded hours and weekend service
Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (TCAT) riders from one end of Tompkins County to the other will see a host of service expansions and improvements this summer, including new routes, expanded hours and weekend service. (May 29, 2002)

What big-city women really want: Men with money
Kevin J. McGraw, a biologist at Cornell University, knew what female birds and other animals in crowded, resource-scarce environments look for in their mates: males with potential to materially care for females and their offspring. But what about the human animal? What do women really want, McGraw wondered, as he read thousands of lonely-hearts personal ads in newspapers from 23 American cities. After two months of research, the graduate student in Cornell's Department of Neurobiology and Behavior concludes, "In densely populated and resource-demanding environments, birds and women may not be all that different." Where resources are at a premium -- expensive, big cities from San Francisco to Boston -- so are the men who can provide them, says McGraw. In such densely populated places, personal ads indicate that male-provided material comforts seem more important to women than do emotional or intellectual aspects of a relationship. But in medium- and smaller-sized cities, the biologist's reading of newspaper personal ads found the opposite: Women place more emphasis on emotional aspects or personal interests of potential mates, and less on materialism. (May 29, 2002)

New York public lands insufficient to protect wildlife
Most of New York state's vertebrates, from amphibians and reptiles to birds and mammals, have less than 10 percent of their predicted population on state- and federal-protected lands, according to an eight-year study conducted by Cornell University's Department of Natural Resources. "That was a surprise," said Charles Smith, Cornell senior research associate in natural resources, who leads the New York state Gap Analysis Program (GAP), a federally funded, long-term effort to inventory land and water species. New York Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit and the Cornell Institute for Resource Information Systems contributed to the report. "This tells me that our state agencies have an important management mission ahead of them, and we've got to enlist the public to help. We have to ask ourselves, how do we keep these animals around for future generations to enjoy?" (May 28, 2002)

Danny Glover discusses citizenship at Cornell May 25
Actor and human rights activist Danny Glover presented an address at Cornell University's Senior Convocation today (May 25, 2002) to an audience of more than 5,200 graduates and their families. Senior Convocation is part of Cornell's celebratory Commencement weekend. The university's commencement ceremony will be held Sunday, with President Hunter Rawlings presenting the commencement address. Following are excerpts from Glover's address: (May 26, 2002)

Weill Cornell Study Illuminates Cardiac Scarring That Leads to Heart Failure
New York, NY (May 24, 2002) A new study from Weill Cornell Medical College supplies "important missing links" in our knowledge of "the causes, mechanism, and composition" of the scarring that occurs in heart muscle when there is cardiac valvular disease, according to the lead author, Dr. Jeffrey S. Borer. The study suggests possible approaches to preventing scar formation and thus reducing both the risk of heart failure and the need for valve operations. Published in a recent issue of Circulation, a journal of the American Heart Association, the study is a product of Weill Cornell’s Howard Gilman Institute for Valvular Heart Diseases, of which Dr. Borer is a Director.Dr. Borer, who is also the Gladys and Roland Harriman Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College and Attending Physician at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital’s Weill Cornell Medical Center, said that although physicians have long known that a leaking aortic valve will lead to the formation of scar tissue in the heart muscle, their knowledge has been incomplete as to what causes this scarring and what might be done about it.

"I think I can" helps shed pounds after giving birth
Overweight mothers who exercise daily a year after the birth of their first child are, on average, 12 pounds lighter than overweight mothers who rarely work out, reports a new study from Cornell University. What sets the exercisers apart from the nonexercisers, the Cornell nutritionists say, is their "can do" attitude toward exercise during pregnancy. "A woman's intention during pregnancy to exercise after delivery, as well as her confidence in her ability to exercise frequently, were the strongest predictors as to whether women would exercise frequently and lose weight after giving birth," says Christine Olson, professor of nutritional sciences at Cornell. (May 23, 2002)

Ten Cornell Tradition students will use their Senior Recognition Awards to benefit others
Since 1989, the Cornell Tradition, an alumni-endowed recognition program at Cornell University, has been recognizing its own graduating seniors with Senior Recognition Awards. And in true Tradition spirit, say the program's administrators, the 10 senior fellows who have been honored with these awards for their community service and leadership efforts will use their monetary winnings to benefit others. The Cornell Tradition was established in 1982 through an anonymous gift of $7 million. It awards 600 fellowships each year to Cornell undergraduate students based on their work experience, campus and/or community service, leadership and academic achievement. And, as in past years, Cornell Tradition fellows are well represented among Cornell students who have won other prestigious awards, scholarships and fellowships, nationally, at Cornell and in the Ithaca community. (May 22, 2002)

Cornell triumphs for 7th time at Formula SAE contest
Cornell University engineering undergraduates swept the competition again this year at the annual five-day International Formula SAE collegiate design and motorsports competition at the Pontiac, Mich., Silverdome, which ended May 19. Defending champion Cornell won overall with 927 points out of a possible 1000. The team had a 109-point lead over its nearest competitor, the University of Wisconsin (Madison), and also won $8,500 in various awards. It was Cornell's seventh win since 1988. (May 21, 2002)

Cornell Plantations names Sonja Skelly as director of education
Cornell Plantations, the arboretum, botanical garden, and natural areas of Cornell University, has appointed Sonja Skelly as its new director of education. Before joining the Plantations staff May 23, Skelly was an assistant professor at Mississippi State University, where she was responsible for statewide coordination of both the Master Gardener program and the extension program in consumer horticulture. Besides her experience with statewide program development, she has an academic background in anthropology and horticulture, and has taught in both formal and informal settings. She earned a Ph.D. in horticulture (2000) at the University of Florida. (May 21, 2002)

Four winners announced in NASA comet mission contest
Katy Kaufman and her biology and physical science teacher Pam Vaughan from the town of Fordyce High School in Arkansas will set up a tent with displays about comets at the annual Fordyce on the Cottonbelt Festival. Meghan Cammilleri and her teacher Michael Stapleton at Northwestern Middle School, Regional School District No. 7 in Winsted, Conn., will write a children's book about comets and give copies to local libraries, schools and planetariums. Both students and their teachers submitted two of the four winning entries in a national competition sponsored by NASA's Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) space mission and Cornell University. The two other winning teams were from schools in Buffalo, N.Y., and Guffey, Colo. (May 21, 2002)

Cornell Board of Trustees to meet in Ithaca, May 23-25
The Cornell University Board of Trustees will meet in Ithaca Thursday, May 23, through Saturday, May 25. The Executive Committee of the board will hold a brief open session at the start of its meeting at 9 a.m. Friday, May 24, in the Yale-Princeton Room of the Statler Hotel on campus. The open session will include a discussion of the 2002-2003 financial plan for the contract colleges. (May 20, 2002)

Donations, castoffs make a student cluster computer
Don't throw away that old computer. Cornell University students Bryan Kressler and Nick Burlett might be able to use it to make a supercomputer. Using a few old computers donated by Mitre Corp., along with odds and ends of Cornell loading-dock castoffs, the two students have assembled a "cluster computer" in which the whole is much faster than the sum of its parts. It's not a supercomputer yet, they say, but expanding it is next year's project. (May 20, 2002)

Rob Ryan, Ascend Communications founder, is named Cornell Entrepreneur of the Year
Rob Ryan, a Cornell University alumnus and founder of Ascend Communications Inc. and Entrepreneur America, will be honored by the university Sept. 26 and 27 as the 2002 Cornell Entrepreneur of the Year. Ryan earned national attention when he grew Ascend to more than $500 million in sales between 1989 and 1995. The company is a leading manufacturer of Point of Presence boxes (POP) for Internet providers. A POP is an online service provider's access point to the web, and it usually includes routers, call aggregators, servers and, frequently, relays or switches. Lucent Technologies acquired Ascend in 1999 for $23 billion in one of the nation's largest technology mergers. (May 20, 2002)

"Meow" isn't language, but enough to manage humans
ITHACA, N.Y. -- After more than 5,000 years of human-feline cohabitation and enough elaborations on "meow!" to fill a dictionary, cats still haven't mastered language. But a Cornell University evolutionary psychology study ---- analyzing people's reactions to feline vocalizations ---- shows that cats know how to get what they want. "No matter what we like to believe, cats are probably not using language," says Nicholas Nicastro, a self-described cat person who has documented hundreds of different feline vocalizations in the common house cat (Felis catus) and its ancestor, the African wild cat (Felis silvestris lybica). His study, which he will describe June 5, 2002, at the 143rd meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, in Pittsburgh, "shows that some very effective cat-to-human communication is going on," he says. "Though they lack language, cats have become very skilled at managing humans to get what they want ---- basically food, shelter and a little human affection." (May 20, 2002)

Harvesting Stem Cells for Transplant in Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Still Possible After Treatment with Bexxar
New York, NY (May 19, 2002) A physician from Weill Cornell Medical College reported to a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncologists (ASCO) in Orlando, FL, today that, in 13 of 16 patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma who were treated with an experimental monoclonal antibody called Bexxar, it was still possible to collect an adequate supply of blood stem cells for potential use in a transplant in case the patient relapsed.Dr. Tsiporah Shore, Associate Director of the Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant Program at Weill Cornell, explained that Bexxar (I131 tositumomab) is being tested as a treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Bexxar is a monoclonal antibodyan antibody specifically targeted against the antigens of that disease. However, because Bexxar is linked to a radioactive molecule, there has been a concern that exposure to Bexxar “might damage the body’s supply of stem cells, which could be needed for a transplant if the patient relapsed,” according to Dr. Shore.

Weill Cornell Physician Describes Preliminary Results With Trial of a Monoclonal Antibody to Target Solid Tumors
New York, NY (May 19, 2002) A physician in Weill Cornell Medical College’s Division of Hematology/Oncology is reporting that a recently developed monoclonal antibody, called J591, targets an antigen expressed in the blood vessels of solid tumors. The physician, Dr. Matthew I. Milowsky, who is just finishing a term as a fellow in the division, makes his presentation today to the American Society of Clinical Oncologists (ASCO), which is meeting in Orlando, FL.Dr. Milowsky, who will become an Assistant Professor in the division this July, explains that J591 was developed by a colleague, Dr. Neil Bander, and manufactured by Millennium Pharmaceuticals, of Cambridge, MA. “J591 recognizes the extracellular domain of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA),” Dr. Milowsky says. PSMA, so named because it was first found in the prostate, is present in the blood vessels of numerous solid tumors, but not in normal blood vessels of benign tissues. The hope is that by attaching a radioactive molecule or other anti-cancer agent to J591, doctors will be able to target tumors specifically for the delivery of therapy.

Weill Cornell Researchers Report "Encouraging" Results with First Combination Antibody Therapy for Lymphoma
New York, NY (May 20, 2002) Investigators from Weill Medical College of Cornell University today reported encouraging interim results with a new potential therapy for non-Hodgkinâs lymphoma (NHL), which affects about 53,900 new patients each year in the United States. The presentation was made at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Orlando, FL.Dr. John P. Leonard, the lead investigator of a trial involving a collaboration of scientists from Weill Cornell, Amgen (of Thousand Oaks, CA), and Immunomedics (of Morris Plains, NJ), reported data from 21 patients who have relapsed and refractory NHLpatients in whom the disease has progressed despite prior treatment. The study is the first trial of a combination of two monoclonal antibodies in lymphomaone of the antibodies a known agent (rituximab) and the other a new one (epratuzumab). Administered together, once weekly for four weeks, the combination has preliminarily shown enhanced efficacy over that which has been previously reported with rituximab alone. Rituximab acts against the CD20 antigen (or target molecule) on NHL cells. Its brand name is Rituxan¨, and it is produced by IDEC, of San Diego, Calif., and Genentech, of San Francisco. Epratuzumab, a new investigational antibody in development by Amgen and Immunomedics, acts against the CD22 antigen of NHL.

Teachers of 35 top Cornell students are honored on campus, May 21-22
Cornell University will honor 35 secondary school teachers from as near as Horseheads, N.Y., and from as far away as Singapore, May 21 and 22, on campus. They will be brought to campus and recognized for their inspirational teaching with a $4,000 scholarship in their names for future Cornell students with financial need from their schools or regions. The teachers were selected by Cornell's Merrill Presidential Scholars, students who represent the top 1 percent of the university's graduating seniors. Merrill scholars are chosen by deans of each of the seven undergraduate colleges at Cornell for outstanding scholastic achievement, strong leadership ability and potential for contributing to society. (May 16, 2002)

How universities are run is topic of conference
Can not-for-profit universities with boards of trustees learn from corporate boards of directors? Are universities essentially unmanageable places, or are there workable strategies for running them well? And should a university fight or welcome a unionized faculty and staff? These and other pressing issues in higher education will be discussed during "Governance of Higher Education Institutions and Systems," the Cornell Higher Education Research Institute (CHERI) annual conference on Cornell University's campus June 4 and 5. (May 16, 2002)

Technology Review names protein researcher Kelvin Lee among world's 100 leading young innovators
Technology Review, a magazine published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has named Kelvin H. Lee, assistant professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Cornell University, among the "World's Top 100 Young Innovators in Technology and Business". Nominees are recognized for their contribution in transforming the nature of technology in such areas as biotechnology, computing, energy, medicine, manufacturing, nanotechnology, telecommunications and transportation. The awards for the "2002 Innovator of the Year" and "Technology in the Service of Humanity" will be announced during a ceremony May 23 at Kresge Auditorium on the MIT Boston campus. (May 16, 2002)

Cornell receives notice of teaching- and research- assistant unionization petition
ITHACA, N.Y. --The Cornell University administration was informed May 14, 2002, that a group of graduate students, called the Cornell Association of Student Employees/United Auto Workers (CASE/UAW), has filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seeking to be recognized as a collective bargaining agent on behalf of Cornell graduate research assistants, teaching assistants, research assistants, graduate assistants, readers, graders, tutors and consultants. The Cornell administration views this action with serious concern. On the one hand, the university has a long history of participation in both the American and international labor movements. On our own campus, the administration presently bargains with six different bargaining units. These negotiations have always been conducted in good faith by both the university and its represented workers. (May 15, 2002)

Physicist Boyce D. McDaniel, veteran of Trinity atomic bomb test in 1945, dies at 84
Boyce D. McDaniel, the Cornell University physicist and Manhattan Project scientist who gave the atomic bomb its final check before the first test at Trinity site in July 1945, died of a heart attack May 8 in Ithaca, N.Y. He was 84. McDaniel's faculty career at Cornell spanned 56 years. But his professional start was sudden and dramatic. In 1943, as a newly fledged Ph.D., McDaniel was hired, at $250 a month working 10- to 15-hour days at a secret facility in Los Alamos, N.M., to conduct nuclear physics research on a device nicknamed "the gadget." The device was the atomic bomb, and McDaniel had been hired as a protégé of Robert Bacher, one of several Cornell physicists assigned to the Manhattan Project. The young McDaniel would play a critical role on physicist Robert Wilson's cyclotron research team, which helped identify the amount of the isotope uranium-235 (U-235) needed to create the atomic fission to detonate the world's first nuclear weapon. (May 15, 2002)

Gary Stewart is named assistant director of community relations
Gary Stewart, opinion and senior editor at The Ithaca Journal, has been appointed assistant director of community relations at Cornell University, announced Director of Community Relations John Gutenberger, May 14. Stewart will assume his new position July 1. (May 15, 2002)

Hand-held computers serve as tour guides
Been on a tour lately? Maybe you had to wait until the next tour group was scheduled, and then found yourself being hustled from one stop to the next. Or maybe you followed a guidebook that didn't begin to answer all your questions. New technology being developed at Cornell University has turned hand-held computers called personal digital assistants (PDAs) into electronic guides, giving visitors a wealth of information cued to locations on a tour. (May 14, 2002)

Lions and tigers and people, oh my!
Do humans help create risks of deer-car collisions, encounters with black bears and attacks from mountain lions? Following the record number of such hazardous interactions in recent years, wildlife managers, extension educators and community leaders across North America are struggling to meet the challenge of humans and wild animals living together in harmony. Now, for the first time, the many aspects of this relationship have been folded into a new textbook: Human Dimensions of Wildlife Management in North America, by Daniel J. Decker, Cornell professor of natural resources; Tommy L. Brown, leader of Cornell's Human Dimensions Research Unit in natural resources; and William F. Siemer, researcher in natural resources. (May 10, 2002)

Gender, sexuality, family law in U.S., Canada, N. Ireland
What constitutes a family? How should children be raised and educated? Who is allowed to marry, and what are permissible grounds for divorce? A new Cornell Law School project grapples daily with thorny questions on gender, sexuality, family and the law. The Cornell Gender, Sexuality and Family (GS&F) Project compares how the issues are viewed in the United States, Northern Ireland and Canada. It offers faculty research fellowships across the disciplines and internships for law students. Martha Fineman, the Dorothea S. Clarke Professor of Feminist Jurisprudence at the Law School and a scholar of international stature, is the program's founder and director. (May 10, 2002)

First-prize business idea from Cornell competition may help reduce breast cancer deaths
An idea that may lead to more-accurate mammogram readings -- and fewer breast cancer deaths -- took first place, and an award of $10,000, in a Cornell University contest for the best business idea. Now in its second year, the annual Business Idea Competition is sponsored by the Big Red Venture Fund at Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management. The contest is open to any team with a business idea and at least one member with a Cornell affiliation -- students, alumni, faculty or staff. The winners were announced at a special awards ceremony on campus Friday, April 26. (May 10, 2002)

$500 million Life Sciences Initiative at Cornell
Cornell University has launched the largest single scientific effort in its history: the New Life Sciences Initiative, a campuswide program that will forever change the way life-science research is conducted and taught at the university. Involving investments of up to $500 million, the initiative will require the largest fund-raising campaign for a single project ever attempted by Cornell. Announcing the new initiative, Cornell President Hunter Rawlings said the effort will engage "the most broadly respected faculty in the country" in what he predicted will be "great research, great teaching and great outreach" in all aspects of the life sciences. Key to the huge program of discovery and education is the integration of life sciences with physical, engineering and computational sciences. (May 8, 2002)

Gas-price rise could cause big losses for lodging industry
The recent rise in gasoline prices may end up causing significant losses in room sales for the U.S. lodging industry, according to a study conducted at Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration. The study, which was done at the Cornell Hotel School's Center for Hospitality Research, confirms that when gas prices rise, fewer people rent hotels rooms, particularly rooms at mid-market and economy hotels with suburban or highway-oriented locations. While a link between the cost of gas prices and hotel occupancy rates had long been suspected, the dramatic news is that gas price increases turn out to be far more harmful to the U.S. lodging industry than people had previously guessed. (May 8, 2002)

How worker health affects productivity and profit
How do the health and well-being of employees drive business productivity and profitability? How do depression, stress, musculoskeletal disorders, migraines, obesity and pain affect productivity, and what kinds of management practices can help? Are they cost effective? Does investing in people or technology reap larger productivity payoffs? These kinds of questions are the focus of a new research center, the Cornell University Institute for Health and Productivity Studies (IHPS), which has been established in collaboration with MEDSTAT, a health-information company headquartered in Ann Arbor, Mich. (May 8, 2002)

Oliver Sacks and mathematician Durrett named to American Academy
Cornell University mathematics professor Richard T. Durrett, an expert in probability, and Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large Oliver Sacks, the neurologist and author, have been elected fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. They are among the 177 fellows and 30 foreign honorary members elected to join the class of 2002. The academy, founded in 1780, honors distinguished scientists, scholars and leaders in public affairs, business, administration and the arts. The two new fellows will be inducted during academy ceremonies to be held at the academy's headquarters in Cambridge, Mass., Oct. 5. (May 8, 2002)

Dog 'model' for studying inherited human blindness
Cornell University researchers say the discovery of the two different mutations for X-linked progressive retinal atrophy (XLPRA1 and XLPRA2) in dogs, as reported in the May 1, 2002, issue of Human Molecular Genetics (Vol. 11, No. 9), provides a new animal "model" for studying causes and testing treatments for inherited human blindness. Dogs' health and well-being will benefit, too, according to scientists at the Baker Institute for Animal Health in Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine, because new gene-screening tests will help detect disease-prone animals in breeding programs. (May 7, 2002)

Pew Charitable Trusts grants $2 million for White Hall renovation
The Pew Charitable Trusts have granted $2 million toward the renovation of White Hall on the Cornell University Arts Quad. Named after Andrew D. White, Cornell's first president, White Hall is a $12 million project now underway and slated for completion in the fall of 2002 and ready for occupancy in Spring 2003. It is the top capital funding priority for the College of Arts and Sciences and an important part of the university's initiative to enhance undergraduate education. (May 7, 2002)

New York state selects $10 million clean-up plan for Cornell's former low-level radiation site
Although Cornell University's former low-level radiation disposal site (RDS) in Lansing does not pose unacceptable health risks, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced a final, $10 million strategy for cleaning up the site. The state plan, known as a record of decision, calls for constructing an underground clay wall around the waste area, injecting cement grout into fractured rock to isolate the most highly contaminated groundwater and using recovery wells to remove paradioxane, the main contaminant at the site, from the groundwater. (May 7, 2002)

Children with Psychiatric Emergencies Have Unique Issues That Require New Strategies for Treatment
New York, NY (May 4, 2002) A study done at the Children’s Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian and Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons by Dr. Meridith Sonnett, associate director of pediatric emergency medicine, assistant clinical professor of pediatrics, and principal investigator, showed that children and older teenagers presenting to the Hospital's emergency department (ED) with psychiatric emergencies differed in types of illnesses and the need for care between age groups.Dr. Sonnett said that the results of this study were extremely important in highlighting the future direction of psychiatric care for children. "It is clear that psychiatric emergencies in children have reached epidemic proportions," she says. "It is also clear that younger children have unique needs that must be addressed separately from older children and adults. For example, 25 percent of children diagnosed with “diseases usually diagnosed in childhood-- such as attention deficit disorder-- may require a more specialized approach, given that their problems may not strictly be psychiatric in nature, but more behavioral in origin."

'Kids and Chemicals,' May 10 Bill Moyers PBS special, features Cornell ecologist Sandra Steingraber
Sandra Steingraber, the Cornell University ecologist and author who studies health effects of exposure to environmental toxins, is featured in a Bill Moyers television special report, "Kids and Chemicals," scheduled to air on PBS stations Friday, May 10, at 9 p.m. The episode in Moyers' "NOW" series is described as a cross-country investigation into the causes of childhood illnesses that might be caused by environmental toxins, including asthma, leukemia and other cancers, as well as learning and behavioral disabilities. (May 6, 2002)

Integrated Pest Management program wins Environmental Quality Award, EPA's highest honor
For its efforts in teaching farmers and homeowners how to use ecologically sound pest-management techniques, Cornell University's New York State Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program has received the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Environmental Quality Award, the agency's highest honor. "This program develops and teaches pest-control methods that are cost-effective and pose minimal risks to human health and the environment," said Walter E. Mugdan, the regional counsel for the EPA, upon presenting the award in New York City on April 30. "Due in large part to the program's efforts, nearly 90 percent of New York farmers now use some form of integrated pest management," he said. (May 3, 2002)

Disorder forces DNA molecules out of tight spaces
A new understanding of how large biological molecules behave in tiny spaces could lead to a method for separating DNA strands by length. It also could throw light on the way molecules move in living cells. Using a forest of nanofabricated pillars so small that DNA molecules can only slip through lengthwise, Cornell University researchers have demonstrated the existence of an entropic recoil force that causes the molecules to move from a tight space into a more open one. (May 2, 2002)

Student health insurance rates at Cornell set for 2002-03
The Student Insurance Advisory Committee at Cornell University announced today (May 2, 2002) that its Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP) will be administered by the Chickering Group for the seventh year in a row. "The continuation of the Chickering contract allows us to provide continuity in coverage for students already on the plan and offer an outstanding value to every student in need of health insurance," said Allen Bova, chair of the committee, which is comprosed of undergraduate and graduate student representatives, university administrators and staff at Gannett: University Health Services. (May 2, 2002)

Danny Glover to present Cornell Convocation address
Cornell University will celebrate its 134th Commencement Sunday, May 26, with President Hunter Rawlings presiding over the ceremony at 11 a.m. on Schoellkopf Field. Rawlings will present the commencement address and confer degrees on more than 6,000 eligible candidates, capping two days of celebratory activities. (May 1, 2002)

Four recipients of awards for student advising announced
Isaac Kramnick, vice provost for undergraduate education at Cornell University, today (May 1, 2002) announced the first recipients of the Kendall S. Carpenter Memorial Advising Awards. The awards were established by Stephen Ashley, a member of the Board of Trustees, to honor his former adviser, Kendall S. Carpenter, a professor of business management at Cornell from 1954 until his death at the age of 50 in 1967. President Hunter Rawlings, in announcing the establishment of the awards in February, said, "These awards reinforce the Cornell commitment that advising undergraduate students is a top priority at the university." The $5,000 awards recognize "sustained and distinguished contributions of professorial faculty and senior lecturers to undergraduate advising." (May 1, 2002)