Cornell University News Service Releases

February, 2003

Index to all months

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

Absence, disability are big chunk of health-care costs
The cost of illness is much higher for many large businesses that self-insure their employees' health care than would be indicated by medical bills alone. Almost one-third of these companies' financial burden for physical illnesses results from productivity-related expenditures: absences and short-term disability payments. According to a study of six employers by Medstat and Cornell University's Institute for Health and Productivity Studies (IHPS), when disability payments and lost productivity are included in the calculation of payments for physical-health conditions for these companies, each employee costs them an average of $3,524 a year. (February 28, 2003)

Cornell teams place third and fourth in chip-design contest
Two teams of Cornell University graduate students in the university's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering have finished in third and fourth place in phase one of a nationwide integrated circuit-design contest sponsored by the Semiconductor Research Corp. (SRC). Both teams will move on to a second phase of the contest, in which the chips they designed will be fabricated by IBM and returned to the students for testing and evaluation. The will be to demonstrate that the l chips work as predicted. The winners of the contest will be announced in July. (February 28, 2003)

Dramatic artist explores diversity in Ithaca pre-K classrooms through Cornell and N.Y. foundation program
Diversity is more than skin color, language and family differences. To 3- and 4-year-olds, it can be as simple as wearing glasses, knowing how to tie shoes, eat with chopsticks or simply having a different point of view. To help preschoolers develop different points of view and better understand diversity, the Cornell Early Childhood Center (ECC), a laboratory preschool at Cornell University, has matched a $5,000 Artist in the School Community grant from the New York Foundation for the Arts to bring a teaching artist into four pre-kindergarten (pre-K) classrooms -- two at Cornell's lab school and two in Ithaca elementary schools. (February 28, 2003)

Statement from Cornell's Undergraduate Admissions Office on e-mail to applicants
The Undergraduate Admissions Office at Cornell University regrets the very serious error that occurred Wednesday morning when an email that was intended only for admitted early decision students was sent to a wider pool of applicants. Within 2-3 hours following the discovery of the error, a letter of explanation, including our heartfelt apologies, was sent via email to all students who received the original message by mistake. (February 28, 2003)

MBA venture capital funds videoconferencing startup
SightSpeed makes easy-to-use software that turns desktop computers into high-end videoconferencing machines, thanks to new technology developed at Cornell University. Now the startup company will be able to take its innovative product to market as early as this spring with help from an investment by BR Ventures, a venture fund run entirely by MBA students at the university's Johnson Graduate School of Management. (February 27, 2003)

Adult-to-adult living donor liver transplants on the rise
New York, NY (February 27, 2003)--The number of adult-to-adult living donor liver transplants in the United States is increasing and centers with the largest volume have the lowest complication rates, according to results from the first compilation of these procedures in the country. The study, to be published in the February 27th issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, was done in response to the lack of comprehensive data or a centralized registry of donor and recipient morbidity and mortality that has led some experts to call for either limitations on which centers can perform the procedure or for government regulation.

People power: human batteries will provide spark to open Ithaca Sciencenter's new wing Feb. 28
To open a new building by cutting a ribbon with scissors is so last millennium. Instead, the Sciencenter of Ithaca will use people power to melt a wire to officially open its new building Friday, Feb. 28. The ceremony begins at 10:30 a.m. at the museum, located at 601 First St. The event coincides with the museum's 20th anniversary. "Visitors attending the ceremony will form a human battery by forming a circle, each person holding a piece of copper in one hand and steel in the other," says Charlie Trautmann, executive director of the Sciencenter and a Cornell University adjunct professor of engineering. By holding a neighbor's steel in one hand and copper in the other, each person will become a separate cell, generating about seven-tenths of a volt, he says. The resulting energy from the circle will be stored in a capacitor. When the voltage gets high enough, it will trigger a circuit that powers the ribbon-cutting -- or melting. (February 26, 2003)

Tips for saving storm-damaged trees are offered by arborists at Cornell Plantations
Snow falling on cedars -- and other kinds of trees and shrubs in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states this winter -- has caused serious damage that can be remedied, according to experts at Cornell Plantations. The Plantations horticulturists, who tend more than 700 acres of botanical gardens, natural areas and the F.R. Newman Arboretum at Cornell University, are still assessing storm damage from the unusually snowy winter of 2002-03. They offer to private property owners some advice, which they plan to follow themselves, for the restoration of greenery. (February 26, 2003)

Studying data from orbiting infrared observatory
This summer, NASA will sponsor four young scientists who will work on analyzing data from the largest infrared telescope to be sent into space. The telescope, called SIRTF, for Space Infrared Telescope Facility, is scheduled for launch on April 15 and will circle the sun in an orbit that trails just behind the Earth's. One of the SIRTF fellows, Henrik Spoon, an astrophysicist at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, will work at Cornell University as a postdoctoral researcher with James Houck, the K.A. Wallace Professor of Astronomy. (February 26, 2003)

NSF faculty Early Career award for glass research
Katerina Papoulia, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Cornell University, has been awarded a Faculty Early Career Development Program grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). She will receive five-year funding of $408,890 to support her research. Early Career awards are the NSF's most prestigious honor for new faculty members, recognizing and supporting teacher-scholars who are considered most likely to become the academic leaders of the 21st century. (February 26, 2003)

Sophocles' 'Antigone' is a must read for all 2003 freshman
Sophocles' tragic play Antigone may not be on The New York Times' suggested summer reading list, but it is required reading for more than 3,500 incoming Cornell University freshmen as part of the First Year Reading Project for fall 2003. "I am delighted by the selection of Sophocles' Antigone as Cornell's freshman text for next fall," said President Hunter Rawlings, who, following his retirement from the presidency later this year, will return to teach in Cornell's classics department. "Our freshman book project has already attained the status of a Cornell tradition after only two years, and Antigone is certain to add intellectual excitement to this program, which has proven to be popular with both students and faculty members." (February 25, 2003)

Biodiversity laboratory expands into consortium
The Cornell Biodiversity Laboratory, an education/research field station at Punta Cana on the eastern coast of the Dominican Republic, has been expanded and renamed the Punta Cana Association on Sustainability and Biodiversity. The newly formed consortium of academic and nonprofit organizations will accommodate the growing number of such organizations interested in using the field laboratory and the expanding environmental resources and facilities at Punta Cana. (February 25, 2003)

Biologist Mark Bain named to head Center for the Environment
Mark Bain, an aquatic biologist and associate professor of natural resources at Cornell University, has been named director of the university's Center for the Environment (CfE). Effective Feb. 24,. Bain succeeds Acting Director Max Pfeffer, professor of rural sociology, who was named associate director of the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station in 2001. Announcing the appointment, Susan A. Henry, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, said: "Mark brings to the Center for the Environment a fresh perspective on the integration of research, education and outreach that our college endorses and values. His extensive knowledge of environmental policies and issues are essential for the promotion of a sustainable relationship between the environment and a quality life for people here and around the world." (February 24, 2003)

Missing Cornell graduate student is found
The Tompkins County Sheriff's Department announced Feb. 23 that a body recovered from the Six Mile Creek Natural Area in the town of Ithaca has been identified as that of Ritesh S. Shetty, 24, a Cornell University graduate student who had been missing since Sept. 26, 2002. The body was found Feb. 20 in a densely wooded area by a hiker on snowshoes. The death has been ruled a suicide. (February 24, 2003)

FCC action could create broadband, telecom monopolies
ITHACA, N.Y. --A ruling by the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) on Feb. 20 is likely to create regional monopolies that could stifle innovation and growth of open broadband telecommunications, according to Alan McAdams, professor of economics in the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University. Broadband networks will be more costly, less flexible and less versatile than the technology encourages and open, competitive offerings would guarantee, the economist predicts. The FCC ruled that incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) will not be required to "unbundle," or share with competitors, their future fiber optic lines connecting to homes and businesses. McAdams says this could give each ILEC a monopoly on broadband service in its region. (February 21, 2003)

Turning genomics discoveries into businesses is topic of national symposium at Johnson School
When a serious illness strikes, people often ask why there is no effective drug to treat it. What they don't know, says Cornell University Professor Bruce Ganem, is that while important new biotechnology drugs, particularly in the field of genomics, are emerging every day, investors often lack the tools to evaluate them as startup business ventures. What is needed to avoid failed efforts and lost cures is "an understanding of how the technology becomes commercialized," says Ganem, who is the J. Thomas Clark Professor in Cornell's Entrepreneurship and Personal Enterprise program as well as the Franz and Elisabeth Roessler Professor in Chemistry and Chemical Biology. A demand for more biotechnology courses among MBA students at Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management led to Ganem's involvement in teaching courses at the interface of science and business. He is also adviser to the Johnson School's Health and Biotechnology Club and actively involved with the group's efforts to organize its upcoming symposium on the business of genomics. "The Genomic Revolution -- Changing the Face of the Healthcare Industry" will take place at Cornell's Johnson School Friday, Feb. 28, from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in B09 Sage Hall. The event, which is free and open to the public, features discussions by top executives from Merck, Exelixis and Cigna as well the heads of two successful Ithaca biotechnology startups, GNS (Gene Network Sciences) and Advion BioSciences. (February 20, 2003)

FCC could create new telecommunications monopoly
Kevin Martin, a member of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), is "an unlikely hero" for opposing changes in the regulation of local phone companies, according to Cornell University economist Alan McAdams. Changes proposed by FCC chairman Michael Powell could create regional monopolies that would stifle innovation and growth of open broadband telecommunications, making such networks more costly, less flexible and less versatile, McAdams says. "Kevin Martin has emerged as a hero protecting the nation from a return to ironclad monopolization by incumbent local exchange carriers," he says. (February 18, 2003)

Word scans indicate new ways of searching the Web
DENVER -- In the years after the American Revolution, U.S. presidents were talking about the British a lot, and then about militias, France and Spain. In the mid-19th century, words like "emancipation," "slaves" and "rebellion" popped up in their speeches. In the early 20th century, presidents started using a lot of business-expansion words, soon to be replaced by "depression." A couple of decades later they spoke of atoms and communism. By the 1990s, buzzwords prevailed. (February 12, 2003)

Tariffs and farm subsidies deny health and affluence
DENVER -- To fend off starvation and reduce child malnutrition in underdeveloped countries, industrialized nations must tear up their import tariffs, open their markets to agricultural goods and discontinue trade-distorting domestic agricultural subsidies, says a Cornell University food policy expert. Per Pinstrup-Andersen, the H.E. Babcock Professor of Nutrition and Food Policy at Cornell, in Ithaca, N.Y., is presenting his criticism of the trade policies of the world's wealthy nations today (Feb. 17) at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Denver. Pinstrup-Andersen, who won the 2001 World Food Prize, will speak on the topic "If the World Is Awash in Food, Why Are Millions Starving?" during the symposium "How the World Works." (February 12, 2003)

The human eye can self-correct some optical faults
While the vision-impaired Hubble Space Telescope needed optical doctoring from shuttle astronauts, vision researchers back on Earth were wondering if the human eye was clever enough to fix itself. Now a neurobiology study at Cornell University suggests that internal parts of the eye indeed can compensate for less-than-perfect conditions in other parts -- either developmentally (during the lifetime of one individual) or genetically (over many generations). (February 17, 2003)

Laser-pulse technique could aid drug design
DENVER -- Discovery of drugs to treat generalized epilepsy with febrile seizures (GEFS), a genetic disorder that affects 4 million Americans, could now advance more rapidly, predicts a Cornell University biochemist. George P. Hess, professor of molecular biology and genetics at Cornell, in Ithaca, N.Y., invented a laser-based technique to study signal transmission between cells of the nervous system. The same technique, called laser-pulse photolysis, already has identified a cocainelike analog compound to block the effects of cocaine poisoning on the nervous system, he says. (February 12, 2003)

New laser may eliminate need for reading glasses in older adults
New York, NY (February 14, 2003) -- A new laser technology has shown promising early results for the reversal of presbyopia, a progressive stiffening of the eye's lens that occurs with aging and compromises an individual's near vision, or the ability to read without glasses. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell Medical Center, first in the New York City-area to offer the new procedure, is currently seeking participants for a Phase II clinical trial of the innovative technology, called OptivisionTM."Everyone over the age of 50 could potentially benefit from this new high-tech treatment," said Dr. Sandra Belmont, Principal Investigator of the new trial and Associate Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology at Weill Cornell Medical College. "The procedure, which takes only thirty minutes per eye, involves eight tiny laser incisions in the sclera, or the white of the eye. This allows the lens to expand, and enables the eye to focus at different distances. Within an hour, patients are able to read without glasses."

Cornell files joint amicus brief supporting affirmative action
Cornell University President Hunter Rawlings today (Feb. 14) announced that Cornell has joined with four other leading private universities in submitting an amicus curiae brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the University of Michigan and the University of Michigan Law School. Those universities are Columbia, Georgetown, Rice and Vanderbilt. Rawlings noted that in 1868 the university's founder, Ezra Cornell, made clear his commitment to diversity when he wrote: "I would found an institution where any person (emphasis added) can find instruction in any study." (February 14, 2003)

Experts offer first-ever comprehensive home reference book on the brain
New York, NY (February 13, 2003)--Our brains are the basis of who we are our intellect, our personality, and our emotional states. At the same time, diseases of the brain rank at the top of the list of our most serious health problems, accounting for more long-term care and chronic suffering than all other medical problems put together. Thus, researchers have long sought to learn more about how the brain works, and how to treat a myriad of brain-related disorders -- from Alzheimer's to Parkinson's, from multiple sclerosis to stroke; from traumatic brain injury to spinal cord injury, and from depression to pain. For the first time, a single, comprehensive home reference, The DANA Guide to Brain Health, is making all of their discoveries accessible to the lay public, along with practical, hands-on advice.

Antibody microbicides can prevent HIV infection, Weill Cornell scientist discovers
New York, NY (February 13, 2003) -- A team headed by a Weill Cornell Medical College scientist has shown that a virus-inhibiting antibody applied vaginally as a topical microbicide can prevent SHIV infection in a monkey model. A National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded study provides evidence that microbicides can prevent virus attachment and entry into the vagina and its associated tissues, a useful step in the development of an effective method to prevent the spread of HIV.Published in the March issue of Nature Medicine, the study shows that monkeys treated with a monoclonal antibody microbicide, called b12, were significantly less likely to be infected with SHIV (an engineered simian-human version of human HIV) via the vaginal route than untreated monkeys exposed to the virus (25 percent versus 92 percent). Additionally, a greater dosage of b12, in gel or saline form, resulted in a greater ability to block infection.

Shuffle off to Buffalo to taste the new "Working Man's Red" from Cornell
GENEVA, NY -- Cornell University grape breeder Bruce Reisch will officially name and release a new red wine grape during the Viticulture 2003 Conference at the Buffalo Convention Center in Buffalo, NY, on Feb. 20 at 1:30 pm. Tested as GR 7 and NY 34791, the grape was developed by fruit breeders and enologists at Cornell's New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, in Geneva, NY. It was selected from a cross of 'Buffalo' x 'Baco noir', made in 1947. (February 14, 2003)

"Selfish routing" slows the Internet
DENVER --The Tragedy of the Commons, as explained by Garrett Harding in his classic 1968 book, is that self-interest can deplete a common resource. It seems this also applies to the Internet and other computer networks, which are slowed by those who hurry the most. Fortunately, say computer scientists at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. , there is a limit to how bad the slowdown can get. And after developing tools to measure how much the performance of a particular network suffers, they say, the way to get improved performance on the Internet is the same as the way to maintain air and water quality: altruism helps. (February 12, 2003)

Entrepreneur symposium Feb. 21 offers creative strategies for today's economy
Interested in launching your own business, attracting venture capital or picking a winning startup company to invest in? Sign up for the Third Annual Entrepreneurship and Private Equity Symposium, "Creative Strategies for Today's Economy," at Cornell University. The symposium is a full day of interactive panel discussions led by experienced entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and private equity investors. It will take place Friday, Feb. 21, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Johnson Graduate School of Management in the Sage Hall atrium and in rooms B8 and B9. (February 13, 2003)

Custom-fitted clothing patterns made from body scans
Available soon: You step into a booth where a 3-D body scanner sends more than 300,000 data points from your body to a computer. Then you select style, fabric and design features from a clothing manufacturer on the Internet and e-mail your body scan. Soon you receive a custom-fitted garment. Thanks to a major donation of software, worth as much as $600,000, from Lectra Systems, Inc., apparel students at Cornell University are the first in the country to produce automated custom patterns for garments. They use a sophisticated body scanner, which generates an individual's detailed measurements from a 3-D image, and Lectra software, which produces patterns encoded for a personal fit. Lectra, headquartered in France, is an international company involved in the design, manufacturing and distribution of software and hardware for industrial users of textiles, leather and other soft materials. (February 12, 2003)

Cornell Institute of Public Affairs announces spring lecture series
Economist Robert Frank and legal scholar Martha Fineman are among the distinguished Cornell University faculty speakers launching a new honors program through the Cornell Institute for Public Affairs (CIPA). CIPA is a university-wide institute offering a two year graduate program leading to a master of public administration (MPA) degree. CIPA's Distinguished Faculty Spring 2003 Lectures are open to the public and will be held on Thursdays from 4:30 to 5:45 p.m. in 165 McGraw Hall. (February 12, 2003)

Infants learn to fill in perceptual gaps by 4 months
Adults who amuse infants with sleight-of-hand foolery -- a rolling ball that disappears, then reappears, for example -- should enjoy a childhood learning moment while it lasts. As early as 4 months, and certainly by 6 months, a Cornell University psychologist reports, those wide-open baby eyes have "wired" an important lesson into the developing brain: Fleeting images of an object that seems to disappear while traveling along what adults call a trajectory actually represent the same object. (February 12, 2003)

Work stress can affect how lower-income families eat
The effects of low-paying jobs with inflexible hours could be more threatening even than stress and financial insecurity, according to a new study by nutritionists at Cornell University. Such jobs also can influence how well workers and their families eat. The reason: Many workers with long hours on the job, inflexible schedules and shift work report that they have inadequate time and energy to feed their families as well as they would like. (February 12, 2003)

Memorial honors Cornellians who served their country
Forty-seven Cornellians from the classes of 1927 to 1971 were honored during Reunion in 1993 at the dedication of the Korean/Vietnam War Memorial in the rotunda of Anabel Taylor Hall at Cornell University. Since then, two additional alumni who were killed during the Vietnam War have been identified. Their names will be added to the memorial at a rededication ceremony June 6 during this year's Reunion events. Members of the rededication committee, chaired by alumnus Joseph Ryan '65, are determined that no alumnus who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to his or her country will be overlooked. With the aid of students in the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC), they are searching alumni lists and contacting Cornellians around the world to ask if they know of any alumni who were killed in service during the Korean War, Vietnam War, the Cold War or Desert Storm. This includes anyone who died even years later of injuries incurred during service. (February 12, 2003)

Panels recommend steps to strengthen Cornell's land-grant mission
ITHACA, N.Y. ---- The Land Grant Mission Review Task Force has sent recommendations to the Cornell University Board of Trustees, and implementation has begun on some action steps, said Francille Firebaugh, vice provost for land grant affairs and special assistant to the president. Firebaugh presented the Cornell task force's findings to the trustees on Jan. 24, a year after five panels began reviewing the university's land-grant mission at the request of President Hunter Rawlings and Provost Biddy Martin. The informational report, which was applauded by the trustees, was mailed to department chairs last week. (February 12, 2003)

NSF grant for grad students teaching in public schools
A Cornell University program that provides funding for graduate students to teach in public schools across the United States has been awarded $1.5 million by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to continue and expand its work for another three years. The program, Cornell Scientific Inquiry Partnerships (CSIP), is an expansion of the earlier Cornell Environmental Inquiry Research Partnership (CEIRP). Since its inception in 2000, CSIP has provided full support for about 10 graduate students a year to work with teachers in public K-12 schools, serving as scientific role models in the classroom, as well as teaching and developing curriculum materials. (February 12, 2003)

Karen Sheard and the Clark Cornerstone Cathedral Choir headline Festival of Black Gospel
Premiere gospel vocalist Karen Sheard along with the Clark Cornerstone Cathedral Choir of Ottawa headline the 27th Annual Festival of Black Gospel (FBG) at Cornell University, Friday, Feb 14, through Sunday, Feb. 16. Concerts will be held Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. in Bailey Hall. Tickets are required for the Friday evening concert only. The fee is $12, general admission, and $10 for all students. Children under 8 years of age will be admitted free of charge. The Saturday and Sunday events are free and open to the public. (February 12, 2003)

Cornell Police receive state grant to distribute child safety seats
Cornell University Police have been awarded a grant from the New York State Governor's Traffic Safety Committee that will enable the purchase of car safety seats for the children of eligible students and employees. A demonstration of how to install a child safety seat correctly will be given on Wednesday, Feb. 12, at 11 a.m. in the parking lot at Barton Hall, where the safety-seat program will be announced. Officer George Sutfin will show how the seats should be installed for maximum safety. (February 12, 2003)

Cornell-developed rating system recognizes high-quality child-care providers in five New York state counties
Parents in New York state are provided with a minimum standard of quality by child-care facilities that are licensed or registered. Now, parents in five counties can choose from Child Care Programs of Excellence that have met quality criteria above and beyond state regulatory requirements. The new designation is provided by a Cornell University-New York State Child Care Coordinating Council pilot project. (February 05, 2003)

Three Cornell faculty members to address N.Y. State Assembly task force
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Three faculty members from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. will appear before the New York State Assembly Republican Task Force on Integrative Medicine and Agriculture on Monday, Feb. 10. They will discuss the feasibility of using upstate farmland and forests for growing medicinal herbs and of establishing standards for quality control. Eloy Rodriguez, the James A. Perkins Professor of Plant Biology, Kenneth Mudge, associate professor of horticulture, and Louise Buck, senior extension associate in natural resources, will speak to the Assembly group between 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in Hearing Room C, Legislative Office Building. Assemblyman Pat Manning (R-99th Dist.) chairs the task force. (February 7, 2003)

'Invasion Ecology' curriculum for middle-schoolers
It's June 2002 and the desks in Alan Fiero's seventh-grade science classroom are empty. But the students from Farnsworth Middle School in Guilderland, N.Y., aren't on vacation: They're in a nearby wetland, releasing the tiny Galerucella beetles they have spent months raising in mesh "bug houses." This spring, Fiero and his students will return to the wetland to find out how the beetles -- whose forebears were imported from Europe to combat the spread of the highly invasive purple loosestrife plant -- have fared. In short, Fiero's students are doing serious science -- by using research methods developed at Cornell University as part of a new curriculum designed for teaching middle- and high-school science. The curriculum guide, Invasion Ecology, was published in October 2002 by the National Science Teachers Association Press. The series is designed to teach broader concepts in ecology and environmental science by focusing on some of the most pressing issues scientists currently face. (February 7, 2003)

Marriage-promotion for welfare recipients is bad policy
New marriage-promotion welfare rules proposed by the Bush administration will violate poor women's privacy rights and will not work, says a position paper written by three academics associated with Cornell University. The rules are expected to be reintroduced in the House of Representatives next week as part of the welfare bill, and brought to a vote as early as Tuesday, Feb. 11. (February 7, 2003)

CALS names Donald Viands associate dean and director of academic programs
Donald R. Viands has been named associate dean of Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and director of the college's Office of Academic Programs. Viands, whose appointment became effective Jan. 1, succeeds H. Dean Sutphin, who left Cornell in December to assume a leadership position at his alma mater, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Va. In his new position, Viands is responsible for the administration of the college's curriculum, instruction, support services and teaching and learning environment. He oversees the key areas of the Office of Academic Programs, which are undergraduate admissions, registrar, counseling and advising, career development, and minority programs. Also, Viands directs the college's Master of Professional Studies program. (February 6, 2003)

Teach for America founder Wendy Kopp to speak Feb. 10
Wendy Kopp, founder and president of Teach for America, will be speaking on Cornell University's campus Monday, Feb. 10, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in Barnes Hall Auditorium. Kopp's talk, "A Simple Idea and an Extraordinary Vision," is free and open to the public. It is part of the Park Leadership Speakers series sponsored by Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management. (February 6, 2003)

Invading weeds escaped old enemies, brought immunity
Among 473 of the alien plant species that have invaded from Europe and become naturalized in the United States as noxious weeds, the "most successful" traveled light -- carrying fewer plant diseases from their native habitats -- and were more immune to New World plant diseases. That is the conclusion of Cornell University ecologists after examining plant-health records on both sides of the Atlantic. The study, reported in the latest issue of the journal Nature (Feb. 6, 2003) by Charles E. Mitchell and Alison G. Power as "Release of invasive plants from fungal and viral pathogens," is particularly significant in that it reconciles two theories, dating back to Charles Darwin in 1859, about successful naturalization of invading species. (February 3, 2003)

Great Backyard Bird Count expects record participation
At a time when birds in North America face survival challenges -- ranging from loss of habitat to introduced predators and diseases such as West Nile virus -- ornithologists are counting on birders of every age and skill level to keep their eyes open Feb. 14-17. That's the date for the sixth annual Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC), an Internet-based event that last winter had 47,000 participants identifying millions of commonplace and rare birds. "This time we need every birder to join us," said Frank Gill, senior vice president of science of the National Audubon Society. "The Great Backyard Bird Count has become a vitally important means of gathering data to help birds, but it can't happen unless people take part. Whether you're a novice or an expert, we need you to take part and help us help birds." (February 05, 2003)

Richard Cahoon named interim director of Cornell Research Foundation
Richard Cahoon, vice president of Cornell Research Foundation (CRF), Cornell University's technology licensing and marketing arm, has been appointed interim director. He succeeds James Severson who joined the University of Washington in Seattle on Jan. 1. Cahoon, who has been with the foundation since 1990, also has been named senior vice president of CRF, according to Robert Richardson, Cornell vice provost for research. CRF manages the intellectual property created by Cornell employees and is responsible for obtaining appropriate patent or copyright protection on Cornell-owned intellectual property. (February 5, 2003)

New York farmers brace for an invasion of the swede midge, a little fly that could cause extensive crop damage
A tiny, voracious fly called the swede midge, which already has eaten its way across eastern Canada's cabbage and broccoli fields, now is threatening to descend on crops in states along the northern U.S. border. On Feb. 11 an educational session on the swede midge will be held for registered growers at the 2003 New York State Vegetable Conference in Liverpool, N.Y. It will be presented by Julie Kikkert, senior extension educator with Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE), Christy Hoepting, an educator with CCE, and Kristen Callow, of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, Canada. (February 04, 2003)

J. Peter Krusius, Cornell engineering professor and flat-screen TV developer, dies at age 58
Johann Peter Krusius, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Cornell University and a co-inventor of an important new flat-screen television and video technology, died of cancer on January 30, 2003, at Cayuga Medical Center in Ithaca. He was 58. At Cornell, where he was a former director both of the Joint Services Electronics Program and the Electronic Packaging Program, he led a research group that designed and developed techniques for joining color ßat-panel television and video screens to make large active matrix LCDs (liquid crystal displays) made up of three panels tiled together into a single, seamless piece of glass. (February 4, 2003)

Bringing students back from Web to scholarly sources
In this world of instant Internet information, the use of scholarly documents in writing term papers at U.S. colleges and universities has plummeted and the use of undependable Web resources has soared. Despite this grab-the-information-and-go attitude, there is good news from the stacks. A Cornell University library sciences study shows that when instructors set minimal bibliographic guidelines for doing research, the number of citations of scholarly materials used returns to levels of the pre-Internet world. Online scholarly resources can range from the Congressional Record to academic research reports. (February 3, 2003)