Cornell University News Service Releases

June, 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.

Cornell Police warns motorists: 'You Drink and Drive. You Lose'
With more people than ever expected to travel on America's highways during the long July 4th weekend, this week could be one of the deadliest periods ever for impaired driving fatalities. To help safeguard the community during this holiday period, the Cornell University Police will be fielding extra patrols and sobriety checkpoints to protect citizens from impaired drivers. As part of the "You Drink & Drive. You Lose" national campaign, Cornell Police will be working along with law enforcement agencies nationwide during this busy time of the year. From June 27 to July 13, local and state law enforcement officials will be out in full force throughout the nation. (June 30, 2003)

Damon Runyon's influence on pop culture
The writer and reporter Damon Runyon captured New York City's colorful lowlifes of the 1920s and '30s so indelibly that his legacy still lives on in American popular culture. So says Cornell University Professor of English Daniel Schwarz. His new book, Broadway Boogie Woogie: Damon Runyon and the Making of New York City Culture, was released this spring by Palgrave Macmillan and is now in bookstores. (June 30, 2003)

Community Development Society holds conference at Cornell, July 20-23
Aiming to help resolve economic development, community health and other local issues, the Community Development Society, a national organization for community development professionals, will hold its 35th annual conference at Cornell University, July 20-23. The conference will feature a July 21 keynote address by the Rev. Calvin O. Butts III, pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City and president of The College at Old Westbury, Long Island. Butts will speak at 9 a.m. in the David L. Call Auditorium of Kennedy Hall. (June 30, 2003)

Moderate malnutrition kills millions of children needlessly
About 90 percent of child deaths worldwide occur in just 42 countries -- and about one-fourth of these deaths occur before age 5 in the poorest countries, such as Angola and Niger. Yet, 8 million of the 11 million childhood deaths worldwide each year could easily be prevented, says a Cornell University expert, writing in the authoritative medical journal The Lancet. That's because almost 60 percent of deaths of children under 5 in the developing world are due to malnutrition and its interactive effects on preventable diseases. (June 27, 2003)

Jules Kroll '63 is selected as 2003 Entrepreneur of the Year
Jules Kroll, Cornell University alumnus, executive chairman of the board of Kroll Inc. and acknowledged founder of the modern corporate investigative and security industry, will be honored Oct. 23 and 24 on the Cornell campus as Cornell Entrepreneur of the Year 2003. The award is given annually to a Cornellian who best exemplifies entrepreneurial achievement, community service and high ethical standards. (June 27, 2003)

Sweet drinks increase obesity, nutrition risk in kids
Too much soda and other sugar-filled drinks make children fat. That is the message of a two-month study by nutritionists at Cornell University. Children who drank more than 12 ounces of sweetened drinks gained significantly more weight than children who drank less than six ounces a day. That's because children do not reduce how much food they eat at meals for the calories they consume in sweetened drinks. The more sweetened drinks they consumed, the greater their daily caloric intake and the greater the weight gain. (June 26, 2003)

Smoke-free rules may be good news for business
Restaurants and hotels that go smoke free will not lose dollars by doing so -- contrary to popular beliefs -- and some may even gain revenues, according to a new study published in a Cornell University journal this month. State taxpayers and hospitality industry employees may also be beneficiaries, the study reveals. The study, "New York's Smoke-free Regulations: Effects on Employment and Sales in the Hospitality Industry," shows that smoke-free regulations were not associated with adverse economic outcomes in New York restaurants and hotels. Published in the June 2003 issue of the Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, the study's summary is a featured article at this Web site: . (June 26, 2003)

Search ends for students missing near Arecibo in Puerto Rico
Authorities in Puerto Rico are continuing their investigation into what happened during a June 21 hike near the Arecibo Observatory that led to the deaths of two students -- one from a college in Florida and the second, whose body was found in the Tanama River June 24, from a college in Minnesota. Both are believed to have drowned. At Cornell University, where the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC) operates the Arecibo Observatory's radio telescope on behalf of the National Science Foundation, President Hunter Rawlings expressed sympathy and concern for families of the students. (June 26, 2003)

New York residents favor affirmative action, poll shows
Is affirmative action a good thing? A healthy majority of New York state's residents believe it is. But New Yorkers are fairly evenly divided in their opinions on the use of affirmative action policies in the hiring of employees as well as in college admissions, and views can differ sharply by gender, ethnicity and location. The findings were among of the results of the first Empire State Poll, an ongoing opinion poll of New York residents conducted by Cornell University's Survey Research Institute (SRI). (June 25, 2003)

Peggy Beach is named director of Campus Information and Visitor Relations
Peggy Beach, director of marketing and support services for Cornell University's Department of Campus Life, has been named director of Campus Information and Visitor Relations in the Division of University Relations. In that post, she will direct the Information and Referral Center, the campus tour program, visitor information booths, the Cornell home page and other information activities. She will assume the position July 1. (June 25, 2003)

West Nile virus warning system from climate data
In combating West Nile virus, information could be the ultimate repellant. In an effort to develop an early-warning system for potential West Nile virus outbreaks, Cornell University's Northeast Regional Climate Center (NRCC) and the Department of Entomology will spend this summer collecting climate data in areas where disease-carrying mosquitoes are found. The U.S. government-funded research, it is hoped, will result in the first Web-based, degree-day calculator that warns public health officials when, where and under which conditions infectious mosquitoes can either thrive or die. The information is expected to be on line by next summer. (June 19, 2003)

Ronald Kline named to Cornell Bovay chair in ethics, engineering
Ronald R. Kline has been named the first holder of a new chair in the ethics and history of professional engineering in Cornell University's College of Engineering. Kline is professor of electrical and computer engineering (ECE) and of science and technology studies. The chair, the Sue G. and Harry E. Bovay Jr. Professor in the History and Ethics of Professional Engineering, was endowed in 2000 with a gift from alumnus Harry Bovay, civil and environmental engineering, Cornell class of 1936, and his wife, Sue. It will become part of a campuswide initiative that is teaching ethics throughout the disciplines, funded through a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts. The Bovays have established a similar chair at Texas A&M University. (June 17, 2003)

Board of Trustees Executive Committee meets in New York City, June 19
The Cornell University Board of Trustees Executive Committee will meet in New York City Thursday, June 19. The meeting will be held in the Fall Creek Room of the Cornell Club of New York, E. 44th St. (June 16, 2003)

Imaging technique tracks nerve growth and repair
A biomedical-imaging technique that would highlight the cytoskeletal infrastructure of nerve cells and map the nervous system as it develops and struggles to repair itself has been proposed by biophysics researchers at Cornell and Harvard universities. Reporting in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS June 10, 2003), the researchers say that besides the new imaging technique's obvious applications in studying the dynamics of nervous system development, it could answer the puzzle about which errant pathways initiate damage to brain cells, a key question about the onset of Alzheimer's disease. (June 11, 2003)

Noninvasive optical biopsies on the horizon
A new imaging technique that could lead to optical biopsies without removal of tissue is being reported by biophysical scientists at Cornell and Harvard universities. The advance in biomedical imaging enables noninvasive microscopy scans through the surface of intact organs or body systems. Demonstrations of the new technique are producing images of diseased tissue at the cellular level with unprecedented detail. (June 11, 2003)

John Neuman is named CEO of eCornell
John Neuman, interim CEO of eCornell and a Cornell University alumnus, has been named CEO of the university's for-profit distance-learning subsidiary, it was announced today by Philip M. Young, chair of the board of directors of eCornell. The board approved Neuman's appointment at its regular meeting, May 24. (June 11, 2003)

Cornell Lab of Ornithology's new Center for Birds and Biodiversity welcomes visitors to its open house June 21
Bird enthusiasts and their families are invited to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's community open house June 21 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 159 Sapsucker Woods Road. The open house is being held to celebrate the lab's new, $26.5 million Imogene Powers Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity. The facility is home to almost 200 part- and full-time staff working in the lab's programs on citizen science, education, conservation and bioacoustics research. The building also houses the lab's Macaulay Library, home to the world's largest collection of natural sounds, and the Cornell Museum of Vertebrates, which is valuable to both researchers and educators. (June 09, 2003)

Cornell drinking water meets all EPA standards
The Cornell University water system currently complies with all Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) drinking water standards, including the standards for haloacetic acids, based on May 2003 testing results, reports James Grieger of the university's Department of Environmental Health and Safety. The EPA maximum contamination limit for haloacetic acids is a rolling annual average (RAA) of 60 parts per billion (ppb). Cornell's current RAA is 49 ppb. The current quarterly average is 38 ppb. (June 09, 2003)

NSF grant to train Hispanic students at Arecibo
ARECIBO, P.R. -- The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded nearly $600,000 to Arecibo Observatory and the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo to establish a three-year program to provide Hispanic students on the island with experience in conducting scientific research. The program is aimed at helping address the national need to increase the number of Hispanics making careers in the geosciences, including earth, atmospheric and ocean sciences, says Robert Brown, director of the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC), which manages the observatory, the world's largest and most sensitive single-dish radio telescope. (June 09, 2003)

Diet study at veterinary college seeks five dozen fat cats
Researchers planning a feeding study at Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine are looking for 60 clinically obese cats and some owners who can't say no. The two-month feeding study will test alternatives to current weight-loss diets. In return for participating in the study, cats get a medical exam and a two-months supply of one of three kinds of cat food, all free of charge. Obese cats that are lucky enough to get the weight-loss food -- and stick with it -- might end the test with a sleeker physique and a diet plan for a longer, healthier life. To be eligible, cats must be at least 25 percent overweight and live indoors, within driving distance of Ithaca. (June 6, 2003)

Cornell to rededicate Korean/Vietnam War Memorial June 6
Two members of the Cornell University Class of 1952 who were killed during military service in Vietnam will be honored at the rededication of the Korean/Vietnam War Memorial in the rotunda of Anabel Taylor Hall on the Cornell campus at 4:15 p.m. Friday, June 6. The names of Roger H. Coye and John J. Lawendowski will be unveiled and added to the current roster of 47 Cornellians from the classes of 1927 to 1971 who were killed in service during the Korean War, Vietnam War and the Cold War. The memorial was dedicated during Cornell Reunion in 1993. (June 4, 2003)

Mathematics professor Oscar Rothaus dies in Ithaca at age 75
Oscar Rothaus, a Cornell University professor of mathematics who, during the Cold War, helped develop a vital military mathematical tool that simulates physical processes, died in Ithaca on May 24. He was 75. Today the mathematical tool is used in speech recognition systems and for analyzing DNA. However, Rothaus helped develop the tool, called the Hidden Markov Model, or HMM, for military purposes as a member of the Communication Research Division at the Defense Department's Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) in Princeton, N.J., in the early 1960s. The model was declassified in the early 1970s. (June 3, 2003)

Sandy Berger will present Olin lecture June 6
Sandy Berger, national security adviser for former President Bill Clinton, will deliver the annual Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Lecture Friday, June 6, at 3 p.m. in Bailey Hall to Cornell University alumni and guests attending the university's annual Reunion weekend. The lecture on "America in a Changing World" is free and open to the public. (June 3, 2003)

Study shows why hotel discounting usually doesn't work
Hotel demand in large cities fluctuates more in response to personal income than to changes in hotel prices, according to a new study issued by the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research (CHR). That's why cutting prices during recessions rarely brings in more revenue and raising room rates in good times doesn't seem to diminish demand. (June 3, 2003)