Cornell University News Service Releases
January, 2004
Index to all months
Index to all monthsFor the full text of any story, click on the headline. Electronic queries may be made to cunews@cornell.edu.
Some satisfied hotel customers don't come back
A new research report from Cornell University reveals that brand switching sometimes occurs among a hotel's most-satisfied guests, while some of the least-satisfied guests keep coming back. The findings contradict commonly held marketing wisdom that satisfied customers always return -- and have implications beyond the lodging industry. The report, by Judy Siguaw, a professor of marketing at Cornell's School of Hotel Administration, and Iselin Skogland, a recent graduate of the Hotel School, analyzed behavior among these four guest segments: satisfied switchers, dissatisfied switchers, satisfied stayers and dissatisfied stayers. Two groups, the satisfied switchers and the dissatisfied stayers, did not conform to expectations. (January 30, 2004)
Mandatory livestock identification system is needed
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- If all cattle in the United States carried identification, tracking of herds exposed to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or "mad cow" disease) or other animal diseases would be easier and faster, according to a Cornell University animal-disease and public- policy expert. Alfonso Torres, executive director of the New York State Animal Health Diagnostic Laboratory at Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine, made the suggestion during his testimony Jan. 27 on BSE before the U.S. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee. (January 30, 2004)
Spring 2004 Mind and Memory lectures begin Feb. 2
The Mind and Memory: Exploring Creativity in the Arts and Sciences course begins this month at Cornell University and runs through April. This popular annual offering includes public lectures by distinguished members of the Cornell faculty and other creative people from a wide range of disciplines. "Creativity is the attribute of the mind that enables us to make new combinations from often unfamiliar information," said Joyce Morgenroth, associate professor of dance and Mind and Memory instructor. "As is true of all learning, creativity is dependent upon memory -- a memory that is genetic and social as well as personal and experimental." (January 29, 2004)
Future of midsize farms and agribusiness is topic of public seminar Jan. 28
ITHACA, N.Y. ---- More than 80 percent of farmland in the United States is managed by farmers whose operations fall between small-scale direct markets and large, consolidated farms. These farmers increasingly are left out of the food system, and if current trends continue, the fear is that these farms will disappear in the next decade or two. On Jan. 28 the Community, Food and Agriculture Program (CFAP) and the Small Farms Program, both at Cornell University, will host a public seminar with Fred Kirschenmann, director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Iowa State University, and leader of a new national initiative, Agriculture of the Middle. The initiative is designed to renew America's disappearing sector of midscale farms and related agricultural and food enterprises that are too small to compete in the globalized, bulk agricultural commodities markets and too big to rely on direct marketing to consumers. (January 28, 2004)
Conference comparing China's and India's 'economic miracle' Friday, Jan. 30
China has become the world's manufacturing center, receiving more foreign direct investment than any other country. For the past two decades, China has enjoyed an "economic miracle" with more than 8 percent growth per year. India also has enjoyed boom times since the late 1990s. To explore this economic performance, the Center for the Study of Economy and Society at Cornell University is convening a symposium, "Comparing China and India's Economic Miracle," on Friday, Jan. 30, from 1:15 to 5:30 p.m. in G-08 Uris Hall on the Cornell campus. The conference is free and open to the public. (January 28, 2004)
Weill Cornell grant for meditation-based stress reduction for women cancer patients
New York, NY (January 22, 2003) -- Weill Cornell Medical College has received a $250,000 grant from the Avon Foundation to support a unique new meditation-based stress reduction program for women who have been treated for breast cancer or gynecologic cancer. The program, which takes place at Weill Cornell's Center for Complementary and Integrative Medicine (CCIM), is designed and led by Dr. Joseph Loizzo, Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College and Assistant Attending Psychiatrist at NewYork-Presbyterian Weill Cornell.Dr. Loizzo, who founded the Center for Meditation and Healing in Manhattan, developed this health educational program based on his 30-year study of Indo-Tibetan traditions. He has both an M.D. from New York University and a Ph.D. in Indo-Tibetan studies from Columbia University. Dr. Loizzo works closely with CCIM.
Weill Cornell researchers discover secret for recalling stem cells
New York, NY (January 21, 2003) -- While "location, location, location" has long been the mantra in real estate, it may soon become the buzzword of stem cell scientists everywhere. Weill Cornell researchers have discovered that bone marrow stem and progenitor cells -- immature cells that can give rise to all the cells of the blood and immune system -- must move to a specific location within the marrow to mature into blood cells that keep the body humming.These immature cells get their instructions on how to grow and differentiate when they move into a blood-vessel enriched zone of the bone marrow known as the vascular niche. This movement, orchestrated by "motility factors" called chemokines, allows stem cells to differentiate into blood-clotting platelets and other blood cells.
Cornell trustees approve plan for 4.8 percent endowed tuition increase
At its meeting in New York City Friday, Jan. 23, the Cornell University Board of Trustees approved a set of planning parameters for the 2004-05 budget that calls for a 4.8 percent tuition increase for most students in the endowed colleges. The 4.8 percent increase sets tuition for Cornell's endowed undergraduate and Graduate School students at $30,000 for the 2004-05 academic year. Currently, the tuition is $28,630. (January 27, 2004)
Class-action court awards are not skyrocketing
With a bill before Congress to curb large awards in class-action court settlements again, U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) recently attacked such awards as "jackpot justice." But are the fees meted out by the courts really skyrocketing? A new study by two law professors proves they are not. Both the average price of class-action settlements and the average fee to attorneys in such settlements have held steady for the past 10 years, with "no real dollar increase," the study shows. The findings challenge the bill's assumptions and refute commonly held views inspired by a handful of high-profile cases. (January 27, 2004)
Mary Pat Brady is awarded MLA's first annual prize in Latina and Latino and Chicana and Chicano Literary and Cultural Studies
Mary Pat Brady, assistant professor of English at Cornell University, is the winner of the Modern Language Association of America's first annual prize in United States Latina and Latino and Chicana and Chicano Literary and Cultural Studies. Brady, who directs of the Latino Studies Program at Cornell, was honored for her book, Extinct Lands, Temporal Geographies: Chicana Literature and the Urgency of Space, published by Duke University Press (2002). Brady received the MLA prize during the association's annual convention held in (January 27, 2004)
Teachers praise new Cornell Web site on Africa, geared to New York state schools' curriculum
The speech Nelson Mandela gave when he was released from South Africa's Robben Island prison; articles in African newspapers about the AIDS epidemic; favorite stories of Nigerian schoolchildren: These are some of the primary source materials about Africa on a new Cornell University outreach Web site that's geared especially to third-, ninth- and 10th-grade teachers in New York state. The Institute for African Development (IAD) at Cornell, which is part of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, officially launched its Educator Resources site in December 2003. A subset of the IAD site, the outreach site at
Marketing expert and students analyze Super Bowl ads
On Super Bowl Sunday this Feb. 1, Douglas Stayman and his MBA marketing students will be back at it again studying every move -- not of the players but who is advertising and why -- and who is getting the most bang for the buck. Stayman, an associate professor of marketing at Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management, has been leading his students in the rite of dissecting the ads nearly every year for the past eight years. In that time, he has seen the ads' selling price rise from just over $1 million to this year's record price tag of $2.3 million for just 30 seconds of viewers' attention. (January 22, 2004)
Veterinary College's proposed Waste Management Facility is topic of Jan. 28 public information meeting
The supplemental environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine's proposed Waste Management Facility will be discussed at a public information meeting Wednesday, Jan. 28, from 7 to 8 p.m. in the Borg Warner Room of the Tompkins County Public Library. A comment period on the supplemental EIS closes Feb. 9. (January 21, 2004)
Movie technical achievement award for graphics
A Cornell University professor will share in a Technical Achievement Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for a significant advance in the realism of computer graphics and animation. Stephen Marschner, assistant professor of computer science at Cornell, is a co-developer, with two faculty members at Stanford University, of a method for simulating the subsurface scattering of light in translucent materials. Translucent materials range from marble to human skin. The method has been adopted by several commercial animation studios and is most notably seen in the character Gollum in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. (January 21, 2004)
Cornell plant breeder Steven Tanksley is a co-recipient of the international Wolf Foundation Prize in Agriculture
Steven D. Tanksley, the Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor of Plant Breeding and chair of the Genomics Initiative Task Force at Cornell University, is one of two scientists to share the prestigious 2004 Wolf Foundation Prize in Agriculture for his "innovative development of hybrid rice and discovery of the genetic basis of heterosis in this important food staple." Each year since 1978, the Wolf Foundation, which is based in Israel, has awarded five Wolf Prizes to outstanding living scientists in agriculture, chemistry, mathematics, medicine and physics as well as one to a person in the arts. The prizes are intended to promote science and art for the benefit of mankind, and prize winners are selected by international committees of three renowned experts in each field. The Wolf Prizes are among the most prestigious scientific awards in the world. (January 19, 2004)
Chance find rekindles memory of Martin Luther King Jr.
Collective memory is a fabric that fades without use. So when Kenneth Clarke discovered Martin Luther King Jr.'s name in a Cornell University Sage Chapel ledger of past guest speakers, it was news to him. As it turns out, it's news to many people at Cornell and the greater Ithaca area. Clarke, director of Cornell United Religious Work (CURW), did a double take when he spotted King's name, among hundreds of others listed in the ledgers, just last week. Doubting his eyes perhaps, Clarke confirmed the visit with former CURW director Robert Johnson and then found a Cornell Daily Sun article on microfilm at the university's Olin Library. Indeed, King had been invited to Cornell to deliver a sermon titled "The Three Dimensions of Life" at Sage Chapel. (January 16, 2004)
Cornell trustees to meet in New York City, Jan. 22-24
The Cornell University Board of Trustees will hold its first meetings of 2004 at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York City, Jan. 22 through 24. The full board will meet from 9 to 11:45 a.m. and from 1:45 to 3:15 p.m. Friday, Jan. 23. The first 15 minutes of the afternoon meeting will be open to the public. The rest of those meetings and a meeting Saturday, Jan. 24, from 9 to 11 a.m., will be closed. The 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 Jeffrey Lehman and a report from the College of Arts and Sciences. The board is expected to approve 2004-05 tuition rates for the endowed colleges. (January 16, 2004)
It's warmer on Mars than in the northeast
During the most recent early afternoon on Mars, the temperature at the rover Spirit landing site in Gusev crater was an admittedly chilly minus 11 degrees Celsius (12 degrees Fahrenheit). But it was still warmer than most cities in the upper Northeast, gripped in a frigid winter chill. The rover's Mini-TES instrument (for miniature thermal emission spectrometer) made the precise measurement of the landing-site temperature, at about three feet from the surface, at 1:15 p.m. Mars time, according to mission science team member Michael Smith of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Mars is 1.5 times farther from the sun than Earth. (January 14, 2004)
Annual Martin Luther King Day celebration is set for Jan. 19 at GIAC
A community program to celebrate the life of 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. 19, from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The program is free and open to all, and no RSVP is required. It is the annual event's 10-year celebration at GIAC and will begin with a buffet luncheon, a keynote speech and performances by local choirs. This year's keynote speaker is Lynette Chappell-Williams, director of the Office of Workforce Diversity, Equity and Life Quality at Cornell University. Her topic is titled "Pursuing the Dream: Educating All of Our Children." (January 12, 2004)
Farm-raised salmon presents greater health risks
Consuming farm-raised salmon may pose a greater health risk than eating salmon caught in the wild, according to a group of scientists who published their research today (Jan. 9) in the journal Science. "It appears that the feed used for the farm-raised salmon, concentrated fish products, is the source of the chemical contaminants, while the wild salmon get their food from disparate sources," says Barbara A. Knuth, Cornell professor of natural resources and a co-author on the study. Ronald A. Hites, professor of public and environmental affairs at Indiana University, is the study's lead author. (January 09, 2004)
Combination therapy significantly delays progression of benign prostatic hyperplasia
New York, NY (January 5, 2004) -- For men who suffer from enlargement of the prostate, also called benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), combining two classes of drugs reduces the risk of significant worsening of symptoms and other BPH complications by 66 percent, according to a multi-center study authored by a physician-scientist at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. The study results, published in the December 18 New England Journal of Medicine, may affect treatment for men with BPH -- including half of all men 60 and older in the United States.--The five-year study provides the first scientific evidence that combining alpha-blocking doxazosin with the drug finasteride is significantly more effective than using either treatment alone. The clinical trial involved more than 3,000 men and 20 major medical centers across the United States and is the largest study of its kind ever conducted.
Early treatment of blinding eye disease in infants can prevent severe vision loss
New York, NY -- Two physician-scientists from New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Weill Cornell Medical College were co-authors of a new study which demonstrates that earlier laser treatment for certain premature infants resulted in an overall better vision outcome. Results of the multi-center clinical trial, sponsored by the national eye institute (nei), a part of the national institutes of health (NIH), and published in the December issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology, give physicians new, improved treatment options for retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), a blinding disease that affects premature, low-birth-weight infants and is a leading cause of vision loss in children. (January 5, 2004)
Nanotechnology exhibit opens at Innoventions at Epcot
The world too small to see is revealed in a traveling science museum exhibition, "It's a Nano World," which is on view at Innoventions at Epcot in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., through March 1. It is the first exhibit at Innoventions to highlight nanotechnology. "Nanotechnology, innovation on the molecular scale, will impact our lives in very big ways, as Innoventions guests will experience at this extraordinary exhibition," says Barry Van Deman, section head for science literacy at the National Science Foundation. The 3,000-square-foot traveling exhibit is a result of a unique collaboration between Main Street Science (the education program of the Nanobiotechnology Center at Cornell University), the Sciencenter located in Ithaca and Painted Universe, a design/fabrication team in Lansing, N.Y. (January 9, 2004)
Cornell offers distance-learning course on horticultural grafting methods
Cornell University is offering a hands-on, distance education course, "The How, When and Why of Grafting for Gardeners," which will teach universal criteria for grafting and techniques such as chip budding, T-budding and top-wedge grafting. The noncredit course, developed by Ken Mudge, Cornell professor of horticulture, includes Web-based multimedia lectures, video demonstrations, hands-on grafting with live plants, online quizzes and interactive discussions. (January 08, 2004)
Book on youth development for practitioners
To inspire and inform youth workers and others interested in cultivating environments that promote positive youth development and behavior, two experts from Cornell University have published a book that summarizes current theory, research and practice in the field. The book is The Youth Development Handbook: Coming of Age in American Communities (Sage Publications, 2003), co-edited by Stephen Hamilton and Mary Agnes Hamilton, both of the Department of Human Development and the Family Life Development Center (FLDC) at Cornell. (January 8, 2004)
Cornell undergraduate's team design makes top three in World Trade Center memorial competition
"Garden of Lights," a design by a team that included Cornell University undergraduate Sean Corriel, was one of three finalists in the competition for a memorial at the site of the former World Trade Center in New York City. (January 7, 2004)