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ITHACA, N.Y. -- Scientists hoping to produce super-tough, bio-inspired fibers are a step closer with a new model for the molecular arrangement of spider silk, proposed by Cornell University researchers in the Jan. 5 issue of the journal Science. Alexandra H. Simmons, Carl A. Michal and Lynn W. Jelinski reported their findings in the article, "Molecular Orientation and Two-component Nature of the Crystalline Fraction of Spider Dragline Silk." alanine.hrs.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- More than 30 academic departments and research laboratories are now participating in the Networked Computer Science Technical Report Library (NCSTRL). The NCSTRL (pronounced "Ancestral") system compiles the technical reports of leading-edge research from computer scientists around the world and provides an efficient, user-friendly method for researchers, students, engineers, and others to access this research over the Internet at http://www.ncstrl.org. The NCSTRL project has grown rapidly from the experimental digital library efforts undertaken in the Computer Science Technical Reports (CS-TR) project, sponsored in 1992 by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) through the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI), and in the National Science Foundation (NSF)-sponsored WATERS project. The NCSTRL effort continues to evolve, with the hope that it will indeed become the progenitor of future generations of digital libraries. ancestral.html

GENEVA, N.Y. -- A new big apple in New York will be introduced Jan. 10 by breeders from Cornell University's Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, N.Y. The Fortune apple -- a large, tasty, eating apple -- will debut at the annual New York State Horticultural Show in Rochester, N.Y. Fortune is "gently sweet and reminiscent of the Delicious apple that is part of its genetic makeup, but with a juicy McIntosh snap when bitten into," wrote Mimi Sheraton, food author, in the November 1995 issue of Audubon Magazine. bigapple.bpf.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Ten major locations throughout the middle Atlantic region and the Northeastern United States have set snowfall records this week, shattering record snowfall amounts set during the last "Storm of the Century" in March 1993, according to climatologists at the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University. Those locations are Philadelphia; Newark, N.J.; Dulles Airport, Va.; Baltimore; Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Pa.; New York City; Elkins, W.Va.; Charleston, W.Va.; National Airport, Va.; and Bridgeport, Conn. snowrelease.bpf.html
Map of snowfall distribution

ITHACA, N.Y. -- A computer program written by a Cornell University graduate student to help him read his mathematics texts is now helping visually impaired students across the country with their studies. Eventually it may speed the process of recording books for the blind and perhaps lead to an audio browser for the World Wide Web. The program, called AsTeR (cq) reads text stored in computer files aloud. There's nothing new in that, but AsTeR adds vocal emphasis and pauses to make the meaning clear, and allows the user to move forward and backward through the text, even jumping from one chapter of a book to another. AsTeR.bs.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Inner city schoolchildren all over North America soon will be learning from the pigeons under their feet. Project PigeonWatch, the youth science-education experiment that teaches professional scientists the evolutionary advantage of birds' color morphs, is hitting the streets. Pilot tests by the Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology showed that the concept can fly: Inner city schoolchildren can collect scientifically valuable data in New York City, Chicago, Denver and Washington, D.C. Now the project, which is supported by National Science Foundation (NSF) and participants' fees, is seeking thousands more data points to answer a question that has long puzzled ornithologists: How come pigeons come in so many colors? pigeonwatch.hrs.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- While much of the eastern United States digs out from the Blizzard of '96, the snow has stopped falling but snowfall records continue to fall and storm-related anecdotes pile up, according to climatologists from the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University. Philadelphia and parts of New Jersey were hammered by the greatest one-storm, snowfall totals ever. In Philadelphia, the storm left 30.7 inches of snow, breaking the old one-storm snowfall total by 9.4 inches -- the previous record was the Feb. 11-12, 1983, storm that blanketed the City of Brotherly Love with 21.3 inches of snow. This week's blizzard exceeded the 12 inches of snow left during 1993's so-called "Storm of the Century." Snowfallji.bpf..html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- A new synthesis and public-information program starting up at Cornell University will examine the environmental risk factors -- including exposure to chemical pesticides -- for breast cancer in women of New York and the United States. Prompted by concern from U.S. Sen. Alfonse D'Amato (R-N.Y.) about higher-than-average "clusters" of breast cancer in some regions of the state, the Cornell program will interpret and disseminate research information on both the established and suspected risk factors for the disease. Plans also call for creation of a publicly accessible database, within the Pesticide Management Education Program (PMEP) at Cornell, covering chemical pesticides and their sales and use in New York. In his Jan. 3 State of the State address New York Gov. George Pataki said he is requesting an appropriation of $250,000 for the program. breastcancer.hrs.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- After 10 days of digging out from the Blizzard of '96, temperatures across the northeastern and middle Atlantic regions of the United States have begun to rise in what folklore calls the "January Thaw," according to a climatologist at the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University. "The January Thaw has origins rooted in New England folklore and describes a period of a few days in mid- to late-January in which unseasonably warm temperatures have a tendency to occur," said Art DeGaetano, climatologist at the center. janthaw.bfp.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell University astronomers, observing what they call "the most boring, average galaxy" they could find, have discovered some unusual mechanics: counter-rotating stars in a spiral galaxy. About 80 percent of the stars in the galaxy NGC 4138 -- mostly older stars -- are rotating in a direction opposite to the younger stars and a huge cloud of hydrogen gas encircling the galaxy, according to findings by Martha Haynes, Cornell professor of astronomy, Katherine P. Jore, doctoral student, and Adrick H. Broeils, research associate at Cornell's Center for Radiophysics and Space Research. They presented their findings today (Jan. 18) at the American Astronomical Society meeting in San Antonio, Texas. stars.ltb.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Every Feb. 2 has a special significance for researchers at Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine, and it's not because scientists think a sleepy rodent on Groundhog Day can predict winter's end. Rather, the groundhog (also known as the woodchuck) is honored at Cornell for its indispensable contributions to the study of liver disease in humans. For more than 15 years, animals born at the world's only scientific source of disease-free woodchucks have led researchers to discoveries in treatment and prevention of hepatitis B infection and the liver cancer it can cause. groundhog.hrs.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Are young children reliable witnesses in court? How easily are their memories distorted? How can interviewing techniques and repeated questioning affect children's reports of events? What can professionals do to elicit accurate testimony from children? These questions are explored in the new book, Jeopardy in the Courtroom: A Scientific Analysis of Children's Testimony, co-authored by award-winning developmental psychologists Stephen J. Ceci, Ph.D., of Cornell University and Maggie Bruck, Ph.D., of McGill University. kidsincourt.ssl.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Donald A. Rakow has been named the Elizabeth Newman Wilds Director of Cornell Plantations, which administers the arboretum, botanical garden and other natural areas of Cornell University's Ithaca, N.Y., campus. He had been acting director. As director of the university's outdoor museum for living plants, Rakow will lead efforts to continue to beautify more than 2,900 acres of awe-inspiring gorges, manicured lawns framed by venerable structures and exquisite botanical gardens, as well as keep up with the latest in arboretum technology. rakowplantdir.bpf.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- The associate director of Cornell University's Peace Studies Program was in Norway last month for the presentation of the 1995 Nobel Peace Prize, which went to London scientist Joseph Rotblat and the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, the organization over which Rotblat presides. Cornell's Judith Reppy attended the Nobel ceremonies in Oslo City Hall on Dec. 10 as a co-chair of the U.S. Pugwash Committee and member of the organization's international governing body. Pugwash was founded 38 years ago in Pugwash, Nova Scotia, to work toward elimination of nuclear weapons. reppy.jg.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- As a graduate student at Cornell University during the 1960s, William Wallace '68 wrote his thesis on the revival of Great Britain's Liberal Party. Now he is serving that party in Parliament. On Dec. 20, Wallace became a peer in the House of Lords, where he will advise house members on foreign policy, defense and European issues and examine legislation from the Parliament's other house, the House of Commons. Also recently named peers were five Conservatives, four members of the Labour Party, and one fellow Liberal Democrat, their numbers dictated by the number of seats each party controls in the House of Commons. Of a total of 1,000 peers -- who hold lifetime appointments -- approximately 400 are currently practicing, Wallace said. wallace.jg.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- In an effort to generate new business investment and technology transfer, Cornell University officials and executives from 10 U.S. companies that evolved from Cornell research will meet with venture capital groups and industrialists in Taiwan on Jan. 15. The all-day meeting at the Far East Plaza Hotel in Taipei will include Cornell President Hunter Rawlings; Norman R. Scott, Cornell vice president for research and advanced studies; Chin Lin, president, and other officials of China Venture Management, Inc.; Michael Stamm, president of Tompkins County Area Development in Ithaca; Inge Reichenbach, Cornell acting vice president for public affairs; and executives of 10 U.S. companies located in Central New York, California and Atlanta, Ga. BusinessTaiwan.hnd.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- In a move designed to make U.S. government reports more accessible to a wider population, including scholars and businesses overseas, a Cornell University library has been selected as a site for collecting, transmitting and archiving selected federal labor reports on the Internet. This development at Cornell puts libraries in the position of becoming public service publishing houses and underscores their importance in formulating national information policy. CatherwoodInitiative.dg.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Management consulting firms no longer wait in lines at university placement offices to find new talent. Now they've entered the classroom to see how students perform as would-be consultants. The consulting firm of Ernst & Young LLP recently sponsored and judged a $5,000 consulting competition at Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management. Ernst & Young LLP's foray into the classroom marks a departure from how the firm connected with students in the past. ErnstandYoung.dg.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Family businesses make critical contributions to the national economy and to family well-being. To determine what directions research on entrepreneurs, families in business and family businesses should take and to help enhance the viability of family businesses, the newly established Cornell University Family Business Research Institute is hosting a conference March 17 to 19 in New York City. The Cornell Conference on the Entrepreneurial Family: Building Bridges sponsored by the Executive Compensation Group, Inc., Jefferies & Company, Inc., Coopers and Lybrand, L.L.P., and Genus Resources, Inc. is intended for academics in the areas of family studies, business management, family economics/management and community/rural development; cooperative extension educators; family-related professional practitioners, family business service providers; as well as family business owners and managers. heckconference.ssl.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Truest Pleasure (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 1995) reads as naturally as if it were an autobiography. "Like a fireside chat," writes one reviewer in Southern Living magazine. But it took six manuscripts to get it right, says award-winning poet and novelist Robert Morgan of his latest work. "I first wrote it as a novella in 1980," said Morgan, the Kappa Alpha Professor of English and director of the Creative Writing Program at Cornell University. "I rewrote it in the mid-80s, and again as a full novel in 1991. Then I wrote it three times as a novel: once in the third person, once in heavy dialect and once in first-person standard English, roughing up the language a bit." Morganbook.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- What's in a name? The future of public transportation in Tompkins County, according to Barbara Blanchard, a member of the Tompkins County Board of Representatives and chair of the operations committee of the Ithaca-Tompkins Transit Center. "We've been talking for several years about consolidating the city, county and university bus systems to provide a cost-effective public-transit system with better routes and schedules," Blanchard said. "Now we're ready to do it." namethebus.bb.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- A conference titled "Hollywood vs. Babelsberg: Nazi Entertainment Films" on Saturday, Jan. 27, at Cornell University will explore the politics of film in the Third Reich within the broader context of an emerging entertainment industry. The conference, to be held from 9:15 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Cornell Center for Theatre Arts' Film Forum, will feature lectures from scholars and screenings of several Nazi films. nazifilms.dg.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- To help advance the careers of women in academia, the President's Council of Cornell Women (PCCW) is offering grants to support the completion of dissertations and research leading to tenure and promotion. The deadline for application for the grants, which can be in any subject, is Feb. 16. Eligible applicants include Cornell women who are either Ph.D. students or assistant or associate professors. pccwgrants96.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell University Board of Trustees will hold its first meeting of 1996 at the Cornell University Medical College in New York City Jan. 25 through 27. The full board will meet in open session on Friday, Jan. 26, from 9 to 11 a.m. in Room A-126 of the Medical College's Harkness Medical Research Building, 1300 York Ave. Among topics of discussion will be federal and state fiscal outlook, tuition recommendations and reports on research funding, strategic planning and the Cornell Campaign. trusteeadvance.final.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Congress should be wary about adopting the recent flat-tax proposals being pursued on the Hill, says Cornell economist Robert Frank, who met with Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley, Reps. Charles Schumer and Richard Gephart and other key lawmakers last month in Washington, D.C. A flat tax would create a larger gap between the super-rich and the middle class with harsh consequences for American culture, claims Frank, co-author with Philip J. Cook of Duke University of The Winner-Take-All Society (Free Press, 1995), in which he details how extreme wealth pollutes the nation's economic and cultural landscape. Winner-Take-All.dgcxupdate.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell University has completed its five-year capital campaign with a record-setting $1.507 billion that exceeded its goal of $1.25 billion, President Hunter Rawlings announced today (Jan. 26, 1996). Cornell's $1.5 billion is the most raised in any university campaign and already has helped offset a significant reduction in government support for higher education. Fully 27 percent of the 130-year-old Ivy League institution's $1.750 billion endowment is attributable to gifts raised during the campaign that was announced in 1990. That translates to a 91 percent increase in faculty positions endowed; a 99 percent increase in endowment per student; and a 114 percent increase in the number of endowed student-aid funds. Campaign.jkp.html

"I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution." -- Barbara Jordan
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The next time members of the Christian Coalition invoke the Bible or their Republican allies invoke the Contract with America in debating President Bill Clinton on divisive social issues, he can respond with a little "good book" of his own -- written by two Cornell University professors. The Godless Constitution: The Case Against Religious Correctness, by political scientist Isaac Kramnick and historian R. Laurence Moore, is a short, easy-to-read refutation of the religious right's claim that the Founders envisioned a Christian nation and Constitution. Godless.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- The following testimony is scheduled to be delivered by Henrik N. Dullea, Cornell University vice president for university relations, at a New York State Senate Committee on Higher Education hearing on "Rethinking SUNY." The hearing is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 23, at Morris Conference Center, State University of New York at Oneonta. HNDTestimony.hnd.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Are young children reliable witnesses in court? How easily are their memories distorted? How can interviewing techniques and repeated questioning affect children's reports of events? What can professionals do to elicit accurate testimony from children? These questions are explored in the new book, Jeopardy in the Courtroom: A Scientific Analysis of Children's Testimony, co-authored by award-winning developmental psychologists Stephen J. Ceci, Ph.D., of Cornell University and Maggie Bruck, Ph.D., of McGill University. kidsincourt.ssl.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell University is moving to the next phase of an innovative plan to cool campus equipment and buildings using cold water from Cayuga Lake as a natural refrigerant, now that studies have shown the concept is environmentally and economically feasible. The plan, called lake source cooling, would use cold water from the bottom of Cayuga Lake to chill water from the campus, which then would be used for air conditioning and equipment cooling in Cornell buildings. lakecooling.ltb.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Helen T. Mohrmann, an expert in computer technology, will join Cornell University as director of administrative systems and distributed technologies effective Feb. 1. Mohrmann, who will report jointly to H. David Lambert, vice president for information technologies, and to Frederick A. Rogers, senior vice president, will serve as a member of both management teams. She also will serve as a member of Cornell's Administrative Data Systems Policy Advisory Committee (ADSPAC) and will provide leadership for Cornell's transition to a distributed systems environment from a mainframe system. mohrmann.ltb.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Continuing a tradition established in 1965, Cornell University's Program for Andrew D. White Professors-at-Large will bring four distinguished scholars to campus this semester for formal and informal exchanges with faculty and students. Raphael D. Levine, the Max Born Professor of Natural Philosophy and chairman of the Fritz Haber Research Center for Molecular Dynamics at The Hebrew University, will be at Cornell from Feb. 1 through 10 for his third, and possibly final, visit. On Wednesday, Feb. 7, he will give a public lecture, "Cluster Impact Chemistry: A Novel Route to High-Energy Chemical Reactions," in Room 200 of Baker Laboratory at 4:40 p.m. He will give two other presentations on campus: "Recent Progress in Rydberg State Dynamics," on Feb. 6, and "Dynamics in Several Electronic States," on Feb. 8, both at 11:15 a.m. in Room 119 of Baker Laboratory. prof-at-large.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- A Cornell University faculty and student committee is recommending that all freshman students have similar residential experiences as members of relatively small campus communities, including program houses. This final, substantially revised report by the Residential Communities Committee recommends that Cornell continue to guarantee housing to all freshmen; that faculty actively be engaged in the life of the residence halls; and that the university develop a program that allows students to become members of smaller communities in their first year. The committee's charge was to develop ways to ease the transition to Cornell and generate a greater sense of community at all levels of campus life. residence.jkp.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Ann Stunden joined Cornell University's Information Technologies as director of support services and academic computing earlier this month (January). Stunden will work with academic and administrative units to assure that adequate support exists throughout Cornell to enable faculty and staff to use information technologies in pursuit of the university's academic mission. As director of support services and academic computing, she is responsible for information technologies services, including those supporting the digital library, public information services, direct support activities, support of desktop and network operating environments, support of faculty to bring technology to the teaching and learning environment and improved technology support for researchers. stunden.ltb.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell University Board of Trustees, at its January meeting in New York City, approved a 1996-97 budget that calls for a 4.5 percent tuition increase for the endowed colleges. The board delayed setting statutory college tuitions because of uncertainty over state budget cuts. The increase is the lowest since 1965-66, when there was no increase, said Henrik N. Dullea, vice president for university relations. tuitionincrease.jp.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Victim Advocacy Program, a new Cornell University service, is now available to all members of the Cornell community. The position will function under the auspices of the University Ombudsmans Office. Danilee Poppensiek will serve as the victim advocate while continuing her assistant ombudsman duties. The program assists any member of the Cornell community who has been the victim of a crime or serious incident, regardless of the location of the crime or incident. The victim advocate's primary focus is to provide support, assistance and advocacy for victims of assault, rape, harassment or other crimes or incidents that have caused physical or mental harm. VictimsAdvocateProg.html

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Jerome M. Ziegler, former dean of Cornell University's College of Human Ecology, is applying a lifetime of acquired knowledge and skills related to education and passing them on to school principals in an innovative professional education program. The Leadership Institute for School Principals, which Ziegler designed and leads, gives principals and other board of education personnel a fresh view on critical issues, new skills to enhance their roles as educational leaders and experience leading seminars and workshops in their schools. It is sponsored by the Education Division of the National Executive Service Corps, a ziegler.ssl.html