Cornell University News Service Releases

August, 1999

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For the full text of any story, click on the filename at the end of the description. These stories are also available via anonymous FTP at cunews.cornell.edu. Electronic queries may be made to cunews@cornell.edu.

President's question: 'Where's the chicken?'
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The most influential leader on the planet got a real taste of New York and Cornell University Monday. President Bill Clinton, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and their daughter Chelsea, who are vacationing in Skaneateles, N.Y., toured the New York State Fair in nearby Syracuse. There they visited the Bakers' Chicken Coop eatery, specifically to savor a taste of the famous Cornell barbecued chicken. Robert Baker, Cornell professor of animal science, created the recipe, which has tempted fair-going palates since 1949. BakersChicken.bpf.html (August 31, 1999)

Karlton Hester and Roberto Sierra each garner their 7th ASCAP awards
ITHACA, N.Y. -- For the seventh time since their arrival as members of Cornell University's music faculty, Karlton E. Hester and Roberto Sierra each have garnered an award from the American Society of Composers, Publishers and Authors (ASCAP). ASCAP, based in New York, represents 35,000 members in numerous countries and distributes royalties to its writer-members. It presents annual awards to artists who demonstrate exceptional work. The awards, granted by an independent panel, are based on the quality of each writer's catalog of original compositions. The amount of this year's cash ward was not announced. ASCAP.Hester.Sierra.html (August 30, 1999)

CALS to honor agriculture alumni and faculty Sept. 24
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Alumni Association of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University will honor five alumni, a faculty member and a staff member at the association's annual alumni awards banquet Friday, Sept. 24. The event will be held on campus at the Trillium Dining Room, Kennedy Hall, at 6 p.m. Individuals may register for the banquet by contacting the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) Alumni Office at 276 Roberts Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. 14853, by Sept. 15. For information, call (607) 255-7651. CALS.Awards.bpf.html (August 30, 1999)

Diversity, inequality, community in America
ITHACA, N.Y. -- One of our country's most unique features is its racial, ethnic and cultural diversity. But America also is characterized by its substantial and persistent social and economic inequality. This diversity and so-called "durable" inequality are the heart of a new book, A Nation Divided: Diversity, Inequality and Community in American Society (Cornell University Press, 1999). Edited by Cornell University sociologists Phyllis Moen, Donna Dempster-McClain and Henry A. Walker, A Nation Divided explores the origins, influence and implications of these controversial issues. diversity.inequal.ssl.html (August 30, 1999)

Anti-sweatshop crusader Charles Kernaghan is ILR speaker Sept. 2
ITHACA, N.Y. -- "The Campaign to End Sweatshops and Child Labor" will be the title of Charles Kernaghan's talk at Cornell University Thursday, Sept. 2. Kernaghan is viewed as the leading U.S. advocate for fair labor practices around the world. His talk is part of the School of Industrial and Labor Relations' (ILR) pre-Labor Day celebration and will take place in Room 105 of the new Ives Classroom Building at 11:30 a.m. Kernaghan is the director of the National Labor Committee (NLC), an independent, nonprofit human rights organization that aims to protect the rights of workers -- especially young women in Central America, the Caribbean and East Asia who assemble garments, shoes, toys and other products that are exported to the United States. Under his directorship, the group has helped place the issue of sweatshop abuses and child labor squarely on the national agenda. Pre.labor.day.Kernaghan.html (August 30, 1999)

Web site helps families stay strong
ITHACA, N.Y. -- How to keep a family strong: create and keep up family rituals and traditions. Make a big deal out of birthdays and other important dates. Keep a family scrapbook. Do community service projects, like recycling drives, together. Have formal family meetings to discuss issues and problems. These simple suggestions for family unity are offered by June Mead, editor for family and parent resources on a new World Wide Web site, Children, Youth and Families Education and Research Network, also known as CYFERNet. Mead also is a program evaluator at Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) at Cornell University. Recently she authored an applied bulletin, "Evaluating Home Visiting Programs: A Focus on Parenting and Family Strengths Outcomes." The bulletin, which is based on research conducted by CCE, can be downloaded and used by family workers to evaluate their own programs. strong.families.ssl.html (August 30, 1999)

College of Veterinary Medicine names Michael I. Kotlikoff new chair of biomedical sciences
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The New York State College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University has announced the appointment of Michael I. Kotlikoff as chair of the Department of Biomedical Sciences. His appointment is effective July 1, 2000. Currently, Kotlikoff is a professor and the chair of the Department of Animal Biology and director of the Center for Animal Transgenesis and Germ Cell Research at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine. He also holds a joint appointment in the Department of Medicine in Penn's School of Medicine. VetChair.bpf.html (August 30, 1999)

Radar images of an Earth-crossing asteroid
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Using the radar systems at the National Science Foundation's recently upgraded radio/radar telescope at Arecibo, Puerto Rico, and at NASA's Goldstone Solar System Radar in California, astronomers have obtained the most-detailed pictures yet of an asteroid which passed within 5.3 million miles of Earth earlier this month. The radar images of this Earth orbit-crossing asteroid, known as 1999 JM8, reveal a several-mile-wide object with a peculiar shape and an unusually slow and possibly complex spin state, says Lance Benner, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif., who led the team of astronomers. AsteroidPix.bpf.html (August 26, 1999)

Johnson School students show how to revitalize small-city downtowns
ITHACA, N.Y. -- A report on downtown revitalization by six students at Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management found that retail business can add to an established downtown but cannot anchor it. "The single most effective anchor of small downtowns is one or two high-density employers" -- companies that employ at least 1,000 people -- and the surest way to attract them is through exceptional city schools, they wrote. Commons.rpt.html (August 26, 1999)

Tiny mites protect vineyards from mildew
ITHACA, N.Y. -- In the war against a fungus devastating to grapes, Cornell University scientists may have learned mites' real might. To do battle against powdery mildew, Cornell scientists have turned to the shady underworld of wild grapes. Underneath wild grape leaves exist tiny hairlike structures called acarodomatia. Tydeid mites, as well as other potentially beneficial mites, make themselves at home among them, says Gregory English-Loeb, a Cornell assistant professor of entomology at the university's New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, N.Y. What English-Loeb and other Cornell scientists learned is that the mites feed on powdery mildew, which is considered a nemesis to vineyards. Mite.bpf.html (August 26, 1999)

"Good Neighbor Guide" to be distributed to students off campus
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Many Cornell University students who live off campus call Collegetown home during the academic year. But Collegetown is also home to year-round residents and families, private homes and large apartment complexes, and a bustling business district. The Collegetown section of East Hill offers a diverse mix of people, buildings, and activities unmatched in character, quality, and amenities, according to David I. Stewart, director of community relations at Cornell. "That's why students and families choose to live there," he said. To introduce college students and other renters to their new neighborhood, the Collegetown Neighborhood Council (CNC) has published an updated "Good Neighbor Guide." Over the next few weeks, more than 3,500 copies of the 1999-2000 guide will be distributed by East Hill property owners, merchants, and year-round residents. In addition, copies will be distributed in the Cornell Heights neighborhood and to fraternity and sorority houses. Good.Neighbor.Guide.ds.html (August 25, 1999)

New way to write to magnetic chips
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell University researchers have demonstrated a new way to write information to magnetic material that could lead to new computer memory chips that will have a very high storage capacity and will be non-volatile, meaning they would not require a constant electric current flowing to maintain stored information. Dan Ralph, Cornell assistant professor of physics, says the effect was demonstrated in devices between 10 nanometers and 100 nanometers across. If the effect can be commercially harnessed with 10-nanometer devices, he says, it will make possible single chips capable of storing terabits (billions of bits) of information. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter, or about three times the diameter of an atom. magnetic_memory.ws.html (August 25, 1999)

LaFeber on capitalism and Michael Jordan
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Walter LaFeber's latest book was intended for use in the lecture hall. But Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism (Norton, $22.95) has proven to be compelling grist for a much wider audience. "During a call-in show at WNYC, they had to shut down the phone lines so many people were calling in," said LaFeber, Cornell University's Marie Underhill Noll Professor of American History. "People have very strong feelings about Jordan, his relationship with Nike's factories in Southeast Asia and the issue of culture vs. capitalism." As stated on the book's dust jacket, Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism "is a primer on one of the most important issues currently under debate: how the devices of triumphant capitalism, coupled with high-tech telecommunications, are conquering the world, one mind -- one pair of feet -- at a time." LaFeber.fac.html (August 20, 1999)

Plantations' fall lecture series covers the ecological landscape
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Horticulturists, authors and landscape designers -- plus one ecologist, one mycologist and one literary critic -- are in the lineup for the Fall '99 Cornell Plantations Seminar Series with 10 Wednesday evening lectures, starting Sept. 8 at Cornell University. All lectures in the series are free to the public. The lectures also may be attended for one college credit as Horticulture 480. Book signings are scheduled after five of the lectures, and refreshments are served after each one. Nearby free parking is available on B-lot off Route 366. plantations_lecs99.hrs.html (August 20, 1999)

Recipe for happy retired husbands: work
BOSTON, MA. -- Retired men who return to work report the highest morale and lowest levels of depression -- especially if their wives remain at home -- compared with other couples, both working and retired, according to a new Cornell University study. Recently retired stay-at-home wives, though, seem to have difficulty adjusting to retirement if their husbands aren't also at home; these women experience jumps in depressive symptoms compared with recently retired women whose husbands have also retired and haven't gone back to work. work.retirement.ssl.html (August 20, 1999)

On Turkey earthquake, structural damage
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cornell University professors Muawia Barazangi of geological sciences and Thomas D. O'Rourke of civil engineering are available to comment on the recent earthquake in Turkey. Turkeyquake.adv.html (August 19, 1999)

Waste-management program's summer fair is Aug. 19 at Forest Houses apartments in the Bronx
ITHACA, N.Y. -- To display the accomplishments of "3Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle) Center for Waste Prevention," a prototype waste-management program, Cornell University Cooperative Extension of New York City and the Cornell Waste Management Institute will hold a summer fair Thursday, Aug. 19, at the Forest Houses grounds west of 975 Tinton Ave., near the 2001 Omni Community Garden. The open house is from 1:30 to 4 p.m. NYC-Waste.bpf.html (August 18, 1999)

Get ready, Ithaca: Students return to town Friday
ITHACA, N.Y. -- The good news is that all the roads on Cornell University's campus -- including those that have been closed for construction for most of the summer -- will be open Friday (Aug. 20). The bad news is those roads will be clogged with thousands of cars as some 3,200 new students arrive at Cornell to move into residence halls and attend a weeklong series of orientation events. Over the following week, another 1,000 students will return to Ithaca to register Aug. 24-25 and prepare for the beginning of classes Aug. 26. students.return.lgk.html (August 18, 1999)

Tcat hits the streets to explain new transit plan
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Tcat is gearing up for its Aug. 22 service introduction by helping local riders plan for the adjustments that may lay ahead for them. Some riders will notice little change in their routine, while others may find that they'll be riding a different route number at a different time. Tcat's staff will be on hand at several bus stops next week to address riders' questions and concerns and to distribute detailed information on the new plan. "We'll be distributing 'StreetWise,' a newsletter that will help riders learn about the improvements, as well as the new system map," said Tcat General Manager Rod Ghearing. "We'll also have route change slips that riders can fill out on the bus and return to the driver. Tcat will then mail the slip back to them with details on which routes will meet their needs in the new system." TCAT.Busstop.html (August 17, 1999)

Barbara Hope Cooper, first woman physics professor at Cornell, dies at 45
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Barbara Hope Cooper, the first woman to be appointed a professor of physics at Cornell University, died Aug. 7 at Cayuga Medical Center here. She was 45. She had been under treatment for lung cancer for several months but was still actively involved with her research group of seven graduate students until the week of her death. She obtained her Ph.D. in 1982 from the California Institute of Technology and remained at Caltech as a postdoctoral fellow until she was recruited by the Cornell Department of Physics in 1983 as an assistant professor. She was recognized as encouraging female students in physics, both as a mentor and an adviser. At the time of her death, more than half her graduate students were female. BCooper.obit.deb.html (August 12, 1999)

'Hard' computer problems explained
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Believe it or not, there are some problems computers just can't solve -- at least not quickly enough to be of any use. Many of them are of the type computer scientists call "combinatorial" in which the computer has to try out a vast number of different combinations, as in arranging a sports schedule or planning airline flights. Sometimes the computer does just fine until the problem grows past a certain size: add just one more team, or even one more airline passenger, and the time the computer needs to find a solution suddenly becomes excessively long. phase.ws.html (August 12, 1999)

Evidence of shifting sands on Mars
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Does Mars have shifting sands? Over the past few months the camera on board the Mars Global Surveyor has provided tantalizing evidence of surface changes on the planet as sand dunes that cover large areas show signs of being moved by the Martian wind. The latest photographic evidence -- the sharpest Mars images to date -- says Cornell University astronomer Peter Thomas, indicates that the surface of Mars is "dynamic" and that the dunes have indeed been active in the few months since frost was deposited on the surface. NASA.Thomas.deb.html (August 10, 1999)

Cooperative Extension's Ontario, Canada, beef tour scheduled for Sept. 29 - Oct. 2
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Reservations are being accepted for the Fourth Biannual Beef Producers Tour, Sept. 29--Oct. 2. The tour, presented by Cornell Cooperative Extension, will explore the beef industry of Canada's province of Ontario. Mike Baker, Cornell University beef extension specialist, will lead the tour, which will focus on the cow-calf and feedlot industries, as well as trade relations between the United States and Canada. One of the tour highlights will be an evening session with farmer-feeders to answer questions on cattle procurement, Holstein vs. beef, calves vs. yearlings and other practical research projects. BeefTour.bpf.html (August 10, 1999)

Andy Noel is appointed Cornell's new athletics director
ITHACA, N.Y. -- John Andrew "Andy" Noel Jr., Cornell University's associate director of athletics, has been named by the university to succeed Charles Moore as director of athletics and physical education. The appointment was announced to the Cornell Department of Athletics and Physical Education staff today (Monday, Aug. 9) by Susan H. Murphy, Cornell vice president for student and academic services. Noel.A.D.bpf.html (August 10, 1999)

Naked mole-rats break the rules on nursing
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Only hungry babies and grown-up biologists worry whether there are enough mammary glands to go around. Naked mole-rat mothers don't worry. Even when a female produces more than two dozen pups and has "only" a dozen mammary glands to feed them, naked mole-rat society has a way of keeping peace in the underground nests, according to the cover-story article in the August 1999 Journal of Mammalogy by Paul W. Sherman, Stanton Braude and Jennifer U.M. Jarvis. rat_mamm.hrs.html (August 10, 1999)

Tcat spreads the word on new transit plan
ITHACA, N.Y. -- It's been years in the making, and now the new Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (Tcat) system finally will become reality Aug. 22. To prepare the community for the upcoming change, Tcat's staff will be on hand at several bus stops throughout Tompkins County next week to address riders' questions and concerns and to distribute detailed information on the new plan. (See schedule below) It's been a long road for local transit to get to this point. First came the consolidation of the three separate transit systems -- Cornell, Ithaca Transit and TomTran -- officially creating Tcat. Then came the difficult process of critically examining these three different systems in order to create one unified, efficient system. TCAT.bus.stops.html (August 10, 1999)

Tcat to demonstrate wheelchair-accessible bus Aug. 14
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Saturday, Aug. 14, at 1:30 p.m., Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (Tcat) staff will be on hand at Titus Towers in downtown Ithaca to demonstrate a wheelchair-lift-equipped bus. Anyone is welcome to attend. "Although most of the Tcat fleet is wheelchair accessible, we have found many community members are reluctant to take advantage of the service," said Brenda Kuhn, Tcat service development coordinator. "I think there is a perception that the lift is a cumbersome device, but, in reality, it is quick and simple to use." TCAT.wc.bus.html (August 10, 1999)

Senior volunteering indicates well-being
CHICAGO -- Retirees who volunteer or participate in community organizations enjoy significantly higher levels of psychological and physical well-being than other retirees and older workers. The reason: Volunteering probably connects retirees socially and provides routines, rituals and additional roles, according to a Cornell University study. Although older working people volunteer at the same rate as retired persons, their level of well-being is not significantly enhanced by community service. volunteering.seniors.ssl.html (August 9, 1999)

Urban high schoolers meet urban planners
ITHACA, NY-- Fourteen high school students from Cesar Chavez Charter High School for Public Policy in Washington, D.C., and a few of their parents, will travel to Ithaca, N.Y., to meet with a group of urban planning students and their professors at Cornell University Aug. 9-12. It promises to be the start of a beautiful friendship. Chavez.CRP.visit.html (August 6, 1999)

Environmental studies projects earn Heinz Foundation awards for seven students
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Seven Cornell University graduate students are among 18 nationwide to receive 1999-2000 grants from the Teresa Heinz Scholars for Environmental Research program. A project of the Pittsburgh-based Teresa and H. John Heinz III Foundation, the scholars program was created to encourage students to integrate environmental thinking across a range of disciplines. Master's degree students receive $5,000 each, and Ph.D. students are awarded $10,000 to further their research. heinz_scholars.hrs.html (August 6, 1999)

Making low-fat cheese taste and look better
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Another milestone in the quest for the perfect pizza: Cornell University researchers have discovered how to make fat-free or low-fat mozzarella cheese melt better. As a result the future promises pizza with low-fat cheese that not only tastes better but also looks as good as regular cheese. The secret: "You don't need a lot of fat inside the cheese, you just need a very small amount of fat on the surface," says Michael Rudan, Cornell postdoctorate researcher in food science. "We think we've found the key to making low-fat mozzarella cheese melt right." Cheese.bpf.html (August 5, 1999)

Cornell wins robot soccer World Cup
ITHACA, N.Y. -- They didn't sing the old Cornell University football song "See them plunging down to the goal," but the school's Big Red team became champions of world robot "soccer" today (Aug. 4, 1999) when they beat a highly regarded German team 15-0 in the finals in Stockholm, Sweden. The event, called the Robot World Cup Initiative, familiarly known as RoboCup, pits teams of tiny but incredibly smart robots against each other. In the final, Cornell's team -- the first the university has fielded in the 3-year-old competition -- played the FU-Fighters from the Free University of Berlin in a match carried live on Swedish television and streamed live on the World Wide Web. One observer called the Cornell victory "a drubbing." Robocup.champs.deb.html (August 5, 1999)

Charles Van Loan, creator of 'Programming for Poets,'will chair computer science
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Charles Van Loan, the Joseph C. Ford Professor of Engineering at Cornell University, has been named the new chair of the university's Department of Computer Science. The appointment was announced by John Hopcroft, dean of the College of Engineering. Van Loan began his five-year term July 1, succeeding Robert Constable, who served as chair for the previous five years. VanLoan.cschair.bs.2.html (August 5, 1999)

'Mind and Memory' series receives Woodrow Wilson grant
ITHACA, N.Y. -- "Mind and Memory," a popular public lecture series and undergraduate course, has received a $5,000 grant from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. The grant will help support the "Mind and Memory" series, directed by Diane Ackerman under the aegis of the Society for the Humanities at Cornell. Ackerman, visiting professor in the society, is a renowned poet and naturalist and author of A Natural History of the Senses. The Wilson grant is part of a new program launched in partnership with Imagining America, a national initiative sponsored by the White House Millennium Council and based at the University of Michigan. Seven universities received $5,000 grants to support the public outreach work of university artists, humanists and designers. The grants recognize civic scholarship that addresses issues of cultural or social significance at the local, regional and national levels. Mind.Mem.Grant.Release.html (August 3, 1999)

Susan Piliero appointed director of Center for Learning and Teaching
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Susan Piliero, associate professor in the Department of Education, is the new director of the Center for Learning and Teaching (CLT) at Cornell University. She was appointed in July. Piliero has taken a leave from her work with the education department in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), in order to pursue the CLT directorship. Piliero.CLT.Dir.Release.html (August 3, 1999)

Robot soccer players meet in Stockholm final
ITHACA, N.Y. -- A Cornell University team called Big Red is about to compete in the world soccer cup finals. But if the team wins, no champagne will be poured on the players, and no sports bras will be displayed. That's because all the players are robots. The competition, the Robot World Cup Initiative, familiarly known as RoboCup, is between teams of tiny but incredibly smart robots. Cornell's team--the first the university has fielded in the three-year-old competition--will meet the highly regarded Fu-Fighters, a German team, in the final match tomorrow (August 4) in Stockholm, Sweden, at 2:30 p.m. Stockholm time (8:30 a.m. EDT). The match will be carried on Swedish television and is expected to be streamed live on the World Wide Web. RoboCup.ws.html (August 3, 1999)