Cameron Wittig

The Bad Plus - bassist Reid Anderson, pianist Ethan Iverson and drummer David King.

Avant-garde Stravinsky

The Cornell Concert Series presents "Sacred Ground -- Stravinsky's Rite of Spring as imagined by The Bad Plus," March 30 at 8 p.m. in Bailey Hall. Tickets are $25-$35 reserved, $17 for students. Discounts available online with Cornell NetID. Tickets available on Cornell Concert Series website, 607-273-4497 and at Ticket Center Ithaca, 171 The Commons.

The Bad Plus -- bassist Reid Anderson, pianist Ethan Iverson and drummer David King -- break down jazz conventions by giving popular songs and canonical works radical reinterpretations.

"The melding of modernist classical music with jazz has been attempted before, but typically in such experiments the drums are left behind," the trio says in a press release. "Of course TBP could never leave the drums behind... We hope [you] will find our discoveries and journey through 'The Rite of Spring' a source of pleasure and inspiration."

The Cornell Composers' Forum also features the trio, March 30, 1:25 to 3 p.m. in 316 Lincoln Hall. Free.

White-knuckle thrillers

Cornell Cinema salutes director Henri-Georges Clouzot with a film series featuring three classic thrillers and a recent documentary on Clouzot's unreleased "Inferno."

The highlight is a new, restored print of "The Wages of Fear" (1952), screening April 6, 9 and 10. The New York Times called the tale of four desperate men trucking two loads of nitroglycerin across a ravaged Latin American landscape "one of the most breathtaking thrillers ever made."

Also showing: "Quai des Orfevres" (1947), April 2-3; "Diabolique" (1954), April 16-17; "The Mystery of Picasso" (1955), April 23-24, and "Henri-Georges Clouzot's 'Inferno' (2009), directed by Serge Bromberg & Ruxandra Medrea, April 30-May 1. The series is cosponsored by the French Studies Program.

Ambassador visits

François Delattre, France's Ambassador to the United States, will visit Cornell April 2 to present Professor Jack Barceló with the Légion d'honneur.

Dellatre will give a lecture, "The New Opportunities in the Franco-American and the Transatlantic Partnership," at 1:30 p.m. in the MacDonald Moot Court Room of Myron Taylor Hall. Free and open to the public.

Barceló is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of International and Comparative Law, the Elizabeth and Arthur Reich Director of the Leo and Arvilla Berger International Legal Studies Program, and the founder and current co-director of Cornell's Summer Institute of International and Comparative Law in Paris.

Energy lecture

William Brinkman, director of the Office of Science for the United States Department of Energy (DOE), will speak on "Science for Energy," April 2 at 4:40 pm in 120 Physical Sciences Building. Open to the public.

Brinkman is the 2011-2012 Moses Passer Lecturer in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. He said during his confirmation hearings that he intended to work "tirelessly to advance the revolution in energy technologies." A former senior research physicist at Princeton University and vice president of research at Bell Laboratories and Sandia National Laboratories, he is a member of the American Philosophical Society, National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Diversity stories

Filmmaker and diversity trainer Lee Mun Wah will talk about open discussions of diversity in the classroom following a screening of his documentary "If These Halls Could Talk," April 3 at 6 p.m. in Uris Auditorium.

The film shows how to facilitate interpersonal conflicts and diversity issues mindfully and transformatively, and features 11 students from various colleges and personal backgrounds sharing what it is like to be a minority or immigrant on a predominantly white campus. Sponsored by the Asian & Asian American Center. Information: Amy Kuo Somchanhmavong, ayk3@cornell.edu.

Digital frontiers

Today's information science students and tomorrow's entrepreneurs will present digital technology research projects created for the 14th annual Bits On Our Minds (BOOM) competition, April 4, 4 to 6 p.m. in the Duffield Hall atrium. Free and open to the public.

BOOM is a showcase for student research and creativity using digital technologies, featuring research projects from Cornell undergraduate and master's degree students. Projects include apps for Android and iPhone devices, instant messaging, robotics and video games. Sponsored by Computing and Information Science in conjunction with corporate sponsors. Information: http://www.cis.cornell.edu/boom.

Anarchy and governance

A.D. White Professor-at-Large James Scott, professor of political science and anthropology at Yale University, will visit campus April 2-6.

Scott will present "On NOT Being Governed," April 4, 4:30 p.m. in the Hans Bethe House Common Room, in conversation with faculty members Fouad Makki, development sociology; Barry Maxwell, comparative literature; and Scott MacDonald, philosophy.

A lecture, "Two Cheers for Anarchism: Autonomy, Dignity, and Meaningful Work and Play," April 5, 4:45 p.m. in Uris Auditorium, will address the anarchist themes in Scott's work. He argues that an anarchistic sensibility fosters a better understanding of the conduct of social life, resistance and rebellion, and pathologies of hierarchy -- from everyday social interactions to mass protests and revolutions. Information: http://adwhiteprofessors.cornell.edu.

Chasen reading

David St. John will give the 2012 Robert Chasen Poetry Reading as part of the Creative Writing Reading Series, April 5, 4:30 p.m. in Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall. Free and open.

St. John is the author of 10 poetry collections including National Book Award nominee "Study for the World's Body." His honors include the Prix de Rome Fellowship, an Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and the O. B. Hardison Prize, a career award for teaching and poetic achievement from The Folger Shakespeare Library.

Wolfowitz on foreign policy

Paul Wolfowitz '65, former president of the World Bank (2005-07) and Deputy Secretary of Defense (2001-05), will give a public speech on the future of American foreign policy, April 12 at 5:30 p.m. in Bailey Hall. Tickets are free and available at the Willard Straight Hall Ticket Office.

Wolfowitz also was Under Secretary of Defense under President George H. W. Bush, Ambassador to Indonesia under President Ronald Reagan, and held numerous Cabinet-level positions in the State and Defense Departments. From 1994 to 2001 he was dean and professor of international relations at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of The Johns Hopkins University. His visit is sponsored by the Cornell Republicans.

Office professionals celebration

The annual Jennie T. Farley Office Professionals Celebration is April 25, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. in the Ramin Room, Bartels Hall. Reservations are being accepted through April 20 at http://www.cornellofficeprofessionals.org. The keynote speaker is Barbara Lang of the Etiquette Factor, on "Unanticipated Value: You Provide It Every Day."

The event, one of the largest workplace observances at Cornell, highlights the importance of the role of office professionals at the university, and drew more than 500 office professionals from across campus last year. Co-founder Jennie T. Farley organized Cornell's first Secretaries Day Symposium (with ILR colleague Alice B. Cook) in 1988. Farley was a champion of women's rights, a member of the university's Board of Trustees and co-founder of the Women's Studies Program.