Give My Regards To…
These Cornellians in the News
Cornell University, named the best U.S. employer for workers fifty and over by AARP—making it the first institution to win the top honor two years in a row. Working Mother magazine also named the University one of the top 100 employers for mothers for the fourth consecutive year.
President David Skorton, named by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to the advisory council of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering.
Astronomy professor Steven Squyres '78, PhD '81, principal scientific investigator for the Mars Rover mission, winner of the Carl Sagan Medal for Public Outreach from the American Astronomical Society.
Natural resources professor Clifford Kraft '75, winner of the Federation of Fly Fishers Aldo Leopold Award for "outstanding contributions to fisheries and land ecology."
Emily Adelman '05, named one of thirty Cooke Scholars nationwide. The award of up to $50,000 per year will support her graduate work in Spanish bilingual and multicultural education at George Mason University.
Electrical and computer engineering professor Paul Kintner, selected by the State Department as a Jefferson Science Fellow. He will advise the government on GPS systems and other defense-related topics.
Rebecca Solnit, a cultural critic, and Jeffrey McNeely, chief scientist for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, appointed to six-year terms as A. D. White Professors-at-Large.
Physics professors Matthias Leipe, Anders Ryd, and Kyle Shen, astronomy professor Rachel Bean, and civil and environmental engineering professor Peter Diamessis, given National Science Foundation Early Career Development Awards.
Electrical and computer engineering professors José Martinez and Kevin Tang, winners of IBM Faculty Awards.
Astronomy professor Yervant Terzian, honored with a three-day symposium and endowed lectureship to celebrate his seventieth birthday.
Neurobiologist Joseph Fetcho and reproductive biologist Alexander Travis, winners of five-year, $2.5 million Director's Pioneer Awards from the NIH.
R&D
More information on campus research is available at www.news.cornell.edu
An invasive bacterium is harming citrus fruit, making its juice "taste like jet fuel mixed with Vicks VapoRub," according to an FDA entomologist. CALS researchers are working to sequence the DNA of the pathogen, Candidatus Liberibacter. The so-called "greening" disease makes plants produce discolored, misshapen, undersized fruit.
Job dissatisfaction affects nutrition in low-income families. Long work hours and poor working conditions, plus lack of access to healthy foods, can cause parents to cope by buying takeout, missing meals, and serving prepared entrees, reports nutritional sciences professor Carol Devine, PhD '90.
Cornell faculty have created a searchable database for contemporary design. Design professor Jan Jennings and colleagues produced a site that offers terms for previously unnamed features, like two chairs positioned together in a large space (a "lonely couple").
Summer students have discovered the first prehistoric archaeo-logical site on the Isles of Shoals. Artifacts such as stone tools prove that Native Americans inhabited the rocky isles, located six miles off the coasts of New Hampshire and Maine, from about 800 to 1200 A.D.
Materials that conduct electricity with zero resistance—but only when super-cooled—may soon work at room temperature or with conventional refrigeration. Physical sciences professor Séamus Davis is working on materials called cuprates, which could lead to more efficient electric generators and other energy-saving applications.
How did monks make precise geometric designs in illuminated manuscripts like the Book of Kells before the microscope was invented? According to paleontologist John Cisne, they mastered a technique called free-fusion stereocomparison, which takes advantage of the brain's ability to perceive depth by integrating views from each eye.
ILR professor Sam Bacharach and colleagues have recorded testimonials by recovering alcoholics as they struggle to remain sober. Bacharach, director of the Smithers Institute for Alcohol-Related Studies, says the videos are meant to "reach out to people from the voice of experience rather than the voice of academic research."
A new computational database can quickly identify protein structures, offering a powerful tool to research chemists. The resource, called the CheShift server, was created by a team led by chemistry professor Harold Scheraga.
An unusual gene form found in some ewes prompts them to breed out of season and more frequently, as well as conceive at younger ages. The Cornell Sheep Program discovered the gene, which may be a boon to the industry.