Give My Regards To…
These Cornellians in the News
Cornell University, named a "great college to work for" by the Chronicle of Higher Education for the second consecutive year.
Gannett Health Services, which was re-accredited with the top rating for college health centers. The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care called it "a model university health service."
Physical sciences professor Séamus Davis, winner of the Heike Kamerlingh Onnes Prize for Superconductivity Experiments.
Aquatic animal medicine professor Paul Bowser, who won the Snieszko Distinguished Service Award from the American Fisheries Society.
Mechanical and aerospace engineering professor Stephen Pope, awarded the Fluid Dynamics Prize from the American Physical Society.
Andrew Chraplyvy, PhD '78, and Robert Tkach, PhD '82, longtime research partners at Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs, awarded the $100,000 Marconi Prize, given for work in communications and information technology that benefits humanity.
R. Spencer Wells, a geneticist, anthropologist, and explorer-in-residence at the National Geographic Society, named to a three-year term as the newest Frank H. T. Rhodes Class of '56 Professor.
Computer science professor Rafael Pass, named a Microsoft Research New Faculty Fellow. The $200,000 award will support his work on secure online voting.
Professors Jiwoong Park (chemistry and chemical biology) and Derek Warner (civil and environmental engineering), recipients of five-year, $1 million Presidential Early Career Awards.
Art professor Michael Ashkin, winner of a Guggenheim fellowship to support his solo sculpture exhibition in Vienna this fall.
Professors Roald Hoffmann, Christopher Ober, and Harold Scheraga, named to the inaugural class of fellows of the American Chemical Society.
R&D
More information on campus research is available at www.news.cornell.edu
Professors Alan Lakso (horticulture) and Abraham Stroock '95 (engineering) are teaming up to develop ways to measure water stress in grapevines. They hope to find the optimal balance between drought and overwatering by embedding microsensors that transmit readings to the grower.
Virus-sized containers could deliver drugs to targeted cells via the bloodstream. Biomedical engineer Michael King's work on nanoscale capsules could offer enhanced treatments (with reduced side effects) for cancer and blood disorders, among other ailments.
Fertilizer use varies dramatically around the world, according to a comparison piece in Science by horticulture professor Laurie Drinkwater and colleagues. While overuse can damage the environment, they say, underuse can lead to paltry crop yields.
Ecologist Nelson Hairston Jr. is studying evolution via "resurrection ecology"—taking zooplankton eggs buried in lake sediment for decades or centuries, hatching them, and comparing them to their contemporary counterparts.
A combination of radar and bio-acoustic recorders could help scientists study whether wind farms endanger migrating birds. Cornell hosted a workshop on the issue in June.
The emerald ash borer beetle has been discovered in New York State. The beetle has killed more than 70 million ash trees in the Midwest and Pennsylvania; it threatens 7 percent of all trees in New York.
Even money can't motivate most people to lose weight. A study found that even when offered modest quarterly cash rewards, 76 percent of people dropped out of a weight loss program. Future research will explore whether higher rewards translate to better compliance.
The Geneva Ag Station has created an online tool to help New York State grape growers select the best possible vineyard locations. The website, www.nyvineyardsite.com, provides maps, reports on pH levels, and climate details.
The daily stress of racial discrimination drives psychological distress, says a study of African Americans' mental health by human development professor Anthony Ong. He found that blacks are at greater risk for depression, anxiety, and negative moods as a result of prolonged discrimination.
Cybersecurity is getting harder to manage and the need for trustworthy computers is growing, yet federal expenditures on it are "tiny compared to the severity of the threat," computer science professor Fred Schneider '75 told a House of Representatives subcommittee in June.