Last chance: fall exhibitions

Four exhibitions will be ending soon at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art. “Power, Haunting and Resilience,” featuring work by 14 contemporary artists from Taiwan, and “Lines of Inquiry: Learning from Rembrandt’s Etchings” both end Sunday, Dec. 17.

The museum will close at 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 24, the last day to see current exhibitions “Sama Alshaibi: Silsila” and “From the Darkness of the Sea: The Cornell Collection of Blaschka Glass Invertebrate Models.”

The museum reopens Jan. 2. Regular winter hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. Note: The building’s main elevator is out of service through Feb. 17; visitors requiring assistance should enter through the museum wing. 

The first exhibition of 2018 at the Johnson, “Drawing the Line: 150 Years of European Artists on Paper,” opens Jan. 20.

A different Scrooge

A new adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” by Aoise Stratford, M.A. ’13, Ph.D.’16, is having its world premiere through Christmas Eve at the Hangar Theatre, 801 Taughannock Blvd., Ithaca.

Stratford’s plays have had more than 100 productions worldwide. She is a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Performing and Media Arts.

With music, costumes and holiday magic, the show is suitable for children and adults. Showtimes are 7 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 2 and 7 p.m. Saturdays, Dec. 16 and 23; and 2 p.m. Sundays, Dec. 17 and 24. Tickets are available online or by calling 607-273-2787.

The Hangar is offering student matinees of the show for area students and teachers, and a corresponding study guide. The theater plans to stage the production as an annual event, expanding beyond its summer season for the local community and patrons across the Southern Tier.

Twelfth Night merrymaking

“The tradition of storytelling on Twelfth Night is centuries old, and forever contemporary,” says Phil Shapiro, M.A. ’69, longtime “Bound for Glory” host at Cornell.

Shapiro and members of Ithaca’s folk music community welcome the greater Ithaca community to join the Annual Twelfth Night Celebration, Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018, from 7:30 p.m. until late in the evening at the First Unitarian Society of Ithaca, 306 N. Aurora St.

A four-decade tradition, the evening marks the end of the holiday season with storytelling, merrymaking and imagination. The celebration “is a rare example of what happens when people decide to entertain themselves, instead of letting someone else do it,” Shapiro says.

At some point in the evening, a band of traveling players and dancers, the “Champeons (sic) of Folly,” will interrupt the proceedings to regale the party with a Mummers’ Play and Morris dancing. The Monarch of Twelfth Night (the Lord or Lady of Mis-rule) will be chosen and crowned, and will then read the proclamation of pronouncements and predictions for 2018.

Attendees can bring a story to share and munchies, finger foods and snacks to pass. All ages are welcome, and anyone is welcome to tell a story or to come listen. “Most of the storytellers tell exactly one story a year in public,” Shapiro says.

For more information, contact him at 607-844-4535 or pds10@cornell.edu.

Patent law experts

A Patent Law Review Panel with experts in intellectual property and patent law will be held Jan. 19 at 11 a.m. in 226 Weill Hall.

The panel is open to the graduate student community. Participants should register by Jan. 12 to reserve lunch.

The formal discussion includes patent agents, examiners and intellectual property and patent attorneys who started as science Ph.D.s in STEM fields and transitioned to law. The panel includes patent attorney and mechanical engineering alumna Natalie Galley, Ph.D. ’12, an associate at Fish & Richardson in Boston; and Cornell law professor Oskar Liivak, Ph.D. ’00, whose research interests include biotechnology, science and the law, and patent and intellectual property law. His Cornell doctorate is in physics and he worked as a patent agent before law school.

The panel is presented by Cornell Advancing Science and Policy, a group of graduate students, postdocs and faculty interested in the intersection of science and policy. Members engage in the policymaking process and educate the public about the role of scientific input in advancing society. The group provides training in writing and outreach, including how to use nonpartisan language to defend the basic institution of unbiased science; hosts invited speakers and discussions of pertinent science policy topics, and leads an annual trip to Washington, D.C.

Register now: Animal Health Hackathon

The second annual Animal Health Hackathon at Cornell, dedicated to creative ideas for advancing animal health through technology, will be held Jan. 26-28, 2018, at eHub Collegetown, 409 College Ave., Ithaca. Cohosted by the Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine and Entrepreneurship at Cornell, the event explores current trends in the animal health sector and related market opportunities made possible by advances in technology.

The experiential weekend welcomes students from all degree programs, majors and colleges at Cornell, as well as guests from select veterinary colleges. A conference Jan. 26, on the future of animal health and healthcare services, features innovators and leaders from clinics, startups and academia; hackathon team formation; and a design thinking workshop.

During the hackathon Jan. 27, teams composed of veterinary and business students, engineers, designers and others create novel solutions in animal health, with mentors providing feedback and guidance. Teams present final demos at a project showcase Jan. 28, with a panel of judges awarding $5,000 in cash and prizes for the winners.

The hackathon is capped at 125 participants. Almost 250 students signed up in 2017, so early signups are encouraged. Interested Cornell students, other university students and volunteer mentors can sign up online. Conference-only tickets are also available.