Cornell Hillel's Board of Trustees has announced the creation of the Tanner Prize to be awarded annually to a person, couple or family who has made significant contributions to both Jewish life anywhere in the world and to Cornell, including, but not necessarily limited to, service to Cornell Hillel.
Cornell University's Institute of Food Science will host a symposium, "Functional Foods, Bioactive Compounds and Human Health," May 22 to 24, on the Ithaca campus. The meeting will review the latest scientific information on how certain foods appear to have health benefits beyond basic nutrition. Intended for scientists, nutritionists, health practitioners and members of the media who cover health and nutrition, the conference will focus: the implications of dietary patterns and bioactive compounds, such as natural antioxidants, on chronic disease; whole-grain foods and body weight; the beneficial effects of berries on brain aging; vegetables and prostate cancer risk; the beneficial heart effects of grapes; the health benefits of various kinds of fatty acids; the biofortification of foods; and the evolution of dietary guidelines. (January 25, 2005)
Two Cornell University Web-based, distance-education courses in horticulture -- on organic gardening and on grafting -- will be offered in coming months. The registration deadline is tomorrow, Jan. 25, for the eight-week organic gardening course, which runs from Feb. 1 to March 31 and costs $200. The course is for gardeners who have at least some gardening experience. It will cover fertility, pest control, cultural methods, tools, and include a variety of suggested hands-on activities. The course uses organic-gardening principles to explore vegetables, flowers, lawn care and perennial plants. (January 24, 2005)
Kinniya Hospital on the east coast of Sri Lanka was destroyed by the Dec. 26 tsunami, and its 40 patients and hospital staff are missing. It was just one of many buildings poorly prepared for actual disaster. In the weeks and months ahead, scientists and engineers will be studying damage sites all over the island to evaluate the power of the tidal wave and recommend new construction standards to help such buildings withstand the expected stresses. A new Web site at Cornell University is giving researchers the information they need as well as helping relief workers do their jobs on the devastated island. The creator of the site hopes it will serve as a model for the distribution of information in future disasters. (January 24, 2005)
Steven D. Tanksley, the Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor of Plant Breeding and Genetics, is the winner of the prestigious 2005 Kumho Science International Award in Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. The $30,000 prize is the world's largest in the field of plant molecular biology. The prize, awarded by the International Society for Plant Molecular Biology (ISPMB), is for Tanksley's pioneering work in genome mapping, comparative genomics and marker-assisted breeding of crop plants. (January 24, 2005)
At its meetings in New York City Friday, Jan. 21, and Saturday, Jan. 22, the Cornell University Board of Trustees approved a set of planning parameters for the 2005-06 budget that calls for a 4.3 percent tuition increase for most students in the endowed colleges. (January 24, 2005)
The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University has opened a search for a new director of the Cornell Migrant Program and is welcoming e-mailed nominations or inquiries at . (January 21, 2005)
A melody of staccato piano notes sings out from the speakers of Victor K. Wong's desktop computer. But it is not a melody made by Bach, or Liberace, or even Alicia Keys. It is the melody of color. Wong, a Cornell University graduate student from Hong Kong who lost his sight in a road accident at age seven, is helping to develop innovative software that translates color into sound. (January 21, 2005)
Cornell University Vice President Tommy Bruce has issued the following statement on the proposal by Northwest Airlines to bring new air service to Ithaca Tompkins Regional Airport.
If there ever were a teachable moment when it comes to tsunamis, physics and fault lines, that moment is now. And Cornell University graduate student Evan Variano is making sure it's not lost. In the wake of the devastating Asian tsunami, he's taking a lesson plan he has developed -- and a portable teaching device -- to high schools in the Ithaca and Rochester areas. (January 18, 2005)
A Cornell University research group has made a sweet and environmentally beneficial discovery -- how to make plastics from citrus fruits, such as oranges, and carbon dioxide. In a paper published in a recent issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society (Sept. 2004), Geoffrey Coates, a Cornell professor of chemistry and chemical biology, and his graduate students Chris Byrne and Scott Allen describe a way to make polymers using limonene oxide and carbon dioxide, with the help of a novel "helper molecule" -- a catalyst developed in the researchers' laboratory. (January 17, 2005)
The Cornell University Board of Trustees will hold its first meetings of 2005 at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York City, Jan. 21 and 22. (January 18, 2005)
