New York, NY (November 15, 2004) -- Recognized for his nearly 50 years of pioneering biomedical research in hematology and vascular biology, Weill Cornell Medical College physician-scientist Dr. Aaron J. Marcus has been selected by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to receive a 2004 NIH Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) Award. He has been continuously funded by NHLBI since 1956.The $2.8 million research grant will provide long-term support for the development of a new treatment for occlusive vascular diseases such as stroke, coronary artery disease, and peripheral vascular disease. Dr. Marcus is chief of Hematology-Oncology and director of the Thrombosis Research Lab at VANY Harbor Healthcare System. He is professor of medicine and professor of medicine in pathology and laboratory medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, and attending physician at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
In the lobby of Cornell University's Thurston Hall, floor-to-ceiling windows provide a sweeping view of the four-story crane bay of the George Winter Laboratory with its mysterious monolithic constructs of concrete and steel. This massive lab, one-third the size of a football field, has become the home for a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded $2.1 million project to establish the nation's premier center for large-scale earthquake simulation experiments. The completed lab will have its public debut on Nov. 15 with an NSF-sponsored live webcast of an experiment designed to study the deformation and rupturing of underground pipelines -- carrying, for example, water, natural gas, liquid fuel or telecommunications -- during an earthquake. The experiment will be described by the earthquake facility's director Harry Stewart, an associate professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE). His co-investigator is Thomas O'Rourke, a CEE professor who first became interested in earthquake-pipeline research about 25 years ago while working as a research engineer digging the Metro tunnels in Washington, D.C. (November 15, 2004)
The Cornell University Board of Trustees has approved two new leadership endowments: the Austin O. Hooey Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, currently held by Donald F. Smith, and the William C. Hooey Director of the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, held by Paulette Clancy. The deanship and directorship endowments come from the estate of Austin Hooey (1922-2004), a retired Wall Street securities analyst who lived in Chatham, N.J. Her father, William C. Hooey, was a 1912 Cornell graduate in chemistry and a prominent figure in the metals business, also in New Jersey. (November 15, 2004)
NEW YORK CITY -- It's merriment, mingling and marching. It's a real Fifth Avenue parade -- even though it only lasts six blocks. As it has every other year for the past 30 years following the Cornell-Columbia football game, the Cornell Big Red Marching Band will lead "The Sy Katz '31 Parade," down Fifth Avenue from St. Patrick's Cathedral to the Cornell Club on 44th Street, on Saturday, Nov. 13, starting at 4:45 p.m. Alumni will follow, dancing and singing. Then the marching band will present a concert in front of the club. (November 12, 2004)
With the harvest coming in and Thanksgiving ahead, many are thinking about festivities and food-laden holidays. For those less fortunate, more than 100,000 pounds, or 50 tons, of fruits and vegetables are being donated by Cornell University to local food banks and food distribution centers. (November 11, 2004)
Cornell University's Dump and Run program will donate the proceeds of its August 2004 yard sale -- a total of $9,000 -- to three local nonprofit groups during a ceremony Thursday, Nov. 18, at 5:30 p.m. in the Willard Straight Hall International Room. The donations will go to Loaves and Fishes, The Advocacy Center, and Cops, Kids and Toys. Doors open at 5 p.m. and refreshments will be available. The ceremony is open to the public. The awards will be presented by Cornell senior Lauren Jacobs, who founded the university's Dump and Run program in 2003, and LeNorman Strong, assistant vice president of student and academic services. Dump and Run, a national nonprofit organization that has generated more than $100,000 through its programs at 20 colleges and universities, is sponsored by the Office of Cornell Campus Life. (November 11, 2004)
In 1999, the U.S. State Department allowed more than 4,000 Sudanese refugees into the country -- only 89 of these young orphaned war victims were girls. The disparity has both political and cultural origins, and few understand the complexities as well as Julia Duany, author of Making Peace and Nurturing Life: Memoir of an African Woman About a Journey of Struggle and Hope. Duany, a refugee who escaped from the violence in the Sudan in 1983, will deliver a talk titled "African Women's Voices: Effects of War on Sudanese Women" on Tuesday, Nov. 16, at 4:30 p.m. in Room 423 of the School of Industrial and Labor Relations Conference Center on the Cornell University campus. The talk is free and open to the public and a reception will follow. Drawing on her experiences as a refugee and activist as well as her knowledge of Sudanese women's groups, Duany will discuss challenges to women's peace-building initiatives in the Sudan. She also will address social factors that affect women in the Sudan, including family life, religion, cultural and political complexities, and the role gender plays in her multicultural, war-ravaged country. (November 10, 2004)
About one-fifth of the world's population lives in dire poverty, and the already very skewed gap between rich and poor keeps growing. Some 800 million people don't have enough to eat. The consequences of such destitution are malnutrition, environmental degradation and worldwide instability. These circumstances also leave millions of people with nothing to lose, who become ripe for turning to international terrorism in their frustration and need to be heard. So says Per Pinstrup-Andersen, the H.E. Babcock Professor of Food, Nutrition and Public Policy at Cornell University. To try to develop a shared vision that combines ethics and economics to counter world poverty, hunger and malnutrition, he has organized a workshop, "Ethics, Globalization and Hunger: In Search of Appropriate Policies," to be held Nov. 17 to 19 at Cornell. The highlight will be a free public lecture by Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland, former U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and now the executive director of the Ethical Globalization Initiative, an organization dedicated to supporting human rights. Her address, "Social Justice, Ethics and Hunger: What Are the Key Messages?" will be given Thursday, Nov. 18, at 8 p.m. in Call Alumni Auditorium, Kennedy Hall. Cornell President Jeffrey Lehman will introduce Robinson, who will field questions after her remarks. (November 09, 2004)
Now that marine scientists know how quickly disease epidemics can spread in the oceans -- up to 10,000 kilometers a year among fish, compared with 1,000 kilometers in diseases carried by flying birds -- they are focusing on dying organisms that can't move: the world's corals.
By using a device only six-millionths of a meter long, researchers at Cornell University have been able to detect the presence of as few as a half-dozen viruses -- and they believe the device is sensitive enough to notice just one. The research could lead to simple detectors capable of differentiating between a wide variety of pathogens, including viruses, bacteria and toxic organic chemicals. (November 4, 2004)
Winters are getting warmer and some crops are starting to bloom earlier. Climate change is already upon us, but changes are not uniform across regions or species.
A postage stamp-sized piece of property belonging to Cornell University's Animal Research Facility in Harford, N.Y. is now the site of a national climate station. The Harford site will be part of the U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN), a land-based system of climate stations now being developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Department of Commerce. Every USCRN observing site is equipped with state-of-the instruments including, a standard set of sensors, a data logger and a satellite communications transmitter. The Harford site meets NOAA criteria for its distance from urban areas, long-term stability and reliability as an area representative of the regional climate, among other factors. (November 4, 2004)
