Time is fast running out for the semiconductor industry as transistors become ever smaller and their insulating layers of silicon dioxide, already only atoms in thickness, reach maximum shrinkage. In addition, the thinner the silicon layer becomes, the greater the amount of chemical dopants that must be used to maintain electrical contact. And the limit here also is close to being reached. But a Cornell University researcher has caused an information industry buzz with the discovery that it is possible to precisely control the electronic properties of a complex oxide material -- a possible replacement for silicon insulators -- at the atomic level. And this can be done without chemicals. Instead, the dopant is precisely nothing. (August 23, 2004)
Steve Squyres, Cornell professor of astronomy and the principal scientific investigator for the Mars rover mission, took a break from his hectic schedule this July to talk to Cornell News Service Senior Science Editor David Brand about the progress of the history-making mission.
Even when poor rural families receive food stamps from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, many still do not have enough food, according to a new study by nutritionists at Cornell University and their colleagues from several other land-grant universities. The researchers found that about half of the families in their study used food stamps, and half of these families said they did not have enough to eat. (August 19, 2004)
Cornell University's fourth annual New Student Reading Project rolls out Sunday, Aug. 22, at 3:30 p.m., when more than 3,600 first-year and transfer students are scheduled to gather in Barton Hall for an interactive faculty presentation on Franz Kafka's The Trial. The event will be broadcast live on Time Warner Cable Channel 16. On Monday, Aug. 23, Cornell students, led by administrators, faculty members, graduate students and staff, will meet in 230 groups across campus to discuss Kafka's prescient work. More than 20,000 Cornell alumni from 23 classes also are involved in the Kafka reading project. For campus and alumni readings and related events, visit Cornell's reading project Web site. (August 17, 2004)
More than 4,300 new students are arriving at Cornell starting this Friday, Aug. 20, when campus residence halls open their doors at 8 a.m. This year Cornell expects to enroll roughly 3,100 freshmen, 564 new undergraduate transfer students and 610 new graduate and professional students.
The American Chemical Society has paid tribute to the scientific accomplishments of Jack H. Freed, professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Cornell University, by dedicating the July 8 issue of The Journal of Physical Chemistry B to the internationally respected scientist. The issue is titled the "Jack H. Freed Festschrift." The German term (literally, "feast writing") is commonly used to celebrate a senior scholar's birthday with a special edition of original papers on topics relevant to the honoree's research. The volume celebrates Freed's 65th birthday and relates to his groundbreaking contributions to electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy, a state-of-the-art technology for studying the molecular properties of fluids and of biological materials, including the structure and complex dynamics of membranes and proteins. (August 17, 2004)
On Saturday, Oct. 2, Cornell University will host an open house on campus for prospective freshman students at two of its state-supported colleges -- the New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) and the School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR). Students interested in learning about admission to those colleges are encouraged to attend. The open house provides high school juniors, seniors and their parents the opportunity to visit CALS and the ILR School. Visitors will receive an overview of the university and the academic programs in these colleges and meet admissions staff, faculty and current Cornell students. The program will include admissions and financial aid information. (August 16, 2004)
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded $1.8 million to Main Street Science, the education program of Cornell University's Nanobiotechnology Center (NBTC), the Sciencenter in Ithaca and Painted Universe, a design/fabrication firm in Lansing, N.Y., to explain a tiny world to young minds. The funding will enable the group to design and fabricate a 3,500-square-foot exhibition, "Too Small to See," that will take museum visitors on a journey through nanoscale science and engineering. Children and adults will be immersed in experiences, images and models representing the structures and processes of nano dimensions, no more than a millionth of a millimeter. (August 11, 2004)
Lee Dyer, professor in Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations and chair of its Department of Human Resource Studies, received a key award in his field -- the 2004 Michael R. Losey Human Resource Research Award from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). The annual award, which includes a $50,000 prize to be used for human resource (HR) research, was presented June 29 in New Orleans during SHRM's annual meeting. In presenting the award, David Hutchins, SHRM board chair, called Dyer "an academic and HR superstar." (August 11, 2004)
Ten minutes into the blockbuster movie 'Spider-Man 2,' nerdy physics student Peter Parker (played by Tobey Maguire) - whose alter ego is the superhero Spider-Man - trips and spills his armful of books while racing to class at Columbia University. As he bends to pick them up amid an onslaught of passing book bags, the camera zooms in on the maroon cover of the book atop the stack: Introductory Quantum Mechanics, fourth edition by Richard L. Liboff of Cornell University. (August 11, 2004)
If brain size is proportional to body size in virtually all vertebrate animals, Cornell University biologists reasoned, shouldn't eye size and body size scale the same way? While they failed to find a one-size-fits-all rule for eyes, what they learned about the 300 vertebrates they studied helps to explain how animals evolved precisely the orbs they need for everyday life. The biologists reported their findings in the journal Vision Research (August 2004, "The allometry and scaling of the size of vertebrate eyes"). Howard C. Howland, Stacey Merola and Jennifer R. Basarab say they did find a logarithmic relationship between animals' body weight and eye size for all vertebrates, in general: Bigger animals do tend to have bigger eyes, on average. (August 6, 2004)
David B. Stern, a molecular biologist who studies photosynthesis and the molecular genetics of intracellular communication in plants, has been named president of the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research Inc.
