Over the next 100 years, the eastern United States will see more winter precipitation because atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are increasing. But more precipitation does not necessarily mean more snow, according to Arthur T. DeGaetano, a Cornell climatologist who is one of several speakers at the symposium, Impacts of Climate Change on Horticulture, scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 4, at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence. This symposium will focus on implications of climate change and increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide for the important fruit, vegetable and ornamental horticulture industries, says David Wolfe, Cornell professor of horticulture and one of the symposium's organizers. The meeting will bring together climate scientists, horticultural researchers, extension educators, horticultural businesses, environmental and gardening groups, and representatives from public gardens. (October 03, 2003)
A $6.6 million contract with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will establish a new program at Cornell University's colleges of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture and Life Sciences to study food- and waterborne diseases common to animals and humans. The new program is called the Zoonoses (pronounced "zoh-ah NO-sees") Research Unit. Scientists in the Cornell veterinary college's Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences department and the Cornell-based New York State Animal Health Diagnostic Laboratory will collaborate with researchers in several agriculture college sections, including the departments of Food Science and Biological and Environmental Engineering. (October 2, 2003)
ARECIBO, P.R. -- The smog-shrouded atmosphere of Titan, Saturn's largest moon, has been parted by Earth-based radar to reveal the first evidence of liquid hydrocarbon lakes on its surface. The observations are reported by a Cornell University-led astronomy team working with the world's largest radio/radar telescope at the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Arecibo Observatory. The radar observations, reported in the journal Science on its Science Express Web site (Oct. 2, 2003), detected specular -- or mirrorlike -- glints from Titan with properties that are consistent with liquid hydrocarbon surfaces. Cornell astronomer Donald Campbell, who led the observation team, does not rule out that the reflections could be from very smooth solid surfaces. "The surface of Titan is one of the last unstudied parcels of real estate in the solar system, and we really know very little about it," he says. (October 1, 2003)
Drug policy reform advocate and former Princeton University professor Ethan Nadelmann will present a University Lecture titled "Building a Political Movement to End the War on Drugs," Tuesday, Oct. 7, at 4:30 p.m. in 165 McGraw Hall on the Cornell University campus. The talk is free and open to the public. Nadelmann, founder and executive director of the nonprofit Drug Policy Alliance, based in New York City, is widely regarded as one of the outstanding proponents of drug policy reform, both in the United States and abroad. The Drug Policy Alliance works to broaden the public debate on drug policy and to promote realistic alternatives to the war on drugs. (September 30, 2003)
James C. Morgan, chairman of Applied Materials Inc., will give this academic year's Hatfield address Thursday, Oct. 2, at 4:30 p.m. in the Schwartz Auditorium of Rockefeller Hall. Morgan's company is the world's largest producer of semiconductor equipment -- the systems used to manufacture virtually every new microchip in the world. Morgan, who holds a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering (1960) and an MBA (1963) from Cornell, will deliver a talk titled "The Networked, High-Tech Economy: New Systems Require New Thinking." He will speak as the 24th Robert S. Hatfield Fellow in Economic Education, the highest honor the university bestows on outstanding individuals from the corporate sector, and he will be introduced by Cornell President Jeffrey Lehman. The talk is free and open to the public. (September 30, 2003)
Jeffrey S. Lehman will be inaugurated as president of Cornell University in ceremonies on three Cornell campuses around the globe, Oct. 12-16. The events will feature remarks and lectures by the Sheikha of Qatar, national AIDS research leader Anthony Fauci, prize-winning architect Richard Meier and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. "Cornell Celebrates a New Beginning" is the theme of the inauguration, in which Lehman, 47, will challenge higher education to provide fresh leadership in areas that are critical to the well-being of all humanity. (September 30, 2003)
India's attorney general, the Hon. Soli Sorabjee, will give two talks at Cornell this week that are free and open to the public. Combating international terrorism in East Asia while protecting human rights is his overall subject. Wednesday, Oct. 1, at 12:15 p.m., he will give a talk titled "Tackling Terror and Other Human Rights Issues" as part of the South Asia Seminar at the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, G08 Uris Hall. He also will speak Thursday, Oct. 2, at 6 p.m. on "Judicial Protection of Human Rights" at Cornell Law School, in G90 Myron Taylor Hall. (September 29, 2003)
Michael Burawoy, who rolls up his sleeves to conduct sociological research on labor from the factory floor, will give Cornell University's 2003 Polson Memorial Lecture Oct. 3. His talk, "Public Sociology in a Global Context," will be followed by a panel discussion. The lecture, at 3 p.m. in the Memorial Room of Willard Straight Hall on campus, is free and open to the public. Burawoy is a professor of sociology at the University of California-Berkeley and president-elect of the American Sociological Association (ASA). In his research in the United States and in Europe, he uses the extended case-study method, which involves intensive participant observation. An example of this method can be found in his book, The Radiant Past: Ideology and Reality in Hungary's Road to Capitalism (Chicago University Press, 1992), for which he worked for a year as a furnace operator in a Hungarian steel plant. In other research projects, Burawoy has worked in a Hungarian champagne factory, spent a year as a personnel officer at a Zambian copper mine and toiled for 10 months as a machine operator on Chicago's South Side. (September 29, 2003)
Ceremonies on Sept. 11, 2003, at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine gave a name to the school's program to study cancer in humans as well as animals -- the new Isidor I. and Sylvia M. Sprecher Institute for Comparative Cancer Research. The institute name acknowledges a major gift from Isidor Sprecker, a 1939 DVM graduate of the college, and his wife, Sylvia, a teacher and author. The Spreckers changed the spelling of their name to clarify its pronunciation but have preserved the original spelling, Sprecher, for their gifts. An earlier gift from the Spreckers added their name to that of an 1800s governor of New York state, creating the Roswell P. Flower-Isidor I. and Sylvia M. Sprecher Library and Resources Center. (September 29, 2003)
Cornell University's annual Agribusiness Economic Outlook Conference will be held Tuesday, Dec. 9, from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Registration will begin at 9 a.m. in the foyer of the David L. Call Alumni Auditorium, Kennedy Hall, on the Cornell campus. William Lesser, chair of Cornell's Department of Applied Economics and Management (AEM), will open the session. Speakers will include two Cornell associate professors of AEM, Steven Kyle, who will provide the national perspective on the economy and agriculture, and Gregory Poe, who, with Nelson Bills, professor of AEM, and Peter Wright, senior extension associate in animal science, will focus on "Agriculture and the Environment." (September 26, 2003)
Teenagers from all over New York state are talking their heads off on topics from beef cattle to babysitting. They have been competing for a place in this year's 4-H State Public Presentations, a public-speaking event to be held Saturday, Oct. 4, at noon in Morrison Hall on the Cornell University campus. Middle school and high school students have been giving talks and demonstrations at the local and regional levels, and those with the best gift of the gab have advanced to the state event at Cornell, where they will represent their counties. The speaking competition will award gold, silver and bronze medals to winners in the demonstration, speech, illustrated talk and dramatic interpretation categories. Participating will be 67 presenters from 38 counties with each county allowed to send up to three presenters in three categories. (September 26, 2003)
