To involve the Cornell University and Ithaca communities in an upcoming celebration of peace activism that includes a visit by the Rev. Daniel Berrigan, the Center for Religion, Ethics and Social Policy (CRESP) at Cornell is calling for submissions of art, personal essays and photographs. The works will be displayed on campus Sept. 19-21, and some will be selected for publication. The Celebrating Peace Activism weekend will reflect on the work of noted activist Berrigan and the late Rev. Jack Lewis, who led Cornell United Religious Work during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The weekend's events, in addition to the exhibition, will include a sermon and a presentation on campus by Berrigan, a music festival with local and nationally known musicians and a round-table debate on the roles of direct action and voting in political discourse. (August 21, 2003)
It's become an annual Orientation week rite of passage at Cornell - the New Student Reading Project, which involves programs surrounding the reading of a text in common by all first-year students.
A diversity-education initiative for new students at Cornell University, called "One Vision, Many Voices," will begin its sophomore year on campus during Orientation 2003. Its goal is to facilitate discussion among students about issues of diversity and inclusiveness. "We had a great response from students last year and are looking to surpass attendance numbers this year," said Ednita Wright, assistant dean of students for diversity education and outreach at Cornell. (August 19, 2003)
The complete genome sequence of a leading bacterial plant pathogen offers new ways to stave off agricultural loss and perhaps foil animal or human infection, says a Cornell University researcher. According to Alan Collmer, Cornell professor of plant pathology, the sequencing (that is, determining the base sequence of each of the ordered DNA fragments in the genome) could help farmers repress tomato speck and other plant diseases. Medical researchers could be aided in comparing a related bacterium that causes fatal lung infections in cystic fibrosis patients. And environmentalists could be provided with a new tool in understanding how another related bacterium can live in soil and dine on toxic waste. (August 19, 2003)
With the arrival of new students Friday, Aug. 22, Cornell University's Orientation 2003 shifts into high gear, with campuswide activities continuing through Wednesday, Aug. 27. And this year, Orientation will be partnered with another welcome-to-campus initiative -- Welcome Weekend. In past years, Cornell's Orientation has taken place over 10 days, and it was open only to new students. This year Lisa K'Bedford, Cornell assistant dean of students for new student programs, has shortened Orientation to six days and has added what is hoped will be a new tradition -- Welcome Weekend. This new initiative will take place over five days -- Aug. 27-31 -- and will be open to all new and returning Cornell students. Welcome Weekend will offer a full slate of entertaining, non-alcohol activities. (August 19, 2003)
The newest addition to Cornell University's North Campus is the Carol Tatkon Center, an academic center for first-year students, located in the south wing of the university's Balch Hall. A grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new center will be held Friday, Aug. 22, at 5:15 p.m. The Carol Tatkon Center was designed to connect the academic heart of the university with the residential center for first-year student life on North Campus. It is administered by Cornell's Office of the Dean of Students in collaboration with the vice provost for undergraduate education and the Campus Life office. (August 19, 2003)
Shawhin Roudbari, a graduate student in Cornell University's School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is working to help rural communities in South Africa hold on to more of their precious resource of water, which appears only briefly in late summer, leaving dry farmland when winter returns. He is one of six EWF-USA volunteers who are using their engineering skills to make a difference overseas this summer. He is spending three months designing and building rainwater storage tanks and installing them in eight villages, supported by a partnership of the International Water Management Institute, a research organization headquartered in Sri Lanka, and Engineers Without Frontiers USA (EWF-USA), a two-year-old national nonprofit group based at Cornell and supported by the university. (August 19, 2003)
New York, NY (August 18, 2003) -- Physician-scientists at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Weill Cornell Medical College have shown that low-dose computed tomography (ct) screening for lung cancer may not only improve a lung cancer patient's chances for a cure, but is also likely to be cost-effective when compared with other widely accepted cancer screening methods. Published in the August Chest, the analysis demonstrates that annual low-dose CT screening for lung cancer compares quite favorably to cost-effectiveness ratios of other screenings. The study -- a collaboration between NewYork Weill Cornell Medical Center, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and Columbia University Graduate School of Business -- finds that the yearly cost of saving one life using a single low-dose CT scan could be as low as $2,500. The analysis is based on data from the Early Lung Cancer Action Project (ELCAP) study, which analyzed the response of low-dose CT screening for 1,000 high-risk individuals. The current study's estimation of cost effectiveness is the first to employ detailed data from an actual screening study, unlike previous cost effectiveness studies that relied upon assumptions and hypothetical models.CT screening for lung cancer may be significantly more cost effective than annual PAP smear for cervical cancer screening, which costs approximately $50,000 per life-year saved, or annual mammography, which costs about $24,000 per life-year saved -- two well-accepted early detection strategies to decrease cancer mortality.
So far Arnold Schwarzenegger has approached the Oct. 7 gubernatorial recall election in California by avoiding issues and scattering one-line sound bites, an ability he made famous through his tough-guy acting roles. This strategy should win him the election, says a Cornell University polling analyst. "Schwarzenegger needs to be as vague as possible," says Dietram Scheufele, Cornell assistant professor of communication, who teaches a course on polling techniques. He has examined recent polls and concludes the California election is not about issues but about images. (August 18, 2003)
Cornell research faculty, agricultural programs and cooperative extension offices have received more than $240,000 in grants from the Grow New York Food and Agriculture Industry Development (FAID) Program.
A nutritious carbonated milk beverage for grown-up tastes called Refreshing Power Milk, or RPM, developed in Cornell University's Department of Food Science laboratories, is being put into production. The beverage will be made at a new dairy plant run by Mac Farms Co. in Cooperstown, N.Y., beginning Aug. 27. Mac Farms, headquartered in Burlington, Mass., is the company that introduced e-Moo, the carbonated milk drink for children, also the product of Cornell research. E-Moo also will be made at the Cooperstown plant. (August 14, 2003)
Cornell on the Commons, formerly known as the College and Community Expo, is seeking university-affiliated departments and outreach offices that want to showcase their programs and services to undergraduate students and the greater Ithaca community. The annual event will be Saturday, Aug. 30, from 1 to 4 p.m. on the Ithaca Commons. Cornell on the Commons is a featured event in the university's Welcome Weekend program, and attendance of more than 1,000 students and community members is expected. In addition to three stages of entertainment and other events, there will be a repeat of last year's highly successful "Iron Chef" competition between a Cornell and a community chef. (August 12, 2003)
