The gene for an enzyme that is key to natural disease resistance in plants has been discovered by biologists at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research (BTI) and at Cornell University. The researchers say that by enhancing the activity of the enzyme they might be able to boost natural disease resistance in crop plants without resorting to pesticides or the introduction of non-plant genes. The research, reported in the latest (May 16) issue of the journal i>Cell, describes the discovery of the gene that codes for an enzyme (a protein that carries out a chemical reaction) that is activated when a plant senses it is being attacked by a pathogen. When activated, the enzyme produces nitric oxide (NO), a hormone that tells the plant to turn on its defense arsenal. (May 15, 2003)
New York, NY (May 14, 2003) -- A breakthrough new laser procedure is a safe and effective treatment for the most common ailment experienced by men over the age of 50, Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) or enlargement of the prostate. Almost half of all men over 50 experience some symptoms related to BPH, a condition where the prostate increases in size, gradually pinching the urethra, leading to a host of uncomfortable and painful symptoms.--As one of six clinical research study sites, and the only site in the New York City metropolitan area, the Weill Cornell Brady Prostate Center investigated the new procedure, Photoselective Vaporization of the Prostate (PVP), finding significant and immediate reduction in symptoms (23.9 percent to 2.6 percent) and prostate volume (55.1g to 30.3g) with all patients discharged within 23 hours without significant complications. The study's findings were presented at the recent American Urological Association meeting in Chicago.
Local nonprofits and small businesses in Ithaca and surrounding counties and the Cornell University community are the immediate beneficiaries of this year's Park Service Leadership projects. MBA students selected as Park fellows at Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management have been working on the service projects for the past two years. Their aim: to leave something of lasting value in the community, learn leadership skills in the process and make community service a lifelong habit. (May 14, 2003)
CHICAGO-- The number-one concern for U.S. restaurant managers is human resources, in particular, finding, training and keeping the best employees, according to a new study at Cornell's School of Hotel Administration. The study, in which managers of independent operations and chains were surveyed, showed the second top concern to be government rules ill-designed for the food-service industry. "Key Issues of Concern for Food-service Managers" by Professor Cathy Enz, executive director of the Center for Hospitality Research at Cornell's Hotel School, reveals the findings of a survey she designed that was distributed by the National Restaurant Association and responded to by 448 restaurant operators, senior managers and owners throughout the United States. The study's results are being formally released at the association's Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show at McCormick Place in Chicago this week, May 17-20. (May 14, 2003)
Science is central to research universities, but what are the implications of its growing importance and costs, and who should pay for it? A national conference convened by a Cornell University-based higher education group looks at those issues next Tuesday and Wednesday, May 20 and 21. The conference, "Science and the University," is sponsored by the Cornell Higher Education Research Institute (CHERI). Most sessions will take place in 115 Ives Hall on the Cornell campus and are free and open to the public. (May 13, 2003)
Cornell University will celebrate its 135th Commencement Sunday, May 25, with more than 6,000 graduates receiving degrees at a ceremony beginning at 11 a.m. on Schoellkopf Field. President Hunter Rawlings, who will present the commencement address and confer degrees, will preside over his eighth and final commencement ceremony as Cornell's president. He is retiring from the presidency June 30 and will assume a professorship in the university's Department of Classics. The commencement ceremony caps two days of celebratory events at Cornell. (May 13, 2003)
G. Peter Lepage, chair of the Cornell University Department of Physics since July 1999, will serve as interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences for a one-year term, beginning July 1. The appointment was announced by Provost Biddy Martin, in consultation with President Hunter Rawlings and President-elect Jeffrey Lehman. Martin informed the College of Arts and Sciences faculty today (May 12) that Robert Fefferman, the Louis Block Professor and former chair of the Department of Mathematics at the University of Chicago, had decided, after what he has described as a difficult decision-making process, to accept the position of dean of physical sciences at the University of Chicago, where he has spent his entire academic career. (May 13, 2003)
Education is more effective when students feel their efforts make a difference in the real world, says Jack Elliott, who teaches a Cornell University course on environmental issues in design. That's why his students are helping a new National Park Service (NPS) building in the Grand Canyon get its "green" certification. His Ecological Literacy and Design class, the first such full-semester course in the nation, is teaching students how to implement the new environmental building standards set by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), a sustainable building-industry advocacy group. Pennsylvania State University has now followed with a similar course. (May 13, 2003)
The connections of polymer science to biology will be examined when a major academic research conference with industrial participation, the 14th annual Polymer Outreach Program (POP) symposium.
The Master of Professional Studies (M.P.S. Ag.) degree program in public garden management, a new academic specialty announced in 2002 by the Cornell University Department of Horticulture and Cornell Plantations, has just enrolled its third crop of fellows. One hundred and five years earlier, that department was founded by the "Dean of American Horticulture," Liberty Hyde Bailey, who subsequently conferred the cryptic name, "Plantations," on the Cornell unit that now administers the university's arboretum, botanical garden and natural areas. (May 9, 2003)
Ninth- and 10th-grade biology students in Seneca Falls, N.Y., are investigating social and scientific issues behind a controversial proposal to expand an existing landfill in their town. High school students in Ithaca are evaluating the relative toxicity, effectiveness and cost of different highway de-icing compounds to find the most environmentally friendly alternatives to road salt. And in 11 cities around the country, young people are working with elders to study plants, people and cultures in urban community gardens. Now, Environmental Inquiry, the Cornell University program that inspired these efforts, has earned the Environmental Quality Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It is the agency's highest honor. (May 9, 2003)
Two Cornell University faculty members are among the 187 new fellows elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, in honor of their distinguished contributions to their professions. The two Cornell honorees, who will be inducted into the academy in October, are Peter Uwe Hohendahl, the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of German and Comparative Literature, and Paul L. Houston, professor of chemistry and chemical biology and senior associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences. (May 12, 2003)
