Japanese shore crabs, a square-shaped crustacean that poses a direct threat to soft-shell (steamer) clams, mussels and lobsters, were discovered July 13 by Cornell University marine biologists in Owl's Head, Maine, on the shores of Penobscot Bay. The detection of this crab, which has the potential to hurt Maine's seafood industry.
Two Cornell University researchers, Robert J. Sullivan Jr., research associate in space sciences, and Harry Stewart, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, have been named by NASA as members of the science team for the 2003 Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission. Sullivan and Stewart will collaborate in an examination of the physical properties of Martian soils, using instruments aboard the two rover vehicles that will explore the Martian surface. The researchers' proposal was one of 28 selected from more than 80 submitted to NASA last December. The MER mission, scheduled for launch in mid-2003, involves two identical rovers. They will arrive at separate destinations on Mars early in 2004. (July 18, 2002)
Alfonso Torres, director of the New York State Animal Health Diagnostic Laboratory and associate dean for veterinary public policy at Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine, testified July 17 before the U.S. Senate's Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, which is conducting hearings to examine proposals for creation of a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS). His comments focused on the proposed transfer of all U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) activities and the Plum Island (N.Y.) Animal Disease Center to DHS. Torres, who came to Cornell in February 2002, previously was deputy administrator for veterinary services at APHIS, and from 1991-1996 served as director of the animal disease center at Plum Island, where he also was chief of foreign animal disease diagnostic laboratory (1995-96) and head of diagnostic services (1991-95). Below are excerpts from his prepared testimony. The full text of his remarks are available at . (July 17, 2002) Dividends aren't what attracts institutional investors
Conventional wisdom has it that companies wanting to attract more institutional investors can do so by paying out more dividends. Not so, a new study by two Cornell University professors shows. In fact, it turns out that companies attract more institutional investors by repurchasing shares of their own stock and paying out fewer dividends. The study, "Institutional Holdings and Payout Policy," by Roni Michaely, professor of finance at Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management, and Yaniv Grinstein, assistant professor of finance at the Johnson School, reverses earlier thinking on how companies actually attract institutional investors. (July 17, 2002) Web site on how to manage disability in the workplace
ITHACA, N.Y. -- What are good strategies to raise awareness in the workplace about diversity and persons with disabilities? What are reasonable accommodations to make for individuals with disabilities? What are the issues when considering the hiring of a person with cognitive or psychiatric disabilities? Learning disabilities? Brain injury? On July 26, the 10th anniversary of the part of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that prohibits job discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities, the Program on Employment and Disability (PED) in the School of Industrial and Labor Relation at Cornell University is offering a new web site to answer these and similar questions that human resource professionals face in trying to hire and retain workers with disabilities. (July 16, 2002) Many federal supervisors unaware of disability initiatives
July 26 is the 10th anniversary of the part of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that prohibits job discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities. The good news is that 7 percent of the almost 1 million workers in 17 major federal agencies are individuals with disabilities. And, three-quarters of supervisors in these agencies have made at least one workplace adjustment for workers with disabilities -- and nearly half made four or more -- over the past five years. The bad news, however, is that only one-third of the supervisors are familiar with the kinds of accommodations available for persons with disabilities applying for jobs or are aware of initiatives to use telecommuting to accommodate those with significant disabilities. In addition, less than half are familiar with special government initiatives to hire 100,000 more qualified individuals with disabilities over the next five years. (July 16, 2002) Cornell officials and students reach agreement for union election
Cornell University and the Cornell Association of Student Employees/UAW (CASE/UAW) reached agreements yesterday (July 11) that will allow a union representation election for the university's approximately 2,000 teaching assistants, research assistants, graduate research assistants and graduate assistants. The agreements define the bargaining unit, set dates for the National Labor Relations Board-administered election, and recognize that certain academic issues lie outside the scope of bargaining. The union and the university also agreed to procedures to be followed by both parties in the event that there are subsequent NLRB rulings that revise the present interpretation of the status of graduate student assistants as employees. Under the terms of the Agreement, the proposed bargaining unit will include graduate research assistants, research assistants, teaching assistants and graduate assistants who are graduate degree program students under the jurisdiction of the Graduate School and who receive a stipend and at least a 25 per cent tuition remission from the university. Other individuals and employees are expressly excluded from the proposed bargaining unit. (July 12, 2002) Cornell officials and architect end design relationship
Cornell University and Steven Holl Architects announced today (July 11) that they had mutually agreed to dissolve their relationship for the design of the proposed new home for the university's Department of Architecture. Steven Holl Architects (SHA) was the winner of an invited architecture design competition sponsored by the College of Architecture, Art and Planning. The $25 million project is intended to provide new studio space and other related services and offices for the Department of Architecture, as well as a major auditorium and other classrooms. The envisioned facility will be a highly visible building at a prominent entrance to the university, adjacent to historic Sibley Hall. The internationally recognized members of the selection jury reviewed four finalist presentations in April 2001 and made their unanimous recommendation to Cornell President Hunter Rawlings immediately thereafter. (July 11, 2002) $1.9 million from Howard Hughes Medical Institute to enhance undergraduate and K-12 biology education
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) has awarded $1.9 million over four years to Cornell University, continuing its support of programs in undergraduate biology education and K-12 outreach. This is the fourth HHMI award to Cornell since 1989 in support of these programs. The new award is to encourage undergraduates to pursue careers in science, with a focus on attracting and retaining women and minorities underrepresented in the sciences and to help science teachers and teachers-in-training hone their skills in the rapidly changing and increasingly interdisciplinary field of biology. (July 10, 2002) Trust beats service, price or brand in food-service buying
Trust and effective communication are more important to food-service purchasing agents than good service, price or brand, according to a new study from the Center for Hospitality Research at the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University. "Strong partnerships between purchasers and suppliers have come to be viewed as a competitive advantage for food and beverage purchasers who are looking for long-term economic success," says Judi Brownell, professor of organizational communication at Cornell. "This partnership is cemented by trust, communication and personal connections. Turnover in supplier representatives, therefore, is emerging as one of the most troublesome challenges facing purchasers today." (July 9, 2002) CONTOUR rocket launches successfully
NASA's Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) spacecraft-- set to provide the closest look yet at the "heart" of a comet--successfully launched at 2:47 a.m. EDT July 3 aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. More details on our Contour page. Recruitment of pro-inflammatory adult stem cells contributes to blood, heart and bone diseases, and cancer progression
New York, NY (June 30, 2002) Scientists from Weill Cornell Medical College (New York City) and the Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology at the University of Leuven (Belgium) have discovered a key role for a biologically potent growth factor receptor, known as Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor-1 (VEGFR-1), found on adult bone-marrow-derived stem cells. In two separate papers, just published online in Nature Medicine, these researchers show that activation of VEGFR-1 results in the mobilization and incorporation of pro-inflammatory stem and blood cells into various organs, contributing to inflammation and abnormal vessel formation. This leads to the evolution of cardiovascular diseases, such as atherosclerosis, as well as to arthritic joint diseases, blood disorders, and cancer progression.The scientists also present remarkable preclinical animal studies that utilize blocking antibodies to demonstrate that inhibition of VEGFR-1 activity is effective in diminishing atherosclerosis, as well as in blocking inflammatory processes, thereby preventing the progression of rheumatoid arthritis and certain cancers. The studies lay the foundation for fighting disabling diseases--including heart, joint, blood, and malignant disorders--which afflict millions of individuals world-wide. Gene discovery in petunias could boost hybrid food crops
Working with a decorative plant, the petunia, scientists at Cornell University have identified a gene that restores pollen production to sterile plants. The finding, reported the week of July 8 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, points the way to probable locations of similar restorer genes in approximately 150 other plant species with the so-called cytoplasmic male-sterility (CMS) defect and could facilitate crop-plant hybridization for increased yields. The fertility restorer gene is located in the plant cell nuclei of certain petunia varieties and somehow prevents an abnormal gene in the cells' mitochondria from disrupting pollen production, says Maureen R. Hanson, the leader of a six-year effort to identify the gene and the Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor of Plant Molecular Biology at Cornell. Oilseed rape, cauliflower, sunflower and rice are among the food plants known to have similar naturally occurring restorer genes, and knowing the general location in one plant genome should help pinpoint it in others, Hanson says. (July 3, 2002) Air pollutants in low-income housing, child-care centers
In areas prone to high radon levels, homes occupied by limited-resource households have significantly higher levels of radon than those occupied by higher income households, and some child-care centers have unsafe levels of radon, lead and mold, according to a new study at Cornell University. "We found levels of pollutants in homes and child-care facilities that we should be concerned about," says Joseph Laquatra, associate professor of design and environmental analysis in the New York State College of Human Ecology at Cornell. "Even low levels of exposure to some of these pollutants is dangerous, and if you have a child who lives in a home with high radon, lead and mold levels and then spends the day being exposed to those same pollutants in a child-care facility, that child may be at significantly higher risk for lead poisoning, cancer, asthma attacks and allergies." (July 1, 2002)
Conventional wisdom has it that companies wanting to attract more institutional investors can do so by paying out more dividends. Not so, a new study by two Cornell University professors shows. In fact, it turns out that companies attract more institutional investors by repurchasing shares of their own stock and paying out fewer dividends. The study, "Institutional Holdings and Payout Policy," by Roni Michaely, professor of finance at Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management, and Yaniv Grinstein, assistant professor of finance at the Johnson School, reverses earlier thinking on how companies actually attract institutional investors. (July 17, 2002)
What are good strategies to raise awareness in the workplace about diversity and persons with disabilities? What are reasonable accommodations to make for individuals with disabilities? What are the issues when considering the hiring of a person with cognitive or psychiatric disabilities?
July 26 is the 10th anniversary of the part of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that prohibits job discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities.
Cornell University and the Cornell Association of Student Employees/UAW (CASE/UAW) reached agreements yesterday (July 11) that will allow a union representation election for the university's approximately 2,000 teaching assistants, research assistants, graduate research assistants and graduate assistants. The agreements define the bargaining unit, set dates for the National Labor Relations Board-administered election, and recognize that certain academic issues lie outside the scope of bargaining. The union and the university also agreed to procedures to be followed by both parties in the event that there are subsequent NLRB rulings that revise the present interpretation of the status of graduate student assistants as employees. Under the terms of the Agreement, the proposed bargaining unit will include graduate research assistants, research assistants, teaching assistants and graduate assistants who are graduate degree program students under the jurisdiction of the Graduate School and who receive a stipend and at least a 25 per cent tuition remission from the university. Other individuals and employees are expressly excluded from the proposed bargaining unit. (July 12, 2002)
Cornell and Steven Holl Architects announced today (July 11) that they had mutually agreed to dissolve their relationship for the design of the proposed new home for the university's Department of Architecture. Steven Holl Architects was the winner of an invited architecture design competition sponsored by the College of Architecture, Art and Planning.
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) has awarded $1.9 million over four years to Cornell University, continuing its support of programs in undergraduate biology education and K-12 outreach.
Trust and effective communication are more important to food-service purchasing agents than good service, price or brand, according to a new study from the Center for Hospitality Research at the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University. "Strong partnerships between purchasers and suppliers have come to be viewed as a competitive advantage for food and beverage purchasers who are looking for long-term economic success," says Judi Brownell, professor of organizational communication at Cornell. "This partnership is cemented by trust, communication and personal connections. Turnover in supplier representatives, therefore, is emerging as one of the most troublesome challenges facing purchasers today." (July 9, 2002)
In areas prone to high radon levels, homes occupied by limited-resource households have significantly higher levels of radon than those occupied by higher income households, and some child-care centers have unsafe levels of radon, lead and mold, according to a new study at Cornell University.
