A world-famous novel written two centuries ago by an 18-year-old Englishwoman will be required reading for all Cornell University incoming freshman and undergraduate transfer students in fall 2002. The newest selection for the New Student Reading Project seems the perfect choice. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein not only gave the world it's first characterization of the "mad scientist," inspiring scores of movies and books, points out Cornell Vice Provost Isaac Kramnick, but it raised concerns about the role of science in the modern world that seem more relevant than ever today. (March 13, 2002)
A new energy-conservation initiative at Cornell University is bringing about significant savings in the university's electric bill and is helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The number of young adults infected with HIV/AIDS – almost 12 million globally – is staggering, as is the number of AIDS orphans (11 million), expected to double by 2010.
Cornell University officials, alerted by reports of animal rumblings in Rand Hall, have issued a dragon-warning and road-closure alert for the campus on Thursday, March 14. Vehicular access to central campus will be restricted from 1 p.m. to approximately 3:30 p.m., and buses could be rerouted or delayed for the annual emergence of the dragon. This year is the 101st Dragon Day, in which first-year students in the College of Architecture, Art and Planning build and parade a dragon through campus. (March 12, 2002)
Four Cornell University faculty members are among this year's recipients of National Science Foundation (NSF) Career Awards. The Faculty Early Career Development Program is NSF's most prestigious awars for new faculty members.
The Cornell Board of Trustees will meet in Ithaca March 14 and 15. The board will meet from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, March 15, in the Trustee Meeting Room of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art.
Cornell University will serve for the next three years as headquarters for the executive director of the New York Campus Compact (NYCC), an organization of presidents of colleges and universities in New York state that seeks to promote and support collegiate involvement in community service. Cornell is a founding member of NYCC, whose charter was signed Oct. 16, 2001, at Pace University in Manhattan. Other founding universities include Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Syracuse University, Nassau Community College, Nazareth College, Pace, Niagara Community College and the State University of New York (SUNY) campuses at Cortland, Geneseo and Oswego. Currently, more than 35 campuses across New York state have joined NYCC, which is the 26th member of the national Campus Compact program. (March 12, 2002)
Nature writer Terry Tempest Williams, author of Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place, considered a classic of environmental literature, will present a public lecture at Cornell, Tuesday, March 26. Titled "Homework: The Art of Sustainability," Williams' talk will be in Auditorium D of Goldwin Smith Hall on campus beginning at 7:30 p.m. It is free and open to the public, and no tickets are needed. (March 8, 2002)
W. Kent Fuchs, head of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Michael J. and Catherine R. Birck Distinguished Professor at Purdue University, has been named the Joseph Silbert Dean of the College of Engineering at Cornell University. (March 8, 2002)
The three-month public comment period has begun on the draft environmental impact statement for a new medical waste-management facility at the College of Veterinary Medicine. Estimated to cost approximately $6 million and funded by the State University Construction Fund, the facility would replace the college's incinerator to treat pathological waste and regulated medical waste, and could begin operation in early 2005.
Heinz Isler (pronounced "ezler"), the noted Swiss structural engineer and designer, will present a talk at Cornell University, Monday, March 11, at 6:30 p.m. at Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall. The talk is free and is open to the public. Isler is considered to be among the foremost structural artists working today. His talk, which is the Felix Candela Memorial Lecture, will concern Isler's thin-shell roof structures -- self-supporting concrete domes -- of which he has designed more than 1,000 in the past two decades, more than any other engineer. His structures, most of them in Switzerland, have been described as "harmonious, natural and inspiring." (March 6, 2002)
