One of the dreams of both science fiction writers and practical robot builders has been realized, at least on a simple level: Cornell University researchers have created a machine that can build copies of itself.
Cornell's Merrill Presidential Scholars Program honored 37 Cornell undergraduate students this week, while also honoring the high school teachers and university faculty members who made important contributions to the students' lives.
NEW YORK -- Shahin Rafii, an internationally acclaimed cancer and vascular biologist and stem cell authority at Weill Cornell Medical College (WCMC), has been named one of 43 new investigators by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). The honor is bestowed annually on the nation's most promising and gifted biomedical scientists.
NEW YORK -- Last fall two students at Weill Cornell Medical College -- Brant W. Ullery '08 and Avnish Deobhakta '08 -- founded the Medical Students for the Advancement of Transplantation (MSAT) to raise awareness about organ donation for medical students and the public alike, and to build a support system among organ donors and recipients. At the inaugural meeting May 5, the students invited Rob Kochik, clinical director of the New York Organ Donor Network, to describe scenarios in which organ donation could save a life.
Students at the Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences received their first taste of professional life at the Vincent du Vigneaud Symposium, May 3, 2005. Every year since 1981, the symposium has devoted a day for students to present their research in front of colleagues and faculty. The symposium honors the Nobel laureate and head of the Department of Biochemistry at the medical college from 1938 to 1967.
Paul Leon Hartman, a pioneering researcher and Cornell professor emeritus recognized by his colleagues for his grace and humility, died at his home at Kendal at Ithaca on May 20. He was 91. Hartman was one of the first to investigate the use of X-rays generated as a byproduct of high-energy electron accelerators.
NEW YORK (May 23, 2005) -- A biochemical partnership between two novel compounds called cell-cycle inhibitors is crucial to the development of blood vessels that help tumors survive and thrive, according to a collaborative Weill Medical College of Cornell University and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center study just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.When researchers transplanted tumors into mice genetically engineered to lack two of these inhibitors, those tumors failed to develop much-needed vasculature -- a process called angiogenesis.
At 99, Robert Halgrim had one remaining wish -- to be honored by Cornell University. In 1927, his mentor and employer, Thomas Edison, arranged for him to attend the university's College of Agriculture where Halgrim studied horticulture. But two years into his degree, Edison requested that he return to Florida to tutor the great inventor's grandchildren. And Halgrim never returned to Cornell.
Pursuing a quality education is more than a personal responsibility; it is an individual right. On June 7, educators from around central New York will be meeting at Ithaca High School to explore this concept during the second Community Forum on Education and Society. The featured speaker will be Robert Moses, a renowned educator and civil rights activist. His talk is free and open to the public.
Cornell University's Formula SAE race car team won its ninth world championship May 22 at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Mich. Cornell has won the competition three years out of the last four. It was the 19th year that a Cornell team has entered.