New York, NY (May 17, 2004) -- Imagine a puzzle made up of one hundred billion pieces, each reacting to the other, and you have a glimpse of the enormity of the challenge facing researchers bent on understanding how brain cells work together to create human perception, thought, and action. Every day, over 50,000 neuroscientists around the globe collect data on just these types of neural interactions, publishing their collected facts and figures in over 300 journals and scientific assemblies worldwide. But the sheer quantity and scope of neuroscientific data means that individual researchers cannot hope to utilize but a small fraction of what is available.--Many experts -- including Dr. Daniel Gardner, a Weill Cornell Medical College Professor of Physiology and Biophysics, and Director of the College's Laboratory of Neuroinformatics -- now believe the time has come to give this community of scientists a better means of accessing -- and re-analyzing -- this vital data.
New York, NY (May 17, 2004) -- Two-years ago, Dr. Bruce McCandliss, a psychologist at the Sackler Institute of Developmental Psychobiology of Weill Cornell Medical College, introduced a reading program he co-developed into some of New York Cityâs public elementary schools. The program, known as "Reading Works," uses computer-based reading lessons, and as students have learned from the curriculum, scientists have used brain scans and other methods to monitor how their brains are changing.Now, two-years later, results from the program are coming in from children across many parts of New York City, and the preliminary data are impressive. Children involved in the program, which encompasses 20 forty-minute sessions over a period of several months, are now reading at an ability level, on average, 1.2 grades higher. And, scientists now have a better idea of how children learn to read and what keeps some from becoming proficient at it.
David W. Butler, who has served as dean of the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration since 2000 and was associate dean of executive education from 1993 to 2000, has announced that he will not seek reappointment when his term ends June 30, 2005. Butler has announced he plans to go into "semi-retirement" to enjoy time with his wife and to undertake targeted professional projects. (May 17, 2004)
Right now, Cornell University planners can only dream of the campus home of Big Red hockey, Lynah Rink, doubling its seating and changing the skyline with a domed translucent-fabric or peaked plastic roof that would glow in the night sky. Yet such ambitious ideas have been inspired by Cornell students -- and they have earned credits doing it. It was merely a class project when engineering professor Ken Hover assigned his students in Civil Infrastructure Design (CEE 474) this semester the task of designing a Lynah Rink renovation that would double the seating capacity (now about 3,836) of the venerable, much-loved arena without touching the ice or the bench seats already in place. But when the students in the class presented their plans recently, Hover, a professor of civil and environmental engineering (CEE), and his five fellow professorial instructors weren't the only ones paying close attention. Because an enhancement of the 47-year-old structure is on a lot of people's minds, members of Cornell's administration also came to look and listen. (May 17, 2004)
A new team has been named to lead the Cornell Migrant Program (CMP) and to suggest ways to restructure the program to better meet the changing and complex needs of New York's agricultural community, including migrant and other farm labor, their families and communities. The announcement was made today by the deans of Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) and College of Human Ecology (CHE), and the director of Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE). (May 14, 2004)
Cornell University is changing the way in which it handles its intellectual property (IP) and transfers its many new technologies to the public. The changes are designed to foster university-industry research collaborations, promote innovation and encourage entrepreneurship on campus. IP management, licensing and economic development now will be combined in a single office, the Cornell Center for Technology, Enterprise and Commercialization (CCTEC), also referred to as the Cornell Center for Technology or "C-tech." (May 14, 2004)
James H. "Jaime" McManamon, 19, a freshman at Cornell University who was a defensive lineman on the varsity football team and a shot-putter on the men's track and field team, was killed in a car accident May 13 on Interstate 86 in Chautauqua County, N.Y. McManamon was traveling with his mother, Kerry McManamon, 41, and Kelly Smith, 41, to his home in Westlake, Ohio. According to police reports, his 2000 Chevrolet Suburban left the road and rolled over several times. He was airlifted to the Hamot Medical Center in Erie, Pa., and pronounced dead upon arrival. Kerry McManamon, who was in the rear seat, was ejected from the vehicle and suffered injuries. She remains hospitalized at Hamot Medical Center. Kelly Smith, in the front passenger seat, suffered minor injuries. (May 14, 2004)
The Board of Overseers of Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City voted today to establish the new Ansary Center for Stem Cell Therapeutics. The unique Center will bring together a premier team of scientists to focus on stem cells – the primitive, unspecialized cells thought to have an unrivaled capacity to form all types of cells in the body.
James A. Krumhansl, a professor of physics emeritus at Cornell University who led the scientific community's opposition to the superconducting supercollider in the 1980s, died May 6 in Hanover, N.H. He was 84. It was while Krumhansl was president-elect of the American Physical Society (APS) in 1987 that he testified before Congress that the supercollider should not be built if the cost would penalize superconductivity research funding. Although Krumhansl, who became president of the APS in 1989, was not speaking for the society, his words carried great weight with Congress, which in 1993 halted the project after14 miles of tunneling were completed and two billion dollars spent. (May 12, 2004)
Any day now, Brood X, the largest, most prolific brood of 17-year cicadas, will emerge from the ground and cut a swath across the Eastern seaboard. But many won't even make it to the surface: While the cicada nymphs have been developing into adults underground, their habitats have been paved over by parking lots, enormous shopping malls and large tracts of homes. (May 12, 2004)