Women in life sciences will be the focus of the President's Council of Cornell Women (PCCW) during its spring conference at Cornell University, March 6-9.

Presenters include Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman to fly in space and a 1981 graduate of Weill Cornell Medical College, who will address Cornell students at a luncheon hosted by PCCW Saturday, March 8, and participate in a panel discussing how research in life sciences affects women's lives.

Three panel sessions will be open to the Cornell community:

• Cornell: A Leader in Life Sciences, Friday, March 7, from 3:45 to 5 p.m. in the Robison Hall of Fame Room, Schoellkopf Hall. PCCW member Marcia Bergren Pine will moderate a panel that includes Kraig K. Adler, Cornell vice provost for life sciences; W. Kent Fuchs, dean of the College of Engineering; Biddy Martin, provost; and Patrick J. Stover, associate professor of nutritional biochemistry, Division of Nutritional Sciences, College of Human Ecology.
• Life Sciences Research and Our Bodies, Saturday, March 8, from 10:15 a.m. to noon in Room B09 Sage Hall. Fredi Kronenberg, professor of clinical physiology and director of the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at Columbia University, will moderate the panel. Speakers are Hazel H. Szeto, professor of pharmacology, Weill Cornell Medical College; Marjolein van der Meulen, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Cornell; and Virginia A. Zakian, the Harry Wiess Professor of Life Sciences at Princeton University.
• Life Sciences Research and Our Daily Lives, Saturday, March 8, from 3:15 to 4:30 p.m. in Room B09 Sage Hall. Wendy T. Chin, president of Creative Technology Group Inc., will moderate. Speakers are Barbara A. Baird, director of Cornell's Nanobiotechnology Center; Kathryn J. Boor, associate professor of food science; Paulette Clancy, professor of chemical engineering; and PCCW member Jemison, former NASA space shuttle astronaut and president of The Jemison Group, a medical technology company.

The conference also will include networking sessions with students and a reception for women faculty to honor recipients of PCCW's Affinito-Stewart Grant program, which has presented $307,500 to 134 women at Cornell to help advance their academic careers through support of their research.

Established in 1990 with the mission of advancing the involvement and leadership of women students, faculty, staff and alumnae within Cornell and throughout its many constituent communities, PCCW serves as an advisory council to Cornell's president.