Cornell in National News for July 28, 2005

Thursday August 04, 2005 Category: News Permanent Link

The following is a sampling of recent major news stories featuring Cornell, courtesy of the Cornell News Service.

Union split: sign of decline or revival?

Yahoo News, July 27 [Cornell had several hits in major media outlets on this story featuring the expertise of Richard Hurd and Kate Bronfenbrenner]

Outsourcing and job insecurity have only increased that interest. But workers are also pragmatic. “They know their employers are antiunion,” says Rick Hurd, a labor expert at Cornell University. “They may have a positive view of unions, they might rather be unionized, but they’re not willing to put their job on the line to get there.”

Labor split centers on failure to organize—Unions struggle for formula to revive movement

MSNBC, July 27

The board “is a very aggressive board that … interprets the law in a way that is tipped toward employers,” said Kate L. Bronfenbrenner, director of labor education research at Cornell University. “The board is clearly biased towards employers and is making decisions one after another that way.”

Rediscovered Woodpecker Still Extinct? Experts Dispute Find

National Geographic News, July 26

Last week, Jerome A. Jackson, a zoologist at Florida Gulf Coast University and the author of the book In Search of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, told the New York Times that the evidence presented earlier this year in the journal Science suggests only “the possibility” of the presence of an ivory-bill in the swampy Big Woods region of eastern Arkansans.

“Scrutiny of evidence is a natural and desirable process in science,” he told National Geographic News. “The video is blurry and imperfect, so from the beginning we anticipated that debate might take place about the identity of the bird.”

John W. Fitzpatrick, director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, says he remains fully convinced that at least one ivory bill was present in the study area in 2004 and early 2005. He adds that the team is following up on a number of new reported sightings.

Climatologists say heat wave takes toll on air conditioners

Associated Press, July 26 [story picked up by several media outlets, print and broadcast, including USA Today]

Climatologists at the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University reported Tuesday that dew points—the day-to-day measure of humidity in the air—were so high last week that in 13 major Northeast cities they exceeded the “design dew point,” or maximum humidity level at which air conditioning systems can operate efficiently.

Mystery Woodpecker Upends a Bird Lover’s Life

New York Times, July 24

Article highlighting Bobby Harrison of Oakwood College and his life-long passion for birds. A passion which culminated recently with the re-discovery of the ivory billed woodpecker in the swampy woods of Arkansas along with research partners from Cornell’s lab of ornithology including Tim Gallagher.

Excerpt:

A bird appeared in the distance and he and Mr. Gallagher watched its flight, wondering what it was. “As soon as it broke over the bayou and tipped, I knew what it was,” Mr. Harrison said.

Like other birders, Mr. Harrison developed his passion early in life. He has been looking for an ivory bill since 1972, when he was 17. He is a particular species of birder; he has always had a single-minded dedication to one bird. It is no surprise that he picked the ivory bill. It was - or is - the largest American woodpecker and has long haunted the imaginations of birders because of its elegance and its disappearance.

Three Biologists Question Evidence in Sighting of Rare Woodpecker

New York Times, July 21

Three biologists are questioning the evidence used by a team of bird experts who made the electrifying claim in April that they had sighted an ivory-billed woodpecker, a bird presumed to have vanished from the United States more than 60 years ago, in the swampy forests of southeast Arkansas.

John W. Fitzpatrick, the co-leader of the search for the bird and director of the Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology, said it was normal for scientists to disagree about evidence of this sort, especially because in this case the video in question was “pretty crummy.”

Dr. Fitzpatrick added that there was “significant additional evidence right now” that would be published in coming months.

Energy secretary rebuts study on ethanol’s value

Chicago Tribune, July 21

[David Pimentel’s ethanol study has received a great deal of press. But the opposing view is strong and has created a lively debate in the media.]

Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman took issue Wednesday with a study [by David Pimentel of Cornell University and Tad Patzek at the University of California, Berkeley] claiming that more energy is consumed making ethanol than the corn-based gasoline additive generates.

Bodman said he found that other research comes to opposite conclusions. He cited a recent Argonne National Laboratory study that concluded that ethanol generates 35 percent more energy than it takes to produce.

“Over and beyond that, I think it is important to recognize that this is a home-grown fuel and something that does contribute to replacement of foreign imports and therefore something that I think deserves consideration,” Bodman said.

After Protest, Cornell and Students Reach Accord in Parking Lot Dispute

New York Times, July 19

A stalemate over the preservation of a patch of redbud trees at Cornell University ended yesterday after a group of student protesters reached an agreement that allows the university to build a parking lot in exchange for a pledge to pursue other environmental initiatives.

Although at least four protesters refused to sign the agreement with the interim Cornell president, Hunter R. Rawlings III, and insisted that they would continue their resistance, most of the students who had chained themselves to pipes and tethered themselves to trees agreed to leave the woods.

At Cornell, a Push to End Stalemate Over Parking Lot

New York Times, July 18

Story covered days immediately preceding the agreement between Cornell Administration and the protesters.

Deer Stalker Heads East

New York Times, July 17

Evidence that deer in upstate New York have been infected with a disorder called chronic wasting disease is stirring great anxiety among hunters, conservationists and politicians. The disease is invariably fatal to deer and elk, but is not known to harm humans.

Senator Charles Schumer has rifled off a five-page warning about the threat to the upstate hunting economy and deer herds. Indeed, so little is known about the disease that Mr. Schumer would make the Animal Health Diagnostic Center at Cornell into a national research center.

Simulations of Attacks By Terrorists Illustrate Challenge Officials Face

Wall Street Journal, July 15

Cornell Professor J. Edward Russo is quoted in a story about disaster preparedness and the difficult choices that need to be made. Professor Russo states, “A terrorist incident is different from an accident or natural disaster. You’re dealing with an intelligent opponent. If you prepare for A and they find that out, they’ll go to B.”

How Stars Are Made

CIO Magazine, July 15

Raymond Karrenbauer, CTO of ING Insurance Americas is featured in an article in this month’s CIO Magazine about rising IT stars. Raymond is a participant in the Johnson School’s EMBA Class of 2006. He is one of 33 rising CTO stars they list in the issue of the magazine and is in the lead paragraph to the story on how to develop future stars.

Its Getting Easier Being Green

Business Week online, July 15

Article visits what is happening with sustainability and environmental issues in many b-schools. The lead to the story is on the Johnson School’s Justin Dekoszmovsky and his summer internship in Kenya.

“We can’t continue to operate our economic system the way we are today,” says DeKoszmovszky. “Some of us have accepted this fact and are working to be ahead of the curve, motivated both by the massive opportunity and the desire to be proud of our work and careers.”