Cornell in National News, September 6, 2005
Sunday September 11, 2005 Category: News Permanent Link
The following is a sampling of recent major news stories, courtesy of Cornell News Service.
Cornell to admit displaced Tulane students and faculty
Associated Press, September 1
Cornell’s decision to come to the aid of displaced Tulane students and faculty reached national media almost immediately following the announcement and continues to get press. The story was often combined with similar announcements from other universities, such as the one that ran in Newsday.
The Opportunity Cost of Economics Education
New York Times, Sept. 1
In his regular New York Times column, Cornell University Economist Robert Frank discusses the poor reputation of economics as a field and largely blames the structure of introductory college courses and the failure of economics professors to understand and effectively communicate the importance and utility of the basics.
Katrina will bring New York rainfall stats up to normal
Associated Press, Aug. 29 (picked up by several regional outlets including R-News in Rochester and WSTM in Syracuse)
Cornell University Climatologist Mark Wysocki says this August has been one of the driest on record for much of the state, but Katrina will bring the rainfall total up to more typical levels.
Contest for New York’s best milk helps improve quality
Associated Press, Aug. 29 (picked up by several regional outlets including WCBS-TV New York)
It may seem an entertaining competition to decide who produces the best milk in the state, but Cornell University researchers have a higher purpose for this contest to improve the quality of all milk sold to New York consumers.
Cornell’s milk quality-improvement program was started in the 1970s and since 1996 the Ivy League school has been selecting the state’s best milk during Dairy Day at the New York State Fair.
University on cutting edge using ‘green’ technology
WCBS TV, New York, Aug. 28
Cornell University is the first college in the state to get a dormitory certified by the US Green Building Council.
At Cornell’s Alice Cook House, a dormitory which houses 360 students, only public spaces are air-conditioned and student rooms have ceiling fans and windows that open.
The housekeeping staff also uses non-toxic cleaners and mops that are laundered rather than thrown away.
Cornell U. study encourages biodiversity
Cornell Daily Sun, Aug. 26 (picked up by U-wire for The New York Times)
Article followed up initial press received by Cornell researchers’ “rewilding” proposal.
The plan, published last Thursday in the latest issue of Nature, has stirred up a media frenzy.
Cornell University Professor Harry Greene, ecology and evolutionary biology, one of the paper’s co-authors, said some of his critics were quick to object to his proposal because they hadn’t actually read it.
“A lot of people think the idea is wacky,” Greene said. “Many are irrationally suspicious of academics, who they think live in an ivory tower. These people think we’re going to back a truck up and unleash lions on the streets of Topeka to eat their kids… they don’t realize all science is driven in stages.”
Tapes build ivory-billed woodpecker’s case
Associated Press and Bloomberg News, Aug. 25 (picked up nationwide by broadcast and print outlets including the New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN)
Scientists publicly presented recordings of the ivory-billed woodpecker, noting that the tape suggests there might be more than one of the rare bird in an eastern Arkansas swamp.
“It is the best tangible evidence so far that there could be more than one ivory-bill in the area,” Russell Charif, a researcher at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, said in a statement.
The “Neverlate” Clock!
CBS Early Show, Aug. 25
Adam Hocherman (Cornell, MBA ’06) and his invention, the “Neverlate” clock, had a spot on the CBS Early Show. Click the “Free Video” link at the top of the page link below to see the clip. Adam’s spot is the first one in the segment.
The Fall and Rise of French Bread
Washington Post, Aug. 24
How do you recognize really good French bread? Listen to Steven Kaplan, a Cornell University history professor who has spent much of his life examining that question.
Kaplan’s bread obsession has involved decades of research in bakeries, libraries and archives in France [where] he is a television personality, a member of the French Ministry of Culture’s Order of Arts and Letters and a gadfly who helped the new generation of French bakers reclaim traditional recipes.
A man with such firm opinions and high standards that the newspaper Le Figaro branded him “the ayatollah of bread,” Kaplan does not speak or write about French bread in measured tones.
Rewilding in North America
CNN, Lou Dobbs Tonight, August 23
Scroll to end of transcript of discussion over “rewilding” featuring Cornell Professor of Harry Greene.
