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CORNELL CLOSE-UPS | Professor Altschuler Is Driven by Curiosity and Diverse Interests

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Ever since Prof. Glenn Altschuler, American studies, joined the Cornell faculty in 1981, he has been an advocate for the value of the humanities and strong bonds between students and professors. “I’ve tried to have my say about the importance of the humanities at Cornell, the importance of teaching and advising, and I believe Cornell has made a meaningful commitment to what I consider to be the important priorities in higher education,” Altschuler said. He has been an avid advocate for promoting high-quality education on campus by building close relationships between faculty and students, yet he worries that not enough of the Cornell community takes this mission seriously. “I’m concerned that not enough students or faculty take advising seriously,” Altschuler said. He believes technology is one of the reasons for lackluster relationships between professors and students.

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Renowned Astrophysicist and Interstellar Producer Kip Thorne to Speak at Cornell

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Kip Stephen Thorne — one of the world’s leading experts on the astrophysical implications of Einstein’s theory of reality and the executive producer of Academy Award winning film, Interstellar —  will speak at Cornell on April 6. Thorne plans to speak on the significance of the recent detection of gravitational waves, which Cornell researchers played an instrumental role in discovering. Much of the significant work to detect gravitational waves occurred through the Simulation of eXtreme Spacetimes collaboration, which was co-founded by Thorne and Cornell Prof. Saul Teukolsky, physics and astrophysics, according to the University. “With this discovery, we humans are embarking on a marvelous new quest: the quest to explore the warped side of the universe — objects and phenomena that are made from warped spacetime,” said Thorne. “Colliding black holes and gravitational waves are our first beautiful examples.”
Thorne was a professor of physics at the California Institute of Technology for more than four decades, focusing his research on general relativity with a specific emphasis on gravitational waves, according to the University.

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Student Assembly Addresses Funding Allocation, Surplus Spending

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The Student Assembly discussed a revision to the regulation of their Student Activity Fee and the allocation measures allowed to byline funded organizations in a meeting Thursday. Members also determined how they will gift their $39,000 budget surplus. Matthew Stefanko ’16, vice president of finance, proposed a resolution that he said would hold student groups more accountable for how they allocate their funding. “We haven’t really gone after groups that do not use their money appropriately in the past and that’s something that we should and will do,” he said. Jordan Chessin’18, transfer at large, suggested that a clause about reserving rooms in Willard Straight Hall should be added into the revision.