“The next major explosion is going to be when genetics and computers come together,” American writer and futurist, Alvin Toffler, once said. A manifestation of this explosion apparently resides with one of Cornell’s newcomers, Professor Alon Keinan, biological statistics and computational biology.

Alon Keinan was born and raised in Israel. He immigrated to the United States for postdoctoral research. “It’s pretty mandatory to have post-doctoral experience from a good university outside of Israel in order to then get a faculty position in Israel,” he said.

In 1957, reacting to the devastating potential of Soviet missile armament, President Eisenhower pressured Congress to pass The National Defense Education Act (NDEA), which funded curriculum changes in public schools, particularly in math and the sciences.

According to film-collector and restorer Skip Elsheimer the increasing resources allocated by the NDEA, the fearful demand of Americans for educational videos and the abundance of film equipment left over after World War II encouraged small, goal-oriented groups to produce highly focused educational films.

Imagine a life without cars, cell phones or laptops. Olin and Uris Libraries closing as soon as the sun sets, while rough drafts for freshman writing seminars fill up the trash cans with their paper, ink and lead. While such a disaster will clearly not happen tomorrow, unsustainable rates of production and waste have professionals from agriculture to architecture concerned.

Asst. Prof. Kevin Pratt, architecture, teaches a class on thermal and environmental systems. He is currently involved in two research projects — Vibro Wind Power and Sustain — both of which are focused on improving the energy efficiency of buildings.

Most students encounter Charles Darwin — the man behind the Origin of Species — at some point in their academic career, whether it be during high school, a mandatory introductory biology class or an upper level evolution course. This week, the Mann Library lobby exhibit “Written on our Faces” will be honoring one of Darwin’s lesser known works, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals.