By wpengine
Cornell’s Department of Food Science commemorated its centennial anniversary Oct. 13-15 by throwing a party. The three-day celebratory symposium, entitled “Building on a Century of Excellence: Food Science at Cornell University” featured lectures by many food science experts. The festivities kicked off on Sunday with poster presentations in Stocking Hall, followed by an overview of the past century of Food Science at Cornell by Prof. Emeritus David K. Bandler ’51, food science. “I have been involved with Cornell Food Science in one way or another for the past 50 years,” Bandler said. “The greatest achievement of the food science department has probably been its export of graduate students,” he added. “We have alumni all over the globe.” Monday’s events included a morning session on “Food Science in the 21st Century: Vision for the Future,” with commentary by Susan A. Henry, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Nathan Rudgers, New York state commissioner of agriculture and markets. “Food science and the World Food Situation” was discussed by Per Pinstrup-Anderson, director general, International Food Policy Research Institute. “The Current State of the Art in Food Science” was discussed by Prof. Emeritus Pat Fox of the University College Cork, Ireland and Prof. David M. Barbano, food science. Monday afternoon’s session featured “Improving the Quality and Safety of Food,” with Elsa A. Morano, undersectretary for food safety, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and three Cornell researchers: Prof. Robert B. Gravani, food science, Prof. Martin Wiedmann, food science, and Prof. Carl Batt, food science. Yesterday’s final session of the symposium focused on “Delivering the Benefits of the Life Science Revolution to the Consumer” and featured discussions by Prof. Rui Hai Liu, food science; Prof. J. Bruce German of the University of California-Davis; John Finley of Kraft Inc.; Prof. Mary Schmidl of the University of Minnesota and Prof. Joseph Hotchkiss, chair of food science. “The centennial celebration gives us a chance to honor those who worked to establish the department as a leading, internationally recognized teaching, research and outreach program,” Hotchkiss said. “Food science deals with one of the most essential aspects of life and culture and must continue to grow and evolve. The centennial is recognition of this necessity,” he added. The department has had several name and location changes in the past century. Its early years were as the Department of Dairy Industry, starting in 1902 when work in animal industry was divided into animal husbandry, poultry husbandry, and dairy industry, according to Bandler. Food science was housed in East Roberts Hall from 1906 to 1923, when it moved to its current location in the newly completed Dairy Building, renamed Stocking Hall in 1947. In 1943 the dairy-research program at Cornell’s New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, N.Y., merged with the dairy activities at Cornell. According to Bandler, research in dairy chemistry, bacteriology and manufactured products increased during the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. The department dropped the word “dairy” from its name in 1966, and replaced it with the modern term “food science.” Today, students and professors in food science concentrate on such areas as food chemistry, food microbiology, food engineering, food packaging and food safety. And according to Bandler, “the future of food science at Cornell is doing what we have already been doing, plus looking at biotechnology to improve the food supply.” “I see the department continuing to evolve to embrace the basic sciences more, and continuing to apply the growing knowledge in the field of nanotechnology, genomics and materials sciences to food systems,” Batt said. 100 years from now when the department celebrates its bicentennial, people will still be eating food. “I think that food will still be what it should be — a gastronomical experience of the senses, something that we enjoy from preparation to consumption,” said Batt. Archived article by Adrianne Kroepsch
By wpengine
As part of the Life Sciences Initiative, the University plans to construct a building on a site currently occupied by Alumni Field. Yesterday, the Town of Ithaca Planning Board met at Town Hall to discuss a construction proposal for five University athletic fields to replace Alumni Field. They unanimously agreed to consider a Sketch Plan review which includes the construction of two lighted athletic fields and three non-lighted fields, a supporting building and parking to accommodate 25 to 30 cars. The proposed site is located at the southeast corner of Pine Tree and Ellis Hollow Roads, an area currently used for University horse paddocks. The site is past the College of Veterinary Medicine, and players would most likely have to be bussed there, according to Andy Noel, director of athletics. The proposed Life Sciences building would include space for both research and laboratories and space for science subjects including biology, chemistry, physics, statistical sciences and engineering. On January 28, the Board of Trustees decided on Alumni Field as the site for the new building. “In bringing these [sciences] together, it plays to Cornell’s advantage,” said Kraig K. Adler, vice provost of the College of Biology and Life Sciences. “What we’re trying to do is bring together the very best of science and engineering at Cornell University.” According to Adler, The decision to construct the building was based largely on the location. Estimates suggest that there will be over 1,000 undergraduates using the proposed building every week. Students and faculty will be coming from the Arts Quad, Engineering Quad and the Agriculture Quad. “For maximum effectiveness in the building,” Adler said, “it needs to be located properly on the campus in terms of the people who will utilize this.” Many who live around the proposed site expressed their objections. Questions raised included the effects of lighted fields upon the neighborhoods in terms of glare and excess light. One citizen expressed particular concern about excess noise coming from the athletes in the fields, claiming that he could already hear football game announcements from his back yard. Others expressed concern over the destruction of the rural environment and the effects removing vegetation in order to build fields would have on flooding in the area. Some residents also questioned the University’s selection process. Several coaches had objected to the decision to demolish Alumni Field, as the displaced fields would make practice less convenient for athletes. “Obviously, we would hope that students could walk out and practice in front of their dorms or fraternities or sororities,” Noel said. “The bottom line is that a $500 million Life Sciences Initiative was a very important element to our University.” As a result, the practice location of certain athletic teams will be displaced, the men’s soccer, women’s soccer and women’s lacrosse teams in particular. To give these teams a place to practice, the five new fields were proposed. “The reason the site is superior is because there’s enough room there to accommodate not only the fields we will be losing on central campus, but there’s also room for expansion for some future playing fields that we’ll also be proposing,” said John Gutenberger, the University’s director of Community Relations. Noel suggested that having five practice fields would be useful for summer athletic camps as well, explaining that these camps help to generate funds for athletic programs. Archived article by David Hillis