News

Prof. Mark Talbert ’89 Remembered as Infomation System Innovator, Mentor

By |

Prof. Mark Talbert ’89 MPS ’92 died this weekend at his home. Talbert, a professor in the School of Hotel Administration, specialized specifically in information systems within the realm of hotel administration. According to the University, his research interests include business computing, modeling and programming, and he has authored many educational software programs in these fields. His software has been utilized by many other universities around the world. Prof. Mark McCarthy ’86 MMH ’98, one of Talbert’s colleagues in the hotel school, said Talbert was responsible for introducing valuable job skills to the classroom.

Cornell Close-Ups

CORNELL CLOSE-UPS | Prof. Avery August Explores Societal Impact of Immunology Research

By |

“As scientists, we need to think about how our work impacts society. We need to be able to engage with society more,” said Prof. Avery August, immunology, chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the College of Veterinary Sciences. A Belizean-born scientist, August immigrated to the United States and obtained a B.S. in medical technology from the California State University at Los Angeles. He then acquired his Ph.D. in immunology from Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences. Outside of Cornell, August has also been a department director at Pennsylvania State University and a postdoctoral research fellow at Rockefeller University.

News

Professor, Alumnus Awarded MacArthur Grants

By |

Prof. William Dichtel, chemistry, and Christopher Ré ’01 were announced MacArthur Fellows Tuesday, and are recipients of the MacArthur Foundation’s Genius Grant — $625,000 awarded to fellows to spend with no strings attached. Dichtel pioneered the development of covalent organic frameworks, a nanostructured material that can be used for energy storage, solar power and other technologies, according to the MacArthur Foun­dation website. Ré, who is currently a professor of computer science at Stanford University, works to democratize big data analytics. His DeepDive — an inference engine created by Ré — extracts information from and analyzes relationships between “dark data,” according to the foundation site. Dichtel and Ré are among 24 recipients this year who were recognized by the foundation for “exceptional creativity, promise for important future ad­vances based on a track record of significant accomplishment and potential for the fellowship to facilitate subsequent creative work.”
Until he received a phone call from an unfamiliar number right before a meeting he was hosting, Dichtel said he had never interacted with anyone from the MacArthur Foundation.

Cornell

Students for Justice in Palestine Chalkings Reportedly Erased By Bailey Hall Staff

By |

Activists from Students for Justice in Palestine faced resistance when, as they were chalking outside of Bailey Hall on Sept. 18, a Bailey Hall worker reportedly asked them to stop and then erased the chalkings. The activists were first approached by a Bailey Hall staff member when they were chalking on the steps outside the hall, according to Hadiyah Chowdhury ’18, an SJP member. “He didn’t really tell us to go away outright, but he said to ‘be kind,’” Chowdhury said. “We told him we had a right to be there … but afterwards, we moved closer to the fountain area [and off the steps.]”

In a statement to The Sun, SJP activists said their chalkings addressed the “inhumane working conditions forced upon Qatari laborers” at Cornell’s Qatar campus, the University’s “refusal to engage in effective solidarity with those who have suffered sexual assault on campus” and Cornell Tech, which they said “cements [Cornell’s] position as a national leader in partnering with the genocidal practices of the Israeli regime.”

After they were done with their chalking, Chowdhury said the SJP activists went off to take a break for lunch.

News

Panel Addresses Impacts of U.S. Inequality

By |

President Elizabeth Garrett and a panel of five Cornell faculty discussed the effects of different types of inequality and how they could trigger a chain reaction in the American political economy as the concluding event to her inauguration festivities in Bailey Hall Friday afternoon. The panel, titled “Democracy and Inequality,” began with an introductory overview by Gretchen Ritter ’83, the host of the discussion and the Harold Tanner Dean of Arts and Sciences, followed by Garrett’s own opening remarks. “While we celebrate a historic event in the light of our university, with ceremonies, picnics and fireworks, we much also affirm that the primary goal of a university like Cornell is to work to more deeply understand issues facing society and to help shape responses that would improve the quality of life for people in our state, country and the world,” Garrett said. Garrett focused on the impact of income inequality and how the wealth gap in the United States today is at an all-time high — the country has not seen income inequality of this magnitude since the 1920s. She then invited her panelists to discuss this problem in the light of their various specialized disciplines.