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  • The Arecibo Observatory discovered radio interpulses from the Crab Nebula pulsar that feature never-before-seen radio emission spectra. This finding leads astronomers and physicists to speculate that the Crab Nebula pulsar could be the first known cosmic object with a third magnetic pole.
  • Larry D. Brown, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, received a $1.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation to complete a survey using explosions to probe the deep earth and discover how continents formed millions of years ago. The project, International Deep Profiling of Tibet and the Himalayas (INDEPTH)—led by Brown since its inception in the early 1990s—is a major international collaboration among scientists from the United States, China, Germany, Canada, and most recently, Ireland.
  • Cornell Center for Materials Research (CCMR) received a $2.9 million grant from the National Science Foundation’s Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program to foster graduate students’ interdisciplinary research training in nanoscale science at Cornell. The CCMR’s IGERT fellowships teach graduate students from a variety of scientific fields to become interdisciplinary thinkers.
  • Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) techniques uncovered a 1919 magazine illustration beneath the 1924 unfinished oil painting, “Family Portrait,” of N. C. Wyeth, who frequently painted new works over his illustrations. CHESS is one of three groups in the world working with art conservationists and historians to conduct analyses of actual objects of art with historical significance.
  • Bruce Ganem, Chemistry and Chemical Biology, received the American Chemical Society’s 2007 Award for Creative Invention, which recognizes “the successful application of research in chemistry and/or chemical engineering that contributes to the material prosperity and happiness of people.” Ganem solved a crucial problem in the production of paclitaxel, a successful drug used to treat ovarian, breast, and lung cancer.
  • Johannes E. Gehrke, Computer Science, Matthew DeLisa, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and Dan Luo, Biological and Environmental Engineering, received a NYSTAR award totaling $2.25 million ($750,000 to each researcher) to pursue high technology research with commercial potential—DeLisa, to engineer humanlike glycosylation pathways in bacteria; Luo, to produce recombinant proteins in an in-vitro system called P-gel; and Gehrke, to develop declarative languages that will allow scalability and extensibility in massive evolving databases.
  • Jon M. Kleinberg, Computer Science, was one of America’s Young Innovators in the Arts and Sciences featured in the fall 2007 issue of Smithsonian magazine. Kleinberg studies how websites and people link to one another online, suggesting ways that these linkages could be made more useful.
  • The Nancy and Peter Meinig Family Investigatorships in the Life Sciences, designed to recognize and support innovative life sciences research by Cornell faculty, were established with a $25 million gift from the Meinig family. Meinig investigators will receive 50 percent salary support, direct research support, and graduate student/postdoctoral support.
  • Cornell’s Nanobiotechnology Center (NBTC) received $3.2 million over five years from the National Science Foundation’s IGERT program to design and test biodevices using flexible electronics. With Christopher K. Ober, Materials Science and Engineering, as principal investigator, the funding supports 30 to 40 IGERT fellows at Cornell and partners SUNY–Binghamton and SUNY–Albany/Wadsworth Center.
  • Quinetta M. Roberson, Industrial and Labor Relations, was recognized by Diverse Issues in Higher Education magazine as one of the top 10 emerging scholars for 2007. Roberson’s areas of research are diversity and inclusion, fair employment practices, group dynamics and processes, human resources management, inclusive organizations, motivation, theory and behavior, and fair employment practices.
  • Emin G. Sirer, Computer Science, was selected as one of Popular Science magazine’s Brilliant Ten—one of the magazine’s most creative and groundbreaking young scientists in the United States. Sirer studies and builds networking and distributed systems.
  • David M. Soderlund, Entomology, Geneva, was awarded more than $2.5 million for toxicology studies. Two major research grants from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences support research in his lab on the neurotoxic actions of insecticides. The projects involve two chemical classes of insecticides that target the sodium ion channel proteins of nerve membranes. The research is expected to provide new insights into mechanisms of insecticide toxicity that will aid in assessing human health risks associated with the use of these insecticides.
  • Steven H. Strogatz, Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, received the Joint Policy Board for Mathematics (JPBM) Communications Award, which cites Strogatz’s ability to capture the popular imagination with novel research, engaging writing, and a flair for finding new answers to an old question: what does complex math have to do with real life?
  • Abraham D. Stroock, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, was honored as a Technology Review 2007 Young Innovator. Stroock studies how to move small volumes of liquid through channels that are usually etched into a rigid material, such as glass or silicon—but Stroock’s exciting research features hydrogels. These soft polymers that absorb water have potential for medical uses.
  • Weill Cornell Medical College (WCMC) received a $49 million Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) from the National Institutes of Health—the largest federal grant ever awarded to WCMC—to lead a new Clinical and Translational Science Center, creating a network for biomedical collaboration on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. A diverse group of collaborating institutions, including Cornell’s College of Human Ecology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Hospital for Special Surgery, and Hunter College, will comprise the center.
  • Klaas J. van Wijk and Robert E.G. Turgeon, Plant Biology, Thomas Brutnell, Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, and researchers at Yale University received a $5.5 million, four-year grant from the National Science Foundation to provide a better understanding of the biology of rice, maize, and sorghum, among other crops. The scientists will compare two categories of grass crops known as C3 and C4. Common C3 grasses include wheat, rye, and rice. C4 grasses, which evolved from C3s, include such major cereal crops as maize and sorghum, as well as the most promising biofuel crops, such as switchgrass. C4 grasses are more efficient than C3 grasses in their photosynthesis when under stress or exposed to higher temperatures and are able to create more biomass.
  • Departments of Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Food Science, and Information Science rated number one in the nation in their fields according to the latest Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index, based on data from 2005. The index compiles faculty publications (books and journal articles), citations of those publications, federal research funding, and awards and honors.

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