c1-c4CAMmj12_c1-c1CAMMA05 4/12/12 12:22 PM Page c1 May | June 2012 $6.00 Corne Alumni Magazine Remembering Dale Corson— see page 12. CornellNYCTech The Inside Story How did Cornell win? What happens now? What will it mean for the future of the University? cornellalumnimagazine.com c1-c4CAMmj12_c1-c1CAMMA05 4/12/12 12:23 PM Page c2 01-01CAMmj12toc_000-000CAMJF07currents 4/12/12 11:30 AM Page 1 May / June 2012 Volume 114 Number 6 In This Issue Corne Alumni Magazine 2 From David Skorton 96 6 Sustainable living 6 The Big Picture Meet Wee Stinky 8 Correspondence A ship to remember 12 Hail and Farewell Remembering Dale Corson 13 From the Hill Dragon vs. phoenix 16 Sports Good grappling 16 18 Authors (Very) big cities 30 Finger Lakes Listing 50 Classifieds & Cornellians in Business 51 Alma Matters 54 Class Notes 92 Alumni Deaths 96 Cornelliana Veterinary veteran Special Section 38 Getting Technical THE WINES OF BETH SAULNIER NEW YORK STATE After an intense year-long process, Cornell has won the right to create an ambitious, industry-focused, two-million-square-foot applied sciences campus in New York City. To be built on Roosevelt Island, the endeavor is unfolding both on the fast track and Currents over the long haul: its first classes will be offered this fall (in temporary rented space), but the $2 billion project won’t be fully built out for three decades. A look at how Cornell won, how its leaders are putting their shoulders to the grindstone, what it will 20 Go Gators mean for the wider University—and why not everyone is a fan. Reptile wrestler A Drop to Drink 44 The Peacemaker Clean water for all BRAD HERZOG ’90 Mind’s Eye Library of the imagination John Marks ’65 has a rare job description: he aims to end war forever. Marks is Om . Fore! founder and president of Search for Common Ground, a nonprofit that promotes The Zen of golf peace and tolerance around the globe, through everything from multi-ethnic Out of This World kindergartens in Macedonia to a soccer-themed soap opera in Kenya. “We’re trying NASA chat to transform the way the world deals with conflict from adversarial to non- Uptown Dreams adversarial approaches,” he says, “from win-lose to win-win.” From Harlem, with love Plus | Cover: Rendering by Skidmore, Owings & Maize Craze Merrill for the CornellNYC Tech proposal. Alum’s pop secret Website This is just a concept and does not repre- Just the Ticket cornellalumnimagazine.com sent a finished design for the campus. Rail-themed Reunion Cornell Alumni Magazine (ISSN 1548-8810; USPS 006-902) is published six times a year, in January, March, May, July, September, and November, by the Cornell Alumni Association, 401 East State Street, Suite 301, Ithaca, NY 14850. Subscriptions cost $30 a year. Periodical postage paid at Ithaca, NY, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Cornell Alumni Magazine, c/o Public Affairs Records, 130 East Seneca St., Suite 400, Ithaca, NY 14850-4353. May | June 2012 1 02-03CAMmj12skorton_000-000CAMJF07currents 4/12/12 11:31 AM Page 2 From David Skorton Sustainability: One of the Defining Challenges of Our Time ustainability is a critical and timely research the first building—the academic building—is aiming to be net- area, a focus of student activism, a founda- zero. It will harvest as much energy from its site, from solar and tional principle in new campus con struction, geothermal sources, as it consumes—making it one of the pre- Sand a key consideration for our campus operations—encom- mier green buildings in the nation. passing energy, climate, water, food, waste, buildings, people, More than thirty student organizations have taken the lead land, purchasing, and transportation. All of us, on Cornell’s in helping the University address sustainability challenges. Among campuses and in the wider Cornell community, can be very other activities, student organizations run Dilmun Hill organic proud of our university’s leadership in this area. But global farm and a farmers’ market on Ho Plaza—and students manage problems related to sustainability are manifold, and we cannot the Big Red Bikes bike-share program; Lights Off Cornell, which rest on past accomplishments. Here is what Cornell is doing in uses volunteers to turn off lights in campus buildings after hours; this exceedingly important sphere. and Take Back the Tap, which encourages the use of filtered tap Sustainability is reflected in our strategic plan, which has water, rather than bottled water, for drinking. among its objectives effective stewardship of the natural and built The Cornell Climate Action Plan has set the Ithaca campus environment. Earlier this year, our attention to sustainability across on a path to carbon neutrality by 2050. In the first two years of multiple dimensions earned Cornell a gold-level national sustainability rating on the Sustainability Tracking, Assess- ment, and Rating System (STARS) self-assessment system. Last month, in a first-of-its-kind partnership, Cornell’s David R. Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future joined forces with CARE, the international relief and develop- ment organization, to tackle global poverty and the impacts of climate change. Generous gifts from David Atkinson ’60 and Pat Atkinson to both Cornell and CARE have provided start-up funding for the Atkinson Center’s Impact through Innovation Fund, which matches Cornell researchers with CARE development profession- als in projects designed to break the cycle of poverty, par- ticularly for women and families. Work is already under way in Ethiopia, Mozambique, and elsewhere in the developing world. President Skorton with David With leadership from the Atkinson Center, Cornell Atkinson ’60 at a ceremony faculty, students, and staff, along with external partners, celebrating the Atkinson Center are working to create knowledge across broad areas of sustainability involving energy, the environment, and eco- for a Sustainable Future nomic development. To date, Atkinson Center researchers JASON KOSKI / UP have leveraged $10 million in seed funding into more than $90 million in external support—with projects ranging from the plan, we reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent, assessing carbon sequestration in agricultural landscapes to using thanks to the high performance of the Combined Heat and Power algae as biofuel. Plant and a decision to eliminate all coal combustion at the Uni- The Atkinson Center has also contributed to our faculty versity. With Ithaca College, Tompkins Cortland Community Col- renewal efforts with a cluster-hiring program that offers bridg- lege, local organizations, businesses, and municipalities, we are ing and start-up funding directly to colleges, schools, and depart- also part of the Tompkins County Climate Protection Initiative, ments for faculty recruitment in cross-cutting areas of importance which aims to mobilize local resources to ac celerate the transition to sustainability research (www.sustainablefuture.cornell.edu/ to a clean energy economy. about/fac-hiring.php). The thirteen-member President’s Sustainable Campus Com- On the Ithaca campus, all new construction over $5 million mittee, which we created in 2010, developed a campus sustain- must attain a rating of silver or better under the Leadership in ability plan and continues to oversee all aspects of sustainability Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rat- in campus operations and facilities, including our progress on the ing System. We have exceeded that requirement on several new Climate Action Plan and the STARS self-assessment. buildings, including the Combined Heat and Power Plant, the I invite you to keep abreast of our efforts by checking out the Animal Health Diagnostic Center, the new Human Ecology websites for the Atkinson Center (www.acsf.cornell.edu) and Building, the Physical Sciences Building, the Brian Nevin Wel- Cornell Sustainable Campus (www.sustainablecampus.cornell. come Center at Cornell Plantations, and Weill Hall, all of which edu) and to suggest opportunities to leverage our efforts to cre- have achieved or are pursuing gold-level certification. The entire ate a more sustainable campus and world. CornellNYC Tech campus on Roosevelt Island in New York City — President David Skorton will achieve, at a minimum, a LEED silver rating. Additionally, [email protected] 2 Cornell Alumni Magazine | cornellalumnimagazine.com 02-03CAMmj12skorton_000-000CAMJF07currents 4/12/12 11:31 AM Page 3 04-05CAMmj12cornellstore_000-000CAMJF07currents 4/12/12 2:54 PM Page 4 04-05CAMmj12cornellstore_000-000CAMJF07currents 4/12/12 2:54 PM Page 5 06-07CAMmj12bigpic_000-000CAMJF07currents 4/12/12 11:33 AM Page 6 The Big Picture PHOTOS BY LISA BANLAKI FRANK Dead center: A rare blooming “corpse plant” drew crowds to a campus greenhouse in mid-March, with many visitors waiting more than an hour to sample its stinky scent. One of just 140 to bloom in recorded history, Cornell’s Amor- phophallus titanum was dubbed Wee Stinky (after the campus stream known as Wee Stinky Glen) in a CALS poll. In the wild, the plant—which shifts from female to male during its two-day bloom- ing cycle—uses its noxious odor to attract carrion insects to serve as pollinators. Asked why it had caused such a stir, plant biology grad student Gwynne Lim summed it up this way: “It’s big, it’s beautiful—and it’s weird.” 6 Cornell Alumni Magazine | cornellalumnimagazine.com 06-07CAMmj12bigpic_000-000CAMJF07currents 4/12/12 11:33 AM Page 7 08-11CAMmj12corresp_000-000CAMJF07currents 4/12/12 11:34 AM Page 8 Correspondence A Titanic Adventure 100 years later, the ill-fated voyage still resonates I enjoyed “Unsinkable” by Brad Herzog A Dissenting Voice ’90 (March/April 2012)—his story about the four Cornellians on the Titanic was I regret being unable to share President moving. Whether on sports, travels Skorton’s excitement about the partner- around the nation, or sharing his brief TV ship between Cornell and Technion-Israel celebrity on “Who Wants to Be a Mil- Institute of Technology (From David Skor- lionaire,” Brad is always a good read.