02 04 14 entire issue lo res

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

Task Force to Focus

On a ‘Global Cornell’

University seeks to expand international presence

By ZOE FERGUSON Sun Senior Writer

Un

y ’ s i n t e r n a t i o n a l p re s e n c e Fre d r i k L o g e va l l , v i c e p rovo s t f o r i n t e r n a t i o n a l a f f a i r s a n d f o u n d e r o f t h e t a s k f o rc e , s a i d h e w i l l a d d re s s “ c r u c i a l” i s s u e s o f i n t e r n a t i o n a l i z a -

t i o n “ I b e l i e ve t h e t a s k f o rc e w i l l p e rf o r m a c r u c i a l t a s k a s we w o rk o n m a n y f ro n t s t o s t re n g t h e n t h i s t h i n g we c a l l Gl o b a l C o r n e l l , ” L o g e va l l s a i d “ I f e l t i t i m p o r t a n t t o h a ve a s m a l l g ro u p s i t d ow n a n d g i ve c l o s e c o n s i d e r a t i o n t o t h e i s s u e s i n vo l ve d i n e x p a n d i n g a n d e n h a n c i n g t h e Un i ve r s i t y ’ s g l o b a l p re s e n c e ” L o g e va l l s a i d t h e p u r p o s e o f

Cornellians Gather for Slope Snow Bash

By MADELINE COHEN

Sun Staff Writer

At “Humans of Cornell’s” first ever Snow Bash Tuesday, more than 50 students braved the cold wearing snow boots, hats and gloves to throw snowballs, make snow angels and roll in the snow on Libe Slope

Jenna Galbut ’14, the creator of Humans of Cornell, a Facebook page

w h i c

y engagement with posts of portraits and interviews of members of the Cornell community, described the event as the first of its kind and “ super successful ” “It seemed like everyone had a great time, and everyone was happier when they left than when they came, “ Galbut said Galbut said she was struck by the idea t o c re a t e t h e S n o w

Bash after she noticed several of her Fa c

p

i n i n g about the snow and being miserable ” “I thought to myself, ‘ This is really sad The snow is so beautiful and we don’t celebrate it,’” she said “We should take the time to just appreciate this beautiful, fresh powdered snow, and in general, appreciate our surroundings and let go and have fun with each other ” Galbut said that Tuesday, the o n l y c l e a r d a y It h a c a h a s s e e n recently, was a perfect day for the Snow Bash

Cornell Tech Dean Named To Corning Board of Directors

Cornell Tech Dean and Vice Provost Dan Huttenlocher was named to the Board of Directors of Corning Incorporated, a glass and ceramics manufacturer, on Tuesday

Huttenlocher, who has ser ved in various academic positions at Cornell since 2000, will join the finance and audit committees of the board, according to Corning

Huttenlocher is the 14th member

t o j o i n t h e b o a rd , w h i c h a l s o includes Donald Blair, executive vice president and chief financial officer

f o r Ni k e , In c , a n d Ro b e r t F Cu m m i n

Many members of the Cornell community expressed their excitement about the event

Lily Sullivan ’18 said after hearing about the snowball fight on Libe Slope, she “immediately ran down” to the event

“[The Snow Bash has] been snowy, cold and playful and I h a ve s n ow a l l ove r m e , ” Sullivan said C o r n e l l Po l i c e C h i e f

Kathy Zoner said she par-

t i c i p a t e d i n t h e Sn ow Bash because she needed “ a break from the winter blues like everyone else ”

“I saw it was a Humans of Cornell event, and I wanted to come frolic, so I did,” Zoner said Da n i e l Oo d e l s k y ’16 said the event was unique because it suc-

See SNOW page 4

investment banking for JPMorgan Chase & Co

Huttenlocher’s new position on the Corning Board of Directors will not be his first finance-related position He also ser ves as a director and chair of the investment committee of the MacArthur Foundation

According to the University, Huttenlocher also holds several academic titles at Cornell, including professorships in the computer science department and in the Johnson Graduate School of Management

As the founding dean of Cornell’s applied sciences campus in New York City, Huttenlocher oversees the new graduate school’s academics, degree programs and research, according to the University Previously, he ser ved as the dean of computing and information science

Hu

Directors until April, when he will stand for election for a one-year term

Corning Inc , which is headquartered about 40 miles away from Ithaca in Corning, New York, develops and produces specialty glass, ceramics, optical fibers and cables

Compiled by Sofia Hu

Today Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Daybook

Today

Dr. Akunzule, Versatile Veterinarian in Ghana 6 p m , Lecture Hall 1, Veterinary College

Slim by Design: Mindless Eating Solutions for Everyday Life 10:30 - 11:30 a m , Auditorium, Boyce Thompson Institute

Dreer Award Seminar: Cool-Season Viticulture in New Zealand 12:15 p m , 22 Plant Sciences Building

Barry Pittendrigh, Responses of Insect Systems Seminar 12:15 - 1:15 p m , 2123 Comstock Hall

Ideas for a Better World: Sustainability Strategies Workshop

2 - 5 p m , 401C Warren Hall

LEPP Theory: Composite Higgs Models Seminar 2 - 3 p m , 401 Physical Sciences Building

Tomorrow

Give a Gift from Your Heart: 10th Annual Blood Drive 11 a m - 4:30 p m , G01 Biotechnology Building

The End of Conventional War in Latin America: The Peru-Ecuador War and its Impact 12:15 - 1:30 p m , G08 Uris Hall

Personalis Sequencing and Interpretation Platform for Disease Diagnostice and Research 12 -1 p m , G01 Biotechnology Building

weather FORECAST

Weird News of the Week

,peehs

Pro Wrestling Star Caught Cheating at Wing Bowl

PHILADELPHIA (AP) Professional wrestling star Mick Foley was ejected from the Wing Bowl eating contest Friday after stuffing uneaten chicken wings into a fanny pack

People following the event on social media dubbed Foley’s attempt at boosting his wing total “inflate gate, ” a play on the Super Bowl-bound New England Patriots' deflated football controversy

Chicago’s Patrick Bertoletti won with a Wing Bowl record 444 wings in 26 minutes He edged out 2014 champion Molly Schuyler, of Bellevue, Nebraska, who eclipsed her record 363-wing mark with 440 wings

The fan-favorite Foley, who's known in the ring as Mankind, said after his ouster that he didn’t want to overstuff himself and get sick, like other competitors

“I didn’t want that to be my legacy,” said Foley “So I stretched the rules I thought people would appreciate that, right here in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania!”

Wing Bowl started in 1993 as a way for Philadelphia's long-suffering sports fans to blow off steam before the Super Bowl About 20,000 people gathered at the Wells Fargo Arena home of the Philadelphia 76ers and

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Philadelphia Flyers to drink beer and watch scantily clad women serve competitors wings

Dogs Bark ‘I Do’ This Valentine’s Day

LOS ANGELES (AP) When pet owners dress up their dogs in miniature white dresses and tiny tuxes, some believe the barks that signal “I do” reveal true puppy love

These animal lovers say their pooches can feel real longing for other pets, but experts aren ’ t so sure Most people agree a wedding is just for fun or charity when the groom is drooling and the bride’s gown needs tailoring for her tail After all, “ you may now lick the bride” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it

The doggy nuptials are gaining attention as Valentine’s Day approaches and people find new and unique ways to pamper their pets “Pet marriage or weddings are for people,” said Dr Bonnie Beaver, executive director of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists and a professor at Texas A&M University’s College of Veterinary Medicine Owners host weddings because it makes them feel good, she said, though most get planned for dogs instead of cats People can ’ t know what dogs are thinking, but studies have shown they do experience emotion

By MOLLY KARR Sun Staff Writer

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Three Professors Named Weiss Presidential Fellows

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n o m i n a t e d b y m y f o r m e r s t u d e n t s a n d p r i v i l e g e d t o b e i n c l u d e d i n t h i s g r o u p o

Task Force Stresses International Presence

Seven member task force heeds Skorton’s call to globalization in various urban centers

t o p u r s u e “ p a r t n e r s h i p s w i t h institutions abroad ”

“A n u m b e r o f u n i v e r s i t i e s have opened offices or study centers overseas A few have even created full campuses, ” Logevall

s a i d “A t p r e s e n t w e ’ r e n o t i n c l i n e d t o p u r s u e t h e l a t t e r course, but that still leaves several possibilities for the task force to consider ”

The task force will be chaired by Prof Alfonso Torres, veterinar y medicine, who is associate dean for public policy at the College of Veterinar y Medicine

Logevall said he is “delighted” that Torres will chair the task force, which has not yet met the team ’ s first meeting, sched-

uled for Monday, was cancelled due to snow Torres said the “ultimate goal” of the task force is to “continue to enhance the internationalization effor ts ” that Cornell has already undertaken “ The task force will strive to gather, consolidate and a n a l y z e o p i n i o n

ideas from a wide range of faculty and administ

f Cornell academic units to provide recommendations on the best way to move for ward on these issues,” Torres said Ac c o rd

Although Cornell is not currently pursuing the construction of full campuses in foreign cities, Logevall said the University must b e m o r e c o n n e c t e d t o o t h e r countries

tional development would most likely center on urban environments rather than rural areas

tion At many levels, people have been working to achieve this over t h

said, who is a member of the task

“Many of us at Cornell were inspired by President Skorton’s call to greater internationalization ”

h

importance of the newly formed task force lies in the University’s increasing social interconnectedness

“ We live in a globalized world As such, the global should infuse a l m

Cornell,” he said “ We need to be connected in concrete ways to the world beyond U S shores ” Logevall added that interna-

“I believe that, in the coming decades, major urban centers will be even more important than they are now, as conduits of ideas, knowledge, and people,” he said “ W h e t h e r C o r n e l l should have a physical p re s e n c e i n s o m e

these world cities is an important question to consider ”

said work has already b

Cornell’s globalization, but creating more partnerships is vital

“Many of us at Cornell were inspired by President Skorton’s call to greater internationaliza-

‘

becoming aware that doing so needs to be strategic for Cornell we need to seek out the partnerships and collaborations that best bring value to our students, our faculty and our research ” Ac

Cornell consider potential next steps in the globalization process “It’s a great big world out there, and we ’ re already involved in it in myriad ways, ” Logevall said “ Where should we go from here?”

Zoe Ferguson can be reached at zferguson@cornellsun com

H u m a n s o f

C o r n e l l ’

Takes to Libe Slope To Celebrate Snow

ceeded in bringing students together

“It’s as simple as a bunch of college students getting giddy for a moment in their life, forgetting about internships or prelims,” Oodelsky said Rudy Gerson ’15 said he decided to come to the Snow Bash, saying there was nothing he would rather do

“People should play more often people at this school take themselves too seriously, including me, ” Gerson said “We don’t have jobs yet, so we should be more spontaneous and have more fun ”

Galbut said it was “ pretty incredible” that such a large group of people came to the slope to relax, enjoy the snow and meet new people

“To take thirty minutes out of your schedule and not go to your meeting or not do your homework or study immediately is a pretty big deal for a Cornell student,” she said

This event was part of her effort to get Cornellians to “ connect with each other,” according to Galbut

“Some people walk around campus with a large number of people surrounding them, yet, sometimes, they still feel isolated and alone,” she said “This is the type of event that makes you realize we ’ re never alone ”

Galbut added that she thought the event was successful because it helped members of the community form bonds with each other

“The best thing was that people came in timid and alone and left elated with new friends,” she said

Galbut said given that that this event was a “ test run, ” it “far exceeded” her expectations

“Now I know that my other ideas of events to bring people together will be fun and successful,” she said

Madeline Cohen can be reached at mcohen@cornellsun com

Gap in Bachelor’s Degree Attainment Doubles, Report Finds

LOS ANGELES (AP) The gap in bachelor-degree attainment between the nation’s richest and poorest students by age 24 has doubled during the last four decades, according to a report released Tuesday

The percent of students from the lowest-income families those making $34,160 a year or less earning a bachelor’s degree has inched up just three points since 1970, rising from six to nine percent by 2013

Meanwhile, college completion for students from the wealthiest families has risen dramatically, climbing from 44 to 77 percent

“It’s really quite amazing how big the differences have become between those from the highest and lowest family incomes,” said Laura Perna, a University of Pennsylvania professor and executive director of the Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy, one of the two organizations that published the study examining college costs and degree attainment

The study comes amid renewed debate on college affordability spurred by President Barack Obama’s proposal to make two years of college free If adopted in every state, the proposal would benefit a projected nine million students each year It would cost taxpayers an estimated $60 billion over 10 years a price the Republican-controlled Congress is likely to be hesitant to embrace

Carl Heastie Elected Speaker Of New York State Assembly

ALBANY, N Y (AP) Carl Heastie was elected speaker of the New York state Assembly on Tuesday, making him the first African-American to hold the powerful position

Heastie is a Democrat from the Bronx He succeeds Sheldon Silver, who resigned after being charged with taking nearly $4

m i l l i o n

backs

Democrats hold a more than two-thirds majority in the chamber, and Heastie easily won the post over Republican Minority Leader Brian Kolb As a protest, two lawmakers cast their vote for Preet Bharara, the Manhattan U S Attorney who has criticized Albany’s backroom culture and

w h o s e o f f i c e

g Silver

After the vote, Heastie repeated his promise to make ethics overhaul a priority

“ We will change the cynicism into trust, ” he said “Our state deser ves a government as good as its people ”

T h e A

business Tuesday was the passage of a resolution honoring Martin Luther King Jr Heastie noted the coincidence

“ Thank you, Dr King, for

making this day possible,” said Heastie, who is also the first speaker from the Bronx

The speaker is one of the most important positions in state government Heastie will direct the flow of legislation, set committee assignments and direct budget negotiations with Gov

Senate

Four other lawmakers initially

quickly backed out as Heastie locked up support

The 47-year-old Heastie was first elected in 2000 and has led the Assembly’s Labor Committee for the past two years He is a

Ne w York City Comptroller's Office He also leads the Bronx Democratic County Committee, a post he has said he will leave now that he is speaker Silver led the Assembly for 21 years before his resignation The Manhattan Democrat has said he expects to be exonerated and intends to keep his seat in the A

Tuesday’s session, casting a vote for Heastie from his new desk in the furthest row from the speaker ’ s seat

After Police Killings, a Debate Over Grand Jury Secrecy

NEW YORK (AP) For centuries, grand juries have held some of the criminal justice system ’ s best-kept secrets But their private process has come under extraordinary public scrutiny after recent decisions not to indict police officers in the deaths of unarmed men

Calls for more transparency have sounded in Congress, statehouses and editorial pages, mixed with notes of caution about forswearing secrecy that can safeguard witnesses and the accused

The debate has “been more exposed in the last three months than ever, ” says Robert Weisberg, a Stanford University law professor who specializes in criminal justice

New York Gov Andrew Cuomo last week proposed a limited lifting of the grand jury veil when police kill unarmed civilians, and next week a New York City judge will consider whether to release transcripts of a grand jury’s

investigation into Eric Garner’s chokehold death Proposals to replace grand juries with preliminary hearings in open court, at least in some police killing cases, have recently been floated by lawmakers in Washington and Missouri

The prosecuting attorney in Ferguson, Missouri, took the unusual step last month of letting the public read grand jury transcripts in the shooting death of 18year-old Michael Brown The D A in Albuquerque, New Mexico, recently said she’d take a murder case against two officers to a preliminary hearing, instead of a grand jury, because of public frustration with the secret proceedings

To skeptics, the closed doors can leave important questions unanswerable in a prosecutor-driven process where judges have limited involvement and defense lawyers can ’ t ask questions

Independent Since 1880

132ND EDITORIAL BOARD

HALEY VELASCO ’15 Editor in Chief

CATHERINE CHEN ’15

Business Manager

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Associate Editor

NICK DE TULLIO 15

Web Editor

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Arts & Entertainment Editor

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ARIELLE CRUZ ’15 Senior Editor

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Manager

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UHLER ’15 The Spot Manager ALEXA DAVIS ’16 Senior Editor

LEVY 16

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WORKING ON TODAY’S SUN

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SPORTS EDITOR Scott Chiusano ’15

EDITORS IN TRAINING

EDITOR IN CHIEF Tyler Alicea 16

MANAGING EDITOR Annie Bui ’16 ASSOCIATE EDITOR Anushka Mehrotra ’16 SCIENCE EDITOR Noah Rankin ’16 DESIGN EDITOR Jayne Zureyk 16 ARTS EDITOR Mike Sosnick 16

NEWS DESKERS Phoebe Keller 18 Rebecca Blair ’17 Gabriella Lee ’16

Editorial

Working Towards C.U.’s Carbon-Free Future

L AST THURSDAY, PRESIDENT DAVID SKORTON publically released a report prepared by Cornell’s Climate Action Plan Acceleration Working Group outlining steps the University must take to become carbon neutral by 2035 The commitment to achieve a zero carbon footprint originated nearly eight years ago when the University pledged to achieve carbon neutrality on the Ithaca campus by 2050 More recently, Skorton advanced the carbon neutrality date to 2035 We applaud the administration and those involved in the climate working group for releasing the recommendations Cornell must take to become more sustainable and urge the University to release a plan with concrete steps it will take to meet its accelerated carbon neutrality goal

The report released weeks after scientists warned that 2014 was the hottest recorded year on the planet outlines six priorities among a set of 16 recommendations Its “key milestones” include creating a “comprehensive” campaign to inform Cornellians and promote research and engagement in the Climate Action Plan, requesting that the Board of Trustees adopt “higher energy standards” for new construction projects and advancing Cornell’s “Hybrid Enhanced Geothermal-Bioenergy System Demonstration” project, which could decrease the University’s carbon footprint by more than 38 percent The report claims that meeting these six recommendations within a year after its publication is necessary to “remain confident in the 2035 target date ” If this claim holds true, we press the administration to prioritize these proposed initiatives

Within the past year, Cornell has worked towards decreasing its environmental footprint by activating its Snyder Road Solar Farm in September, proposing to build an additional solar farm in Seneca, New York, and agreeing to purchase all of the electricity produced by the proposed Black Oak Wind Farm However, as the working group ’ s report notes, switching to more sustainable energy options is only one piece in achieving total carbon neutrality Cornell’s Climate Action Plan outlines comprehensive steps the University intends to take to decrease its ecological impact, but that plan was created with the intention of becoming carbon neutral by 2050 While President Skorton has said some of the proposed recommendations are currently underway, we urge administrators to inform Cornellians in a timely manner what concrete steps the Ithaca campus will take in order to comply with the 2035 target

We are confident the University will take the necessary steps to invest in a more sustainable future on campus, but call upon the administration to remain transparent as it works to meet its ambitious goal

Caroline Posner | The Yale Daily News

Your Campus on Drugs

I am about two-thirds of the way through writing a column on Adderall, the newest addition to my list of daily drugs, when I reread the suicide note posted on Facebook by my friend Luchang Wang ’17 It says that she couldn’t wait for new medication to kick in while remaining in school It sounds desperate I wonder if my voice sounded desperate through the phone when I implored Yale Health to let me see a psychiatrist to increase my dosage When they said I had an appointment in three days When I pushed my mother to call my psychiatrist in Florida that night because three days was too long I spend a lot of time talking about my emotional health, but I’m still hesitant to bring up my history with psychiatric medication Words like ‘antidepressant’ and ‘benzodiazepine’ tend to evoke a visceral reaction, an unsettling in your gut that makes you want to change the topic or converse in hushed tones We’ve sanitized terms like ‘therapy’ and ‘mental health care ’ , but suggestions of pharmacology aside from jokes predicated on popular stereotypes about Prozac and Xanax remain part of the crude, unpretty reality of mental illness

Perhaps it’s that a prescription, in popular culture, forms a demarcation between the romantic archetype of depression-neuroticism and the stereotype of an asylum inpatient When I bring up my expanding list of medications, I’m invoking an entire popular history of mental illness I’m drawing on our collective memories of Winona Ryder in Girl, Interrupted and Norman Bates from Psycho As a result, our conversations about psychiatric meds are sterile and distanced We can wax philosophical about our antidepressant generation or speculate on over-prescription of certain pills, but only so long as we ’ re guarded by distance and disapproving tones

luxuries of time or emotional wellness

Take me for example My high dose of Lexapro has made my life unspeakably better But it also impacts my sensation of emotions, makes me drowsy at earlier hours than my friends, makes reaching orgasm more difficult and makes my nightmares frequent and painfully realistic Adding a stimulant to the mix when I was diagnosed with ADHD this November meant flirting with insomnia, headaches and relapses into anxiety I can ’ t forget a dose of either med without experiencing symptoms of withdrawal or discomfort It’s possible I’ll take these medications for the rest of my life

None of this should suggest that seeking psychiatric help isn’t necessary The benefits of my successful treatment far outweigh the challenges of medication In fact, I might describe psychiatric pharmacology as the closest thing to magic I’ve ever known My life and the lives of people I love have been improved or saved by the right meds, something close to miraculous in the religion of science

My life and the lives of people I love have been improved or saved by the right meds, something close to miraculous in the religion of science.

It’s obvious that a decent portion of Yale students is on some regimen of psychoactive drugs, so our ironic unease with psychiatric medication might be comical if it weren ’ t so incredibly dangerous Luchang’s point about her medication is a resounding, unambiguous reminder that our school lacks a sufficient understanding of the impact of psychiatric drugs on the lives of its students

When I learn a friend is starting a new psychiatric treatment, a good part of me is thrilled The other part, though, is wary and apologetic Starting medication for the first time is hard; switching medications, which usually means that the previous drugs have failed, is often harder These medications have side effects that differ from the drugs we take for other illnesses They demand patience from people who don’t have the

Rather, I’m insisting that the full burden of medication must be understood so that we can eliminate further hardships on students seeking psychiatric treatment A few kind professors offered me extensions when starting Adderall meant I couldn’t sleep or eat on a regular schedule, when my depression wasn ’ t under control, when breakthrough anxiety got the better of my ability to attend section To others, I’ve lied and suggested alternate forms of physical illness Our world remains more sympathetic to the stomach flu than to an attention deficit, more familiar with a bad cold than an anxious mind’s dark, irrational thoughts

But when finding the right medication and dosage takes weeks or months or years like in Luchang’s case the institutional framework for accommodation must be stronger Expecting that a mentally ill student fight for her own support is equivalent to expecting that a physically disabled student attend class in Klein Biology Tower without an elevator, only easier to disregard If we expect to see change from our school and society, we must make our struggle impossible to ignore I will write about my mental illness and treatment until every Facebook friend and Twitter follower and classmate can recite the milligrams of Lexapro I swallow in the morning, if that’s what it takes Because I deserve more than this halfhearted, sanitized discourse about mental illness Luchang deserved more

Caroline Posner is a sophomore at Yale in Berkeley College

Talking About The Weather

The last time I looked at or consciously checked an item off the infamous “161 Things Every Cornellian Should Do” was towards the end of my freshman year I was a member of one of two factions in a group of friends trying to collectively check off the most items as a team or else take a bath in the bathtub in the Donlon bathroom I humped over to the bell in the Plantations, banged it like an idiot and did not have to use the Donlon bathtub Looking back as a senior, one unchecked item on the list stands out as particularly provocative and exhilarating number 78: Hook up with your T A

Although mechanical engineering is typically associated with killer parties and an overall rockstar lifestyle, most of the teaching assistants have Y chromosomes Then, the T A for a liberal studies course in my final semester at Cornell who I sincerely hope does not read this publication turned out to be a beautiful and interesting student in a creative graduate program It was all tremendously exciting

This column is not going to be an explanation of whatever scheme I may or may not put together to try and cross number 78 off the list I write about what I know, and today is not “Sex on Thursdays” for The Sun In fact, this column would not even involve my lovely and enchanting teaching assistant had she not engaged me conversationally last week Remarkable, right? I had just come off rush week, where I spent upwards of four or five hours a day being forced to speak with freshman futurebros who were often difficult to connect with on any level beyond the standard rush week “What’s your major,” “What dorm are you in” and “How much money does your father make a year before taxes?” line of questioning That is to say, my small talk and meaningless banter game was as sharp as ever If there were two things I was most ready for, they would be low pressure behavioral job interviews and the exact moment I needed to casually interact with a fair lady like her in class

My mouth was starting to taste like fo and a lot of pennies, which I am sure common physiological phenomenon f engineers trying to chat purposelessly a pretty girl

Without getting into too much detail (this still is not a Sex on Thursdays column), the conversation was going down a pretty promising path: “Are you a freshman?”

No, I am actually a senior ”

“Are you an art student?”

“No Actually I am a mechanical engineer you know, for the rockstar lifestyle ?”

My mouth was starting to taste like foot and a lot of pennies, which I am sure is a common physiological phenomenon for engineers trying to chat purposelessly with a pretty girl During rush week, I saved “So, where are you from?” for only desperate times; it was usually about 45 seconds into each conversation It may not be the most provocative or exciting, but if you have ever tried to get into a hot tub that already has an occupant or two, you know it is one of the safest questions you can ask in an uncomfortable social situation For the sake of her privacy, all I will say is that she is from somewhere roughly equatorial Somewhere hot (not a euphemism) For those of you not already aware, few people consider Ithaca to be a hot place What an interesting juxtaposition of climates why not talk about the weather?

Bringing up the weather is considered in some circles to be something of a conversational faux pas Not unlike “Where are you from,” some people believe talking about the weather can only go so far It does come up exactly zero times in the list of 36 questions The New York Times’ Mandy Len Catron believes you can ask someone to fall in love with them after all I am of the opinion that those people are small-minded

Weather is perhaps the basis of one of the most fundamental human experiences: being comfortable or uncomfortable It is hard to ignore blustery winds and blowing leaves in the fall, almost everyone can tell when it is raining and even people who don’t believe in global warming will sweat outside on a humid day Years and years ago, monkeys turned into people (a rough interpretation of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution), and people started putting people into boxes based on the way they looked, what they believed, where they came from and any number of other things Regardless of what boxes people put themselves or other people into, the weather still affected everybody

How can speaking about something everybody experiences be vacuous? It is bigger than anything else in our daily lives People experience the same weather, but their experiences growing up made unique associations for different types of weather This leads to new conversational threads and connecting people more than they may have otherwise Am I suggesting that weather is the only thing that is real or worth believing in? Not necessarily, but maybe praying to Ullr, the early Germanic pagan major god of snow, would make getting through this week a little easier For now, I am going to use his handiwork to charm number 78

May You Stay Forever Young

As a self-proclaimed TVjunkie, I have watched a lot of series finales (FYI: spoilers abound) I cried when Rachel got off the plane, rolled my eyes when we realized it was

a f l a s h s i d e w a y s a n d a n g r i l y

wrote a column when Ted finished the world’s most depressing nine-year love stor y B e f o r e Pa re n t

episode, “May God Bless and Ke

Yo

Thursday, I was ner vous that the finale would disappoint, because let’s be real most finales do After six incredible seasons filled with raw emotion, intense

c h a r

c

s , I was unsure if t h e f i n a l e would do the s h o w j u s t i c e To m y p l e a sa n t s u r p r i s e , the finale was an amazing end to the series Ever y stor yline wrapped itself neatly in a bow much like the p u p p y t h e Gr a h a m c h i l d r e n opened in their future Christmas scene We watched the family mourn the loss of their patriarch, playing a baseball game over his ashes on a field per his request and saw flash-for wards to each c h a r a c t e r ’ s h a p p y, f u l f i l l e d future And while it was incredibly cheesy, it worked per fectly Throughout its six-year r un, Parenthood has tackled Asperger’s Syndrome, breast cancer, dr ug addiction, infidelity, adoption, b u l l y i n g , t e e n a g e p r e g n a n c y, infer tility, Post Traumatic Stress

always tr ying to do the right thing for themselves and their families which is really what most of us are tr ying to do, too

They never sugar-coated it or m a d e i t f e e l u n r e a l i s t i c T h e Bravermans didn’t always make the right decisions or have the best outcomes, but it always felt like they were dealing with the same things as you And, if they could get through it and do the right thing in the end, maybe you could too We were never d e p r i ve d o f re a l i s t i c re p e rc u ssions or feel like our investment in the Bravermans was not wor th it Parenthood showed us that

Let’s finish our last semester here strong, so that there’s no unwanted plotlines, sloppy character development and plenty of memories for the montage

though my future past my finale (

tain, it is possible that my flash for wards would be picturesque and ideal And while it sounds silly to put it that way, I can ’ t h

Parenthood was real, gritty and ended well, my genuine college experience can culminate in a satisfying future too

Many television shows drag on for years past their prime (

Me

Mother and 7th Heaven

11th

even when things don’t turn out the way you plan, you stick to your values, you make things right with the people you care about and you do the best you can despite ever ything It wasn ’ t per fect it was messy, there was a lot of yelling over each other and Mae Whitman never ceased to make me cr y but it was real

Why is it, then, that such a per fect finale felt so satisfying? If what I loved most about the Braverman family is that they were imper fect and real, how can I let myself love their fair y tale ending?

D i s o rd e r a n d m u c h m o r e

De s p i t e h ow t h o s e a l l s o u n d w h e n l i s t e d t o g e t h e r, c r e a t o r

Jason Katims didn’t show us soap opera drama He didn’t drag us

t h r o u g h o u t r a g e o u s , f o r c e d melodramatic scenarios Katims, and the rest of the Parenthood writing team (P S please hire me for your next projects), showed us real life Parenthood was about real, imper fect people who were

Maybe after having invested so much in this family, all we wanted was for them to turn out okay That after all of the hardships they went through, they deser ved it Or, after relating so much to the str uggles of this fict i o n a l f a m i l y, w e w a n t e d t o know that we could have happy endings, too For me, maybe as a second semester senior in denial of my looming graduation I was

Instead, we can be grateful that what we did get was carefully constr ucted and presented in the way that the writers wanted us to experience it

When we graduate in May, even though we may want more “ seasons ” at Cornell (just not winter), hopefully we can take solace in the fact that our four years here were also completed in the way that we wanted them to Let’s finish our last semester here strong, so that there are no unwanted plotlines, sloppy character development and plenty of memories for the montage And w

streaming down my face for the entirety of “May God Bless and Keep You Always,” Parenthood’ s cheesy ending has got nothing on our 109 days left on the Hill

SCIENCE

By KATHLEEN BITTER Sun Science Editor

While many Cornell undergraduates may dread their partial differential equations course, Prof Charles Smart, mathematics, has made PDEs his full-time job

Used to describe the behavior of materials at a microscopic level, these equations can assess the influence of a drum’s shape on its sound or create complex fractal images

As exemplified by the drum problem which, it turns out, determined that a square drum does in fact sound the same as a circular drum PDEs are especially useful in how they can predict behavior on larger, human scales, according to Smart

“If you want to describe, say, how water is moving, it’s sort of enough to describe what’s happening locally,” Smart said “There are some equations of motion that water satisfies in a tiny region and somehow altogether that equation that partial differential equation describing what’s supposed to happen locally constrains what happens globally ”

Despite his current passion for PDEs, however, Smart did not always intend to go into mathematics His early passion? Physics

“In high school I had a fantastic physics teacher, Michael Hamblin, who impacted the rest of my life,” he said

Smart said he became interested in the subject and started reading his mother’s college physics textbook, but found he didn’t understand the mathematics involved, so he started reading his mother’s college calculus textbook to get the necessary background for physics

“I still feel like I don’t have a satisfactory understanding of mathematics, and so I can ’ t go back until that’s done,” he said “And that will never be done

”

Smart, originally from the Boston area, majored in computer science at Carnegie Mellon University before attending graduate school at the University of California at Berkeley, where he spent eight years earning his Ph D in mathematics

“One reason I took eight years in graduate

Pr of. Charles Smar t Sees The Math Behind Patterns

school is I switched fields,” Smart said “I used be doing logic and now I’m doing PDEs, and in the middle I kind of took two years off to build a robot motorcycle ”

Smart spent two years as a member of Berkeley’s team that built an autonomous

the Smithsonian Museum of American History, according to Smart

After receiving his Ph D , Smart completed a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellowship at New York University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

robotic motorcycle for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Grand Challenge

a desert race held by the United States Department of Defense

“I was involved only for the second race, ” Smart said “I wrote the software that balanced the bike ” Berkeley’s robot motorcycle now resides in

He then spent a year as an assistant professor before joining Cornell’s Department of Mathematics in 2014

“This is one of the departments I liked the most, ” Smart said “This department also had a fantastic job for my wife ” Smart and his wife, Prof Meghan Anderson, a fellow mathematician who

prefers the teaching side of academia, have a one year old son

“That’s pretty much my life right now, trying to adapt to having a one year old,” Smart said “It’s really fun and awesome, but we haven’t quite figured out how to regain our lives Or any fraction of our lives all of our time not at work ”

When he is at work, however, Smart is employing PDEs for a variety of applications, including measuring the movement of electricity in a material

“If you have a thin piece of conductor, like a thin sheet of silicon, and you randomly deposit impurities in it, you might ask, ‘what’s the macroscopic electrical behavior of that sheet as a conductor, given the sort of microscopic pattern of impurities?’” Smart said “This is a huge family of PDEs ” Smart’s other area of PDE research, to which he attributes his having been hired by Cornell, relates to a model known as the “Abelian sandpile ”

“When you first start talking about it, it has nothing to do with PDEs but can eventually be converted into a PDE problem,” said Smart, who has a poster of the sandpile in his office

The Abelian sandpile is a concept first developed in the late 1980s, according to Smart It exists on an infinite grid and begins with a pile of particles, or sand grains, in one square The pile generally starts as a number of grains that can be evenly divided by four

The pile will “topple” into four equallysized smaller piles in the squares adjacent to the origin square, and each of those piles will topple into their adjacent squares The sand grains will continue to add and topple until every square on the grid has between zero and three grains in it, Smart said When Smart and his colleagues run the Abelian sandpile as a computer program and assign each number a different color, the resulting grid has a fractal-like pattern with smaller areas of regularly-repeating patterns within the larger pattern

Pr of. Amy W illiams Maps Genes, Tracks Disease Risk

By SHIRA POLAN Sun Staff Writer

Prof Amy Williams, computational biology, is most likely not your relative, at least within the last 10 generations But the newly instated Cornell professor spends much of her time studying your family tree or rather, the genetic tree of all modern humans in order to better understand the complex history of human demographics Williams, a graduate of the University of Utah, first became interested in population genetics and parent-to-child genetic transmission during her Ph D work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

“I went to grad school expecting to do very traditional computer science but ended up taking a genetics class for my minor [and] really just fell in love with it, she said “For my Ph D , I ended up developing an algorithm for inferring the way in which DNA gets transmitted from parents to children in single families I then got a postdoc in a human population genetics lab and have continued to fall in love with the discipline ”

Following graduate school, Williams

pursued postdoctoral positions at Harvard Medical School and Columbia University before beginning research as an assistant professor in the Department of Computational Biology and Population

“By

statistical means,

we can paint a person’s genome in terms of the continent of origin of their DNA.”

Genetics last April

Next fall, Williams will teach a course that will serve as an introduction to computational biology

[The class] will likely be aimed at individuals who have a little bit of computational background We’ll talk about the ways of analyzing genetic data and will begin by asking, “What is the human genome?’” she said “This is something you can download off the Internet and read off

all those letters, but how was it actually generated?”

Williams said she considers her field of computational biology to be “ very broad,” referring to the many applications computers have in the realm of biology

“It’s anything from trying to predict how a protein will fold using computers, to trying to infer relationships between individuals on the basis of their genetic makeup, to comparing the genetic makeup of different species in order to learn about evolution, to methodologies for performing genome-wide association studies that attempt to identify genetic variants that affect a given trait or disease,” she said

One specific application of Williams’ work is the characterization of haplotypes, a series of genes that occur on a single chromosome and are likely to be inherited together

“In each of our cells there are two copies of each chromosome, one that you got from your dad and one that you got from your mom, ” Williams said “When I started in this field in graduate school I developed a method to try to differentiate which alleles a person inherited from their dad versus mom and, in so doing, infer those haplotypes ”

According to Williams, tracing the origin of haplotypes can serve purposes including tracing DNA segments to particular continents and tracking the history of genetic diseases

“By statistical means, we can paint a person ’ s genome in terms of the continent of origin of their DNA,” she said “This is useful for disease gene mapping since certain diseases are more common in one population group versus another ”

In fact, Williams previously used computational biology methods to gain a better understanding of the genetic factors associated with Type 2 diabetes and the high risk among certain demographic groups such as Latinos

According to Williams, Latinos have

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Like a Kid Again

BY NATALIE TSAY Sun Staff Writer

Among the many short films showing at Cornell Cinema this weekend, nine are animated shorts Five of these have been nominated for the Oscar, while the other four are labeled “Highly Commended Films ” The films range from two to 18 minutes, from heartwarming to heartbreaking and from the United States to the United Kingdom and the Netherlands What results is a variety of quirky short films in a collection that boasts something for ever y viewer

M E A N D M Y M OU LTON : Narrated by a woman looking back on her childhood in Nor way, Me and My Moulton is an endearing short about the pressures of conformity Our narrator is the middle of three sisters and the daughter of two modern architects She constantly feels that her family is too different from ever yone else’s her father is the only man in town with a mustache, and their kitchen chairs are three-legged and easily toppled She envies the family that lives directly below her for their “normal” parents Her journey to accepting her family’s differences is cute and colorful overall, it’s a well-done, feel-good short

T H E B I G G E R P I CTU R E : Though it took me the whole short to get used to the strange, oblong, multi-dimens i o n a l a n i m a t i o n , I e n d e d u p l i k i n g t h i s s h o r t Aesthetically, it’s ver y painting-like and fuses a number of animation techniques to create something interesting yet slightly disconcerting However, the stor y was a heartfelt look at sibling rivalr y in adulthood and the challenges of taking care of an ailing parent I might not have been crazy about the animation, but the content was well written and executed

A S I N G L E L I F E : The shor test of the bunch, this twominute film follows a woman as she discovers that a package left at her doorstep contains a record that allows her to jump backward or for ward through her life While it sounds fun and appears whimsical at first, it’s actually quite sad Nobody ever comes into her life except, briefly, a baby who is never shown again It’s over ver y quickly and abr uptly, and though it shouldn’t have, the ending came as a shock that left me feeling kind of short-sold

T H E DA M K E E P E R : This was by far my favorite short

First, the score is simply beautiful The animation is adorable, and despite the cuteness, it made me want to cr y A young pig who has just lost his father takes over the job of dam keeper: He’s charged with operating a big windmill to fend off the darkness, which takes the physical form of a menacing, polluting cloud The narrator is constantly belittled because he’s a pig and he’s always showing up to school dirty, yet it becomes clear that the town would be ruined without him performing his duties Throughout the 18 minutes, our narrator is brought down time and time again, and I lost it when he said, “My father always said the job of a dam keeper is to

keep the darkness away But he never told me what to do when it surrounds you His mask protected me from the cloud, but nothing I had protected me from the people ” This short is extremely poignant and ultimately finishes on an uplifting note

F E A S T: Following in Disney’s long tradition of preceding full-length movies with animated shorts, Big Hero 6 viewers were greeted by this little film about a man feeding his dog Feast continues to prove that adorable cartoon dogs never fail; coupling romantic reconciliation with a well-fed terrier made for an endlessly heartwarming opening

The last four shorts were not nominated for the Oscar but were deemed highly commendable nonetheless Sweet Cocoon features a ver y large caterpillar that tries to fit herself into a tiny cocoon Eventually, with the help of two other bugs, she succeeds and turns into a beautiful butterfly, but only gets to bask in her newfound beauty for a few seconds While cute at first, this short took a morbid turn at the end which might be brushed off as the circle of life, but was upsetting regardless

I wasn ’ t crazy about either Footprints or Bus Stor y

The two animation styles didn’t cut it funny, slightly dumb-looking characters that appeared to be dressed in potato sacks just didn’t appeal to me Footprints focused on a man as he hunts for the monster that smashed the glass on his front door while Bus Stor y features a woman who encounters numerous challenges to becoming a school bus driver and, in the process, runs over her boss’ dog amid other catastrophes Neither of the stor ylines was particularly compelling or interesting, and though Footprints did involve an interesting twist, I still wasn ’ t impressed

Duet was easily the most enjoyable of the “Highly Commended Films” bunch With fluid, dynamic, almost entirely blue animation, the stor y of two people unfolds as they grow from infancy to childhood, stories intersecting ever y once in a while and finally converging at the end The music matches the aesthetic grace of the film as well, and there are some truly breathtaking sequences of the girl as she becomes a ballet dancer Though Duet is short, it stands out from the rest for its seamless beauty and simple yet sweet stor y

Natalie Tsay is a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences She can be reached at ntsay@cornellsun com

Death Cab for Cutie’s new single, “Black Sun,” is full of Ben Gibbard’s trademark gorgeous lyrics, but its instrumentation sets it apart from the rest of Death Cab for Cutie’s songs There is a psychedelic vibe throughout the song expressed through the use of synths and the distortion of the opening guitar riff Overall, “Black Sun” expresses a sort of regret through lyrics like these: “And there’s a dumpster in the driveway / Of all the plans that came undone ” While this song could, in different circumstances, come off as too whiny and self-pitying, Gibbard’s frank voice delivers his lyrics to his audience with honesty and compassion Ultimately, “Black Sun” is about a broken relationship, something we ’ ve heard absolutely everyone sing about, but Gibbard’s lyricism combined with surprising ’60s influences allows this song to feel simultaneously desperate and confident Death Cab for Cutie pulls off the perfect blend of their classic musicality with a new influence that lends a certain eeriness lingering over the track I am looking forward to hearing how this track fits into their upcoming album, Kintsugi

Usually Frank Ocean gives us a little taste of his sweet falsetto and layers it under ambient sounds or smooth funk, but in his new cover, “You Are Luhh,” a tribute to Aaliyah, we realize that he has been holding out on us Aaliyah covered the song (which was originally written and recorded by the Isley Brothers) in 1994, only seven years before her premature death in a plane crash at the age of 22 The crash was a huge loss to an industry that hailed Aaliyah as the “Princess of R&B,” an artist that undoubtedly left a lasting impression on the genre, innovating a production technique widely used in 90’s soul and hip-hop The inexplicable loss caused by her abrupt death is felt viscerally in Ocean’s cover, with its peeled-back vocals and simple piano melody we see him flex the muscle of his voice in a way that we haven’t before Behind Ocean’s perfect high notes, echoing and fading into the grain of the track, we get a sense of something deeper, a loss that does not purely belong to the industry, but to the culture from which Aaliyah’s music originated It is this death of great talent, so young and yet so permanent, that we celebrate with Ocean’s new single In that vein, the single is not really about Ocean, which is why the focus isn’t on him he is the agent (albeit the perfect agent) to the commemoration of an icon

Chances are you have enjoyed cinema your entire life, but the fact is the you who started with Sesame Street or Shrek or It’s a Wonderful Life is not the you today The plastic tray fastened to your high chair no longer collects drool as you watch figures move across a screen No doubt there are times, in a theater and especially out, when the blankness of youth sounds quite appealing But if you are reading this, then you have read and lived and thought enough to bring something education, curiosity, self-awareness to ever ything you see

What do we do with this power? Many do little, while a bilious, often anonymous contingent make a

v o c a t i o n o u t o f belittling it Comments sections under reviews, especially those that take a less than adulator y tone toward the latest hundred-million-

How So?

and foregrounded symbolism, of one big idea fail to fill in the little details of human behavior that would complicate such a broad, and thus phony, thesis And yet these films are so often celebrated for their t h

released in the same year or season as other like-minded works Think piece machiner y thrives on corralling disparate works under one zeitgeist-defining headline, and better when the films assert the same reductive stance, regardless of individual quirks or vitality

Take A Most Violent Year, the new J C Chandor movie starring beautiful people Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain I do not

d o l l a r e n t e r t a i nment, charge the critic with overanalyzing or worr ying too much about what it “ means ” “It’s just a movie,” a regular sight on these forums, is a rejoinder so immaculate in its self-pleasuring logic that it becomes deflatingly clear movie critic and commenter speak totally different languages

W h i l e p h i l i s t i n i s m i n , a r o u n d a n d beyond the cinema runs rampant, it can too easily stand in as a straw man for an equally one-sided, and superiorly pretentious, college newspaper opinion column (What’d I say about self-awareness?) What irks me more are the discrepancies between those of us who, by and large, espouse the same critical language You and I may regard movies as art, judge one ’ s worth not (only) for its “ mere spectacle” but for its ability to “ get at ” something deep and still disagree about a particular film That division springs from the indeterminable calculus of personal preference, plus some more explicable aesthetic expectations Chief among these is the expectation that a movie needs to be about Something and least of all Schmidt to be good About The State of Marriage, Russia, The American Dream I find this a tired, limited, predetermined approach to art, and one highly susceptible to P R hype and groupthink Films so readily demonstrative, if only through dialectic arguments

e x p e c t y o u t o have seen i t , a n d I d i d n o t care for it s o I

m n o t h e re to recomm e n d i t

Isaac plays an ambitious oil entrepreneur who shuns his peers and immigrant heritage in order to, you know, be the best As he gets there, his soul hardens to the climactic point where blood intermingles onscreen with oil in a risible metaphor for the violence of commerce None of the scenes to that point, except for a grimy, spooky tunnel chase scene, inject the humdrum handsomeness with any personality, and the tunnel vision with which Chandor

hones in on his star-spangled target makes for a redundant, lifeless film

A Most Violent Year currently stands at a 90 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with a blurb that praises its “thought-prov o k i n g h e f t ” T h e Na t i o n a l B o a rd o f

Review named it 2014’s Best Film, and I know plenty of smart critics who have praised it I must have seen a different movie, or more likely I must hold different criteria with regards to quality I expect a certain myster y and intricacy as a film follows its characters to the finish, and any sense that the filmmakers constructed their stor y in reverse, retrofitting a resounding conclusion with the steps it takes to get there, strikes me as antithetical to the mission of art, not to mention the strengths of cinema

The only “abouts” worth fussing over in works of art have, in some way, to do with the nature of the medium itself Ulysses is “ a b o u t ” c o n s c i o u s n e s s , L e s D e m o i s e l l e s d Avignon is “about” perspective, Boyhood is “about” time But each of these masterworks is “about” an infinite number of things as well, because a devotion to and master y of artistic form leads to all-encompassing, endlessly reflective look at the world Formal analysis is not an excuse to undermine the superficial pleasures of a film or flaunt a little thing only you noticed and no one else, but a method to truly evaluate greatness to find words and reasons for what could other wise be called magic When a movie like A Most Vi o l e n t Ye

Birdman fails to say anything under close scrutiny that is, say more than what already streamed from the mouths of its characters it is because either the director had little grasp of the stor y ’ s complexity, did not know how to convey that complexity through cinema or both

So much of the discourse surrounding film and television today latches on to the most obvious “abouts,” the kinds factor y molded for think-piecing High school English class, when we read The Great Gatsby and were told to identify its themes a n d f i g u re o u t w h a t t h e g re e n l i g h t “ meant, ” still defines, and so limits, our expectations for moving pictures, and literature, too No one wants to stay in high school, yet our approach to film is surely stunted, not because it’s not intellectual or theoretical enough but because it likens d r a m

Spark Notes

Cinema has the power to just look at people be, and in Boyhood, The Immigrant, American Sniper and Inherent Vice they can be compelling, contradictor y figures at odds with the subject matter and expected politics of the film Roger Ebert, the most mainstream film critic we ’ ve ever had, summed it up when he said, “It’s not what a movie is about, it's how it is about it ” And what he surely implied is that the “how” is the fun part

Zachar y Zahos is a senior in the College of Ar ts and Sciences

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Smart Finds Equations in Lattices

m b e r o f g r a i n s n e e de d t o t o p p l e m u s t b e a m u l t i p l e o f t h re e o r s i x , re s p e c t i ve l y “ Fo r t h e s q u a re l a t t i c e , t h e w a y we u n d e r s t o o d w h a t w a s g o i n g o n i s we j u s t u n d e r s t o o d a l l t h e p a t t e r n s , ” Sm a r t s a i d “ So r i g h t n ow we ’ re t r y i n g t o u n d e r s t a n d t h e p a t t e r n s i n t h e h e x a g o n a l l a tt i c e , a n d t h e re a re a l o t i n t h e re ” Sm a r t a n d h i s c o l l e a g u e s s o l ve d t h e P D E

b e h i n d t h e s q u a re l a t t i c e w h e n h i s w a s s t i l l a p o s td o c t o r a l f e l l ow a t M I T E a c h o f t h e re s e a rc h e r s p r i n t e d o u t a p o s t e r o f t h e d i f f e re n t re c u r r i n g p a tt e r n s p re s e n t i n t h e s q u a re l a t t i c e s a n d p i l e a n d p l a c e d i t o n t h e i r o f f i c e w a l l s “ We j u s t s t a re d a t i t f o r a n i m m e a s u r a b l y l o n g p e r i o d o f t i m e a n d t h e n e ve n t u a l l y t o g e t h e r f i gu re d o u t w h a t w a s g o i n g o n , ” Sm a r t s a i d “ It’s a ve r y s o p h i s t i c a t e d re s e a rc h t e c h n i q u e o f j u s t s t a ri n g a t t h e w a l l t o t r y t o f i g u re o u t w h a t ’ s h a p p e ni n g ” S m a r t s a i d h e h o p e s h e a n d h i s c o l l e a g u e s w i l l h a v e t h e h e x a g o n a l l a t t i c e p r o b l e m s o l v e d w i t h i n t h e n e x t f e w w e e k s B e s i d e s s t a r i n g a t t h e p a t t e r n o n t h e w a l l , t h e m a t h e m a t i c i a n s w o r k t o f i g u r e o u t t h e P D E b e h i n d t h e p a tt e r n t h e o l d - f a s h i o n e d w a y : w i t h a p e n a n d p a p e r “ We u s e t h e c o m p u t e r t o f i g u re o u t w h a t ’ s g o i n g o n , b u t t h e n we ’ re m a t h e m a t i c i a n s , s o we h a ve t o b e re a l l y s u re , ” Sm a r t s a i d a b o u t t w i c e t h e r i s k f o r d e ve l o p i n g t h e d i s e a s e w h e n c o m p a re d t o p o p u l a t i o n s s u c h a s Eu ro

Dietz Wins in Straight Sets Against Harvard

SQUASH

Continued from page 16

formance,” Letourneau said “Harvard is an extremely strong team, but the girls put their best effort forward and fought hard until the end Some of the games were really close, but we just couldn't win some of the key points ”

Against Harvard, the men ’ s team managed to get on the board immediately when junior co-captain Graham Dietz won in straight sets Harvard, the defending national champions, responded quickly by sweeping the second rotation, securing the victory Senior captain Aditya Jagtap won his match in three sets, leading to the final 7-2 tally in the loss to the Crimson

The Red got off to a slow start the following day against Dartmouth Despite Dietz’s victory in the first rotation once again this time in four sets Dartmouth swept the second rotation to secure victory Despite the loss, Cornell won the final three games through Jagtap, freshman Jordan Brail and junior Gustav Runersjö

Freshman Seb Obieta-Chichizola praised Jagtap and Dietz, who both managed 2-0 weekends

“There were some great performances during the weekend, in particular from our captains, but we weren ' t able to come through with wins at vital points during the matches, and some very close games just didn't go our way, ” he said “We came up against two teams who were very determined to win this weekend ”

The Red’s next game could prove pivotal with just one week of matches left before the field is set for the National Championship, to which the Top-8 teams are invited The Red, who was ranked seventh heading into the weekend, is focused on bringing home wins this week

The men are back in action on Wednesday against Rochester before games against Princeton and Pennsylvania The women are scheduled to play Pennsylvania and Princeton before wrapping up the regular season against William Smith

“Everyone had some good moments despite dropping both matches, so I think it's very important we improve on that,” Dietz said “We just have one week left before Nationals, so we have to make this last week count It simply comes down to wanting it more than your opponent and bringing home a ‘W ’ ”

Joel Cooper can be reached at jcooper@cornellsun com

Long Season Culminates at Ivies

SWIMMING & DIVING

Continued from page 16

history with Brown over the past few seasons, so to get wins over them the past two years has been amazing ”

The men ’ s team ’ s five wins is the best finish for the squad since the 2010 campaign The victory over Brown also allowed the seniors to end their tenure at Cornell with their first winning season Satterthwaite capped off his senior regular season with two wins in different events and a tremendous leg of the 400 free relay

“With our first winning season behind us, the team couldn't be more amped to get to Ivies,” Satterthwaite said “With only four weeks left in my swimming career, I can tell you personally that I have never been more excited for a championship as I am for this one ”

On the women ’ s side, the entire meet came down to the final race In order to close out the meet with a win, the Red would have needed to finish 1-2 Although the squad had a strong showing, it was not able to edge out Brown However, Cornell did win seven different events in Providence Sophomore sisters Billy Murch Elliot and Currie Murch Elliot finished with a combined four event wins In diving, senior Bianca Herlitz-Ferguson also had a successful performance The 5-4 regular season finish on the women ’ s side marks the team ’ s second straight above

500 record

The Red heads into the culmination of a long season with its eyes on a strong finish at the Ivy League Championships A regimented training program and increased time in the weight room have all led up to this point

“ The next few weeks leading up to Championships are crucial to our success and we have to be conscious of how we prepare This late in the season we begin to focus more on resting and maintenance in order to preserve our strength for Championships,” Hallowell said Sattherwaite said that looking forward, the team understands what it needs to do in order to succeed

“I think it’s pretty clear from our swims that there aren ' t a whole lot of changes that need to take place

[We have to] continue our domination from our last dual meet and translate it to domination at Ivy’s,” he said Hallowell said that with the regular season now in the past, the Red is ready to show that its above 500 record was no fluke

“It's been a long road, but the team is excited and ready to strive for greatness this offseason,” he said

“We've turned a lot of heads this season with some fast swims and exciting meets, and now we ’ re ready to show the Ivy League what we ' ve been working towards ”

John McGrorty can be reached at jmcgrorty@cornellsun com

Gymnasts Strive for ‘Consistency’

GYMNASTICS

Continued from page 16

Dilliplane emphasized maintaining the positive direction in which the team is moving while trying to limit any mistakes at the same time

“Consistency is key,” she said

“We definitely have the skills and talent to be a 192 00+ team and if we can manage to not count any falls, we will reach that doing exactly what we are doing now ”

Beckwith said he is confident that the Red will get up to speed i n t i m e f o r Sa t u rd a y ’ s h o m e

meet

“I think we’ll do really well at home,” he said “We’re just hot and cold on some things [and] we ’ ve got to get hot on everything ”

Ariel Cooper can be reached at acooper@cornellsun com

Schupp, Bair Lead Red to Season High Overall Score

By ARIEL COOPER Sun Senior Writer

The Cornell gymnastics team set the bar high after scori

Pennsylvania, making it the Red’s highest-scoring meet of the season The vaulters contributed significantly to the score with juniors Sara Schupp and Alicia Bair both receiving near-perfect scores for their performances

“I think the highlight of the meet was the vault rotation,” said junior tri-captain Hannah Clark “We had some really top performers on individual events [and] we had a lot of freshmen hit the high scores but Sara Schupp and Alicia Bair both got 9 8s, so that was huge for us on vault ”

ular season

“I know we had to count some falls still, but it generally was a step in the right direction,” said senior Sammy VanderPutten

Sunday’s meet was successful on an individual level as well as a team level Seven members of the Red achieved career-high scores in their respective events

“We had several gymnasts with personal best scores, ” Dilliplane said “I think those stand out the most but junior Julohn Teixeira really had a stellar day on the two events that she competes, she had personal best scores on both ”

“We had several gymnasts with personal best scores. I think those stand out the most.”

g

improvement for the Red, Sunday’s competition posed many challenges for the team, as several top performers were battling illnesses

“We were a little under the weather so to speak but we made it through and we were happy,” said head coach Paul Beckwith

The Red also counted four falls at the meet, costing the squad valuable points to the total

“The team works hard every week but as the season progresses, they get more consistent during practice which spills over into competition With that said, we still have work to do as we had several mistakes and falls on Sunday,” said associate head coach Melanie Dilliplane in an email

Overall though, the impressive score indicates that things are looking up as the Red nears the halfway point of the reg-

Men Drop Two Tough Matches; Women Soundly Defeat Green

By JOEL COOPER Sun Staff Writer

Cornell’s men ’ s and women ’ s squash teams both faced tough competition playing on the road against Har vard and Dartmouth The men ’ s team (5-6, 0-3 Ivy League) lost to Har vard, 7-2, and Dartmouth, 5-4, on the following day, dropping both of the weekend matchups The women ’ s team (8-3, 3-2 Ivy League) also lost to Har vard, 9-0, but bounced back strong by defeating Dartmouth, 8-1

After a difficult game for the women against No 3 Har vard, Cornell got off to a flying start against Dartmouth, sweeping the first two rotations while building an insurmountable lead

The Red got on the scoreboard when freshman Charlotte Knaggs won her game in three straight sets Sophomore Rachel Scherman and freshman Emma Uible also picked up victories to round off the first rotation

During the second rotation, Cornell continued in the same dominant fashion

Se n i o r L i n d s a y Se g i n s o n a n d f re s h m a n Michèle Garceau each won their matches while junior Reut Odinak came back from a two sets deficit to win in five, keeping Cornell’s perfect record entering the final rotation

Senior Danielle Letourneau and freshman Margaux Losty won in straight sets during the last rotation Senior Rachel Au faced an intense five-set battle, but dropped the match for the Red

C

down to the team ’ s confidence, despite a hard loss against Har vard, according to Letourneau, who is also a sports writer for The Sun

“Going into our Dartmouth match, ever yone was feeling confident and went into their games knowing that they could win,” Letourneau said “ While Dartmouth put up some resistance, we were able to control the rallies and play more offensively than we were able to against Har vard Our team has been really optimistic and motivated this entire season and that mindset carried through to this weekend ”

The final scoreline against Har vard did not reflect the true nature of the loss, though

“Even though we lost, I was really impressed with the team ’ s per-

See SQUASH page 15

Although each gymnast performs her routine alone, she is nevertheless encouraged by the support of her teammates

The Red’s strong team dynamic has helped motivate each of its members to perform to the best of her ability

“We have a very cohesive team, the energy is always up, ” Clark said

“We rely a lot on cheering for each other,” VanderPutten added

Next up on the schedule is the Big Red Invitational, which will take place this Saturday at 1 p m The meet will be a “Pink Meet” in support of Breast Cancer research The Red is hoping to brush up on its routines and count fewer falls going forward

“Generally, I want to keep the energy up like it has been but also hit our routines because I know we have a lot more potential and if everyone hits their routines we can get a huge score, ” VanderPutten said

See GYMNASTICS page 15

S W I M M I

Closes Season With

Eyes on Ivy Championship

By JOHN MCGRORTY Sun Staff Writer

Rhode Island, this past weekend to compete in their final regular season meet against Brown The men (5-4, 3-4 Ivy League) had a s

d l e f t Providence with a 188-112 victor y ove r t h e Be a r s On t h e women ’ s side (5-4, 3-4), in a fastpaced and competitive meet, the Re d l o s t a h e a r t b re a k e r t o Brown, 158-142 According to senior Thomas Hallowell, the competition was an important end-point for a successful regular season

“The Brown meet was a huge success and a great opportunity for us to generate momentum at the end of the season It capped off a huge season for us, ” he said Senior Timothy Satterthwaite noted that the victory over Brown was especially satisfying considering the history between the two teams

“We were worried that it was going to be closer than it was, but with some huge swims from our guys that were rested we ended up really putting the hammer down on them,” he said “[It was an] absolutely phenomenal way to end the regular season and my dual meet career We’ve had some

SWIMMING & DIVING page 15