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Cornell alumni news
May 1984
Volume 86, Number 9
Cover
A student and his dog enjoy the verdancy and color of the Lua Minns
Garden near the Plant Science Building. Its earlier site is shown on page 32.
Another earlier garden is described in the story on page 16.
2 University
Industry and the state join Cornell to develop biotechnology. Enter primary
politics. People. Post-season sports honors and a start on spring. Books.
12 Communications
All hail, Willy Strunk! and other letters to the editor. Footnotes. Etcetera.
16 Daisy's Garden
By Elizabeth Anne Thomson '85. A graduate student hopes to restore
plantings first set out by the vivacious Mrs. Livingston Farrand.
21 History, SI!
By Jeremy Schlosberg. Walter LaFeber produces a book on Central America
that affirms why we study the past.
25 The University-Industrial Complex
By William Steele '54. Cornell relies increasingly on private sources to
support research and the institution at large.
28 Patents and Funding
The university shores up its income from patents and the government, too.
29 The Waiting Game
By Louis Mihalyi '43. The Sheldon Court Restaurant introduced one
sophomore to the joys of serving table.
33 News of the Classes
Class notes. Alumni deaths.
60 Alumni Activities
By Carol Kuntz '84. How and why former students work hard to recruit new
ones. Eight graduates from one family. Rep. Conable '43 to retire. News of
colleges, graduate and other alumni. A calendar of events.
64 Also
Kiplinger '39 to head trustees. A new provost, and other late news.
CORNELL ALUMNI NEWS
Scientists join
in search for
breakthroughs
in biotechnology
Cornell has launched a new
program in biotechnology
that is a collaboration between
the university, private
industry, and state government
to do basic research with some very
immediate practical applications.
Biotechnology is the engineering arm
of biological science. It's far from new—
plant and animal breeding, for example,
are forms of biotechnology. But it is only
since the discovery of the chemical
codes of the genes that control the workings
of living cells, and the methods for
manipulating those genes, that the field
has come into its own.
Biotechnology now promises the ability
to program living cells in culture that
will manufacture enzymes, hormones,
and other complex organic chemicals,
and to modify plants and animals for
faster growth, higher yield, and resistance
to pests and diseases. The payoff,
both in dollars and benefits to society,
can be tremendous.
Engineered cells, for instance, could
manufacture vitamins, flavors, and
sweeteners, convert light to chemical energy,
isolate metals from ores, detoxify
wastes, and turn agricultural leftovers
into fuel or high-protein animal feed.
Many such products can be made by
changing the relatively simple genetic
structure of bacteria. The future holds
the possibility of modifying the genetic
codes of higher plants and domestic animals
to create new characteristics beyond
the range of any breeding program
(see ''Green Genes" in the March 1983
News).
The program will have two distinct