Events
Environmental signals, phenotypic plasticity, and evolutionary change: insights from killifish and waterfleas.
Hosted by Swanne Gordon
The James B. Sumner Lecture was established to honor Professor Sumner and brings preeminent scientists to Cornell to speak about broad ranging topics in biological and biomedical Research.
Dr. Rapoport is a Professor at Harvard Medical School and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. He is a member of the American and German National Academy of Sciences and has won numerous awards including the 2004 Otto Warburg Medal, 2005 Max Delbrück Medal, 2007 Sir Hans Krebs Medal, and 2011 Schleiden Medal. His seminar wil
He is interested in the mechanisms by which proteins are transported across membranes, how misfolded proteins are degraded, and how organelles form and maintain their characteristic shapes. Most of the projects center around the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). One project concerns the molecular mechanism by which proteins are translocated across the ER membrane or across the plasma membrane in bacteria and archaea. Much of the current work deals with ERAD (ER-associated protein degradation), a process in which misfolded proteins are retro-translocated across the ER membrane into the cytosol. Major questions concern the mechanism by which proteins move across the membrane and are extracted by the Cdc48 ATPase.
Why can't we predict traits from the environment? Pondering persistent problems in plant functional ecology.
Hosted by Xu/Agrawal
Seminar title: Macroevolutionary models for understanding diversification over deep time scales.
Hosted by Corrie Moreau
Globally, 2.2 billion people lack access to safely managed drinking water services, 3.5 billion lack access to safely managed sanitation services, and 1 billion people still practice open defecation. At the same time, climate change is threatening communities’ water supplies and the integrity of existing infrastructure. These realities converge to create a pressing need for new thinking about the planning, design, and financing of the next generation of water and sanitation infrastructure. This talk will examine the global challenge of providing universal access to resilient water and sanitation services with particular attention to Sub-Saharan Africa and how the global community can finance this transition.
Recent assessments of climate change impacts in Sub-Saharan Africa indicate that the continent is already experiencing impacts from rising temperatures, including water shortages, reduced food production, loss of lives and biodiversity loss. There are an increased number of extreme events, from drought, floods and tropical storms, and these events will worsen if global greenhouse gases are not significantly reduced. At the same time, Africa is one of the lowest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, and many countries struggle to manage with the cost of climate change adaptation, while also paying high levels of debt. Alongside these climate challenges are ongoing extractive industries looking to Africa as a new or ongoing source of resources – including mining precious minerals to support renewable alternatives to fossil fuels. Despite this bleak picture, alternative models that are transformative and reparative are emerging as ways to imagine just climate futures in Africa. These alternatives include attention to multiple types of social inequities and building development strategies through dialogue and careful attention to power dynamics. Adaptation approaches that support decent livelihoods alongside biodiversity, ecosystems and indigenous knowledge are being tested and expanded. Recognition of power inequities at multiple scales and reparation of these inequities is part of such approaches.
Seminar title: An Ecologist looks at the Economics and Evolution of Emerging Diseases.
Hosted by GSA
Seminar title: Bio-resources in circular agriculture: impacts of antibiotics on the soil-microbial-plant nexus.
Seminar title: Accelerating methane growth rates in recent years.
Hosted by Xiangtao Xu
Vladimir Nabokov's legacy at Cornell is not limited to the world-famous literary works he produced here. The university's natural and built environments also provided powerful material for his lifelong pursuit of butterflies within their geo- and biodiverse ecosystems.
Our one-day event will offer hands-on ways to discover Nabokov through his butterfly collection, his writing and other relics of his time at Cornell contained in the university’s Rare and Manuscript Collection and the Cornell University Insect Collection. We’ll discuss his scientific, literary and artistic pursuits.
This event is a collaboration between the College of Arts & Sciences (A&S), the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Mann Library and is part of the A&S Arts Unplugged series, which brings research and creative works into the public sphere for discussion and inspiration.
During the event, you can:
- Take a close look at Nabokov’s butterfly collection;
- Watch a video exploring the many ways that Nabokov’s legacy is alive today, both on campus and throughout the country, through such policies as the Endangered Species Act;
- Visit a new Mann Library exhibit on Nabokov;
- Discover new information about Nabokov the professor, uncovered by Cornell students involved in the “Nabokov, Naturally” class;
- See Nabokov manuscripts and poems;
- Talk with faculty, students and Nabokov experts from across the country;
- Stretch your creative wings by contributing to a giant multimedia art piece. Create your own butterfly with the help of entomologist/artist Annika Salzberg using both traditional and non-traditional materials.
- Visit a new exhibit in the Mann Lobby, No Mere Curios, featuring images from historical butterfly books from Mann Library’s special collections, which were also part of Nabokov's childhood library.
Schedule:
1-2 p.m.: Student project exhibit and bio-art workshop in CALS Zone next to Mann Library entrance
2-3:30 p.m.: Panel, discussion, and public dialogue in Mann 102, "The Butterfly Effect: Vladimir Nabokov as Scientist and Artist," featuring
Anindita Banerjee, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and the Environment and Sustainability Program
Corrie Moreau, Martha N. & John C. Moser Professor of Arthropod Biosystematics and Biodiversity and Director & Curator of the Cornell University Insect Collection
Jose Manuel Prieto, Novelist and Associate Professor of Spanish, Seton Hall University
Katherine Reagan, Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts, Cornell Libraries
Jenny Leijonhufvud, Exhibits Curator, Albert R. Mann Library
Anurag Agrawal, James A. Perkins Professor of Environmental Studies, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Jenifer Presto, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature, University of Oregon
With introductory remarks by Rachel Bean, interim dean of The College of Arts & Sciences
1-4 p.m.: Book sale and signing in Mann Lobby/ CALS Zone
All day: Mann Library 2nd floor exhibit, “From Nabokov’s Net,” open for viewing
All day: eCornell film "Nabokov, Naturally" showing in CALS Zone