Jim Bartsch, a professor in the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, has been selected by Cornell University as the recipient of a 2006 Kendall S. Carpenter Memorial Advising Prize. The $5,000 award, which was established by Cornell trustee and CALS alumnus Stephen Ashley ’62, MBA ’64, recognizes sustained and distinguished contributions to undergraduate advising. Bartsch, a specialist in post-harvest engineering, has also been honored with the CALS 2003 Donald C. Burgett Distinguished Advisor Award and the 2005 James M. and Marsha D. McCormick Award for Excellence in Advising from the College of Engineering. Bartsch also serves as director of the BEE Committee on Academic Programs and is chair of the College of Engineering Master of Engineering Committee.

The U.S. government has awarded the Arthur S. Fleming Award to Edward Buckler, a U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Station (USDA-ARS) research geneticist in Cornell's Institute for Genomic Diversity and an adjunct associate professor in Cornell's Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics.

Washington gives out only 12 such awards each year to outstanding people who have worked for a federal agency from three to 15 years. Only four of these awards are given for scientific research in all U.S. government research facilities. Four awards are also given for mathematics and engineering, and four for administrative work.

Buckler will receive the award in Washington, D.C. on June 13. His research involves developing new tools to dissect complex genetic traits, meaning the countless important traits that are controlled by many genes together, including those that contribute to diseases, crop yields, milk yields, or the growth of many organisms. Read more in the Cornell Chronicle online: http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/May06/Buckler.kr.html

Thomas Eisner, Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of Chemical Ecology and a member of the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, and his longtime collaborator, Jerrold Meinwald, Goldwin Smith Professor of Chemistry, have won the 2006 Grand Prix de la Fondation de la Maison de la Chimie. The biennial award, which recognizes work in chemistry that benefits society or nature and carries a cash prize of 30,000 euros, was presented in May in Paris.

Laura Harrington, assistant professor of entomology, has been named by CALS as the 2006 recipient of the Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduate Students in Independent Research.

Duncan Hilchey and Gilbert Gillespie, senior extension associate and senior research associate, respectively, working with the Community, Food, and Agriculture Program in the Department of Development Sociology, were honored in May with the David J. Allee and Paul R. Eberts Community and Economic Vitality Award. This recognition of integrated and innovative research, extension, and/or teaching was presented by Cornell’s Community and Rural Development Institute at the annual Association for Cornell Cooperative Extension Educators Conference in Syracuse, New York. Hilchey and Gillespie were chosen for their work with the Lake Erie Concord Grape Belt.

James A. Mack joined Plantations as horticultural supervisor during the winter. Most recently coordinator of Kent State University’s horticultural technology program at the Geauga campus, Mack spent 12 years as the landscape superintendent for the horticulture department of the Holden Arboretum in Kirtland, Ohio, and later served as the department’s acting director of horticulture. Jim also worked at Lauritzen Gardens (formerly the Omaha Botanical Garden) in Omaha, Nebraska, the Masonic Homes in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, and the Quaker Hill Native Plant Garden in Pawling, New York. Mack has a master’s degree in public horticulture administration from the University of Delaware through the Longwood Graduate Program, and undergraduate degrees in ornamental horticulture and nursery management from Cornell University and the SUNY Agricultural and Technical College in Alfred, New York, respectively. 

Barbara Knuth, professor and chair of the Department of Natural Resources, received the Dwight A. Webster Memorial Award of Merit from the Northeastern Division of the American Fisheries Society in April. The award is presented for lifelong contributions and meritorious service to fisheries science and the profession in the Northeast, significant academic or technical accomplishments, and long-term service as an AFS member. Knuth was recognized for her many research and teaching accomplishments and her contributions as president of AFS and in developing a strategic plan for the society.

Marvin Pritts, professor and chair of the Department of Horticulture, has been named a fellow of the American Society for Horticultural Science. A small-fruits specialist, Pritts joined the Cornell faculty in 1984 after completing a PhD at Michigan State University.

Don Rutz, professor of entomology, has received the2005-06 Student Employer Recognition Award from the Office of Financial Aid and Student Employment, the Cornell Commitment, the Office of Minority Educational Affairs, and the Cornell Public Service Center. He was nominated by Allison Taisey, a student employed in his laboratory.

Team Sapsucker—Brian Sullivan, Chris Wood, Steve Kelling, Ken Rosenberg, and John Fitzpatrick—hit a grand slam in the 2006 World Series of Birding in New Jersey. They not only won the Urner-Stone Cup for recording the most species overall (229) and the Edwin I. Stearns Award for best out-of-state team, but they also tallied the highest fund-raising total for bird conservation. Read more on the Lab of Ornithology website: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/wsb/press_victory_2006.html