 | Cornell's Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future |  | Sustainability News |
| | | | From the Director As an almost normal winter in Ithaca draws to a close, we are looking forward to a very busy spring with a full calendar, including events on such timely topics such as hydraulic fracturing and biodiversity. This is also the season for our Academic Venture Fund competition. We have received 39 letters of intent, which are listed on our website and accessible to those with a Cornell NetID. The letters of intent cover a broad range of topics—from monarch butterflies, to sanitation in developing countries, to a vaccine for a debilitating parasite—that exemplify the breadth of Cornell in the "3Es": energy, the environment, and economic development. The three associate directors and I have been talking with the PIs to strengthen the proposals even more by helping teams build connections across campus. Twenty-two of the letters of intent come from PIs who have not been part of a past AVF award. We're proud of how sustainability research and scholarship continue to grow across campus. Final proposals are due this week. Enjoy the warmer weather! Sincerely, Frank DiSalvo
Atkinson Center Director and
John A. Newman Professor of Physical Science
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology
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Frank DiSalvo
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| | In Memoriam The ACSF community was immensely saddened by the sudden loss of one of our most active Faculty Fellows, Kevin Pratt, an associate professor of architecture who died of natural causes at age 43 last month. Kevin's impact will long be felt at the Atkinson Center and beyond. He was a huge asset to the growing community of scholars and practitioners building a sustainable future for humanity. He was delightful, enthusiastic, inventive, and above all, an energetic colleague with broad interests who was gifted with a highly productive collaborative bent. Kevin was involved in four Academic Venture Fund Awards, more than any other faculty member at Cornell. His character was an integral part of pulling new teams together. His infectious enthusiasm for sustainable building design—and sustainability generally—made him a born leader in the field. Jefferson Tester, our associate director for energy, was among those who worked closely with Kevin. He speaks for all of us at the Atkinson Center when he says: Kevin shared the same vision for sustainability that many of us have. He was someone we were counting on to help lead Cornell by bringing sustainable design and energy efficiency into the built environment in ways that had not been imagined before. To continue to support everything he believed in and worked so hard for is the best way to honor him.
Read more about Kevin in the Cornell Chronicle. | 
Kevin Pratt
(ARCH) |
| | Upcoming ACSF Events Upcoming Topical Lunches - March 21: noon, 300 Rice Hall
An Urban Initiative
(Marianne Krasny and Marvin Pritts)
- March 26: noon, 300 Rice Hall
Mental Health Issues Accompanying Environmental Degradation: Psycho-terratic Diseases
(Donald Fredericksen)
Fracking and the Future of Global Energy: Golden Age or Dark Age?—April 4, 5-7 p.m.
Tom Wilber, author of Under the Surface, and Seamus McGraw, author of End of Country, will offer their perspectives as writers tracking hydraulic fracturing at regional, national, and international levels. The event will be held in the Abby and Paul Milstein Auditorium, Milstein Hall. 2013 Iscol Events—April 22-23
Peter Kareiva, chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy, will present "Overcoming Dogma and Prophecies of Doom to Save Nature," the 2013 Jill and Ken Iscol Distinguished Environmental Lecture, on April 22 at 5:00 p.m. in Call Auditorium. A roundtable discussion will be held the following day from 3:30-5:00 p.m. in 225 ILR Conference Center.
We list many more sustainability events on our Events page. |
Fracking and the Future of Global Energy
Peter Kareiva,
(The Nature Conservancy) |
| | Funding 2013 AVF Proposals Due March 22 The Academic Venture Fund is the Atkinson Center's keystone funding program. Sustainability researchers at Cornell have already made the 2013 cycle of AVF funding—now well under way—a major success. We've received 39 letters of intent, with an unusually strong showing of projects in the social sciences. The projects range across ACSF's 3Es, representing energy (11), the environment (20), and economic development (8). Complete proposals are due on March 22; awards will be announced in May. Read more about the AVF. | 
2013 Academic Venture Fund
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| | | | What We're Reading Cooler Smarter: Practical Steps for Low-Carbon Living (Island Press, 2012), from the Union of Concerned Scientists Cooler Smarter lays out effective, pragmatic strategies for reducing your individual global warming emissions, including how to take action at work, in the community, and politically. Jeff Deyette, senior energy analyst for the Union of Concerned Scientists and one of the coauthors, will launch the book at Cornell on Tuesday, March 26, at 4:00 p.m. in G10 Biotech Building—don't miss it! | 
Cooler Smarter
(Union of Concerned Scientists) |
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