2-9-2023 entire issue hi res

The Corne¬ Daily Sun

A Look Into Prof. Laura Bellows

Love and Perfect Matches Are in the Air

By ERIN YOON and RACHEL KODYSH Sun Staff Writer and Sun Contributor

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, it is officially love season and, more importantly, Perfect Match season at Cornell. Whether in a relationship or looking for one, Cornellians are looking forward to the special time of year.

Jason Katz ’23, a member of the Perfect Match executive board, hopes that the website will bring connection and happiness to the campus community.

“When you use dating apps online, there are so many people to choose from that you kind of lose the value of one person,” Katz said.

According to the team, Perfect Match has made many changes from last year’s iteration to appeal to users' requests and suggestions. They are instituting a new AI approach meant to generate more precise matches.

“I’m hoping people find love,” said Grace Wilkey ’24, an executive board member responsible for marketing. “I think that the way that we’ve changed the algorithm, there’s a lot more promise of success.”

For this year’s survey, the Perfect Match team has asked more in-depth questions to its respondents, ranging from the worst thing a match could wear to a date to whether or not one would want their match to have a similar personality as them.

AppDev Aids Students With App Designs

Project team designs apps popular across Cornell's campus

By CAMDEN WEHRLE Sun Staff Writer

In 2014, Cornell AppDev began as one of the College of Engineering’s newest project teams. Since then, the team has developed numerous apps devoted to aiding Cornell students and community members, ranging from providing dining hall information to TCAT tracking. The team, advised by Prof. Walker White, computer science, currently has six apps published — with more on the way this semester.

Product lead Archit Mehta ’25 estimates that around 12,000 undergraduates — about 80 percent of the total Cornell undergraduate population — use at least one of the team’s apps in a given semester. Before joining the team, he too was one of those users, making use of the CourseGrab app

to enroll into high-demand classes during the Add/ Drop period.

When researching project teams, Mehta was drawn to AppDev and was accepted to the team during his second semester at Cornell.

“AppDev was the [project team] that really stood out to me just because I really agreed with the mission statement of making an impact in the Cornell community, giving back to students and solving their headaches,” Mehta said.

Mehta previously worked on updating the Eatery app to a new version titled Eatery Blue which would contain more information, such as incorporating Collegetown restaurant menus into the app.

The updated app is intended to be released soon. Currently, Mehta’s work entails overseeing all of the apps in development and including more input from the Cornell community in choosing which apps to build.

According to Noah Solomon ’24, the vice team lead, identifying problems students face and creating solutions are the first steps in the multi-semester long process of developing a new app.

Every semester, the team holds an “app jam” process, where team members pitch new apps, the best of which are developed into full apps.

“We have to first of all make sure the problem we’re solving is a real problem. That involves student interviews, actually talking to students,” Solomon said. “That’s when we start saying, ‘how can we solve this problem from a technical standpoint as well as a product perspective?’”

By AIMÉE EICHER Sun Assistant News Editor

Through her research and community work, Prof. Laura Bellows, division of nutritional sciences, is helping children and families develop healthier eating and physical activity patterns.

Bellows’s research focuses on the development of eating behaviors and physical activity patterns in early childhood. Her academic training lies in exercise science, nutrition and public health. Bellows earned a B.S. in Exercise Science and Health Promotion from Miami University before going on to earn an M.P.H in Human Nutrition from the University of Michigan. While studying public health through her master’s program, Bellows recognized her own privilege regarding food access, which inspired her to focus her work on lower-income communities.

“I had an experience in my master's degree in which I was observing someone working with lower-income families, and it really resonated of how fortunate my upbringing was, and how challenging it is for some people — and the challenges were due to barriers, both systematic and educational, in some cases, or income-oriented,” Bellows said.

After completing her M.P.H., Bellows began working directly with communities, aiming to combine her backgrounds in nutrition and physical activity. Through this work, she helped design programs to improve fami-

lies’ access to healthy foods while also respecting varying cultural backgrounds.

“[I] was not really focused on research per se, but really just working with people, communities and those that were lower-income,” Bellows said. “It ended up being in rural communities as well as Latino populations, from a health equity perspective.”

Bellows worked at Colorado State University for 21 years, starting in a local county through the university’s cooperative extension program. She then moved her projects to campus, funded through SNAPEd, a nutrition education program for people within the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. During this time, Bellows also earned a Ph.D. in Community Nutrition from Colorado State University.

“I worked on a program with lower-income preschool centers and healthy eating, and I came on to expand that program and continue to work with these lower-income communities and centers,” Bellows said. “That's when we started adding research components to try to understand how well the program worked, and who it was reaching and what they were doing with the information.”

To continue reading this story, please visit www.cornellsun.com.

Match made | Bouquet of roses in the Klarman Atrium on Feb. 14, 2022. Cornellians will discover their perfect match after they are released on the evening of Feb. 13.

COURTESY OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY

Riveting research | Prof. Laura Bellows, division of nutritional sciences, brings exercise interventions to communities through her research.

Fan favorites | AppDev launched CourseGrab and Eatery, which are widely used across campus.

COURTESY OF SREANG HOK

COURTESY OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY

JULIA NAGEL / SUN PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Emily Davis, Ph.D.

12:20 p.m., 701 Clark Hall

Energy Engineering Seminar

12:25 p.m. - 1:15 p.m., 165 Olin Hall

Equitable Insurance Access in a Changing National Flood Insurange Program

1 p.m. - 2:15 p.m., Virtual Event

Borderlands, Migrations, Movement: Teaching Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Social Justice

2 p.m. - 3 p.m., Virtual Event

Curating the Scientific Evidence With Michel Tenikue, Ph.D.

2:40 p.m. - 4:35 p.m., G-08 Uris Hall

Paris Prelaw Info Session

4:30 p.m., 142 Goldwin Smith Hall

Reading by Ross Gay

5 p.m., G70 Klarman Hall

Networking: How to Talk to Strangers

5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m., Virtual Event

Tomorrow

All-Ivy Environmental Career Fair

10 a.m. - 3 p.m., Virtual Event

Summer Program in Ghana Info Session

Noon, G-08 Uris Hall

Winter Wonders: A Mindful Botany Walk Noon - 1 p.m., Nevin Welcome Center

Interviewing and Negotiation for Academic Positions

Noon - 1:30 p.m., Virtual Event

Soccer, Gender and Race in Brazil With Luis Cuesta, Ph.D.

12:25 p.m., Virtual Event

Subscription-Based Electricity Pricing: A Community-Focused Approach With Madhur Srivastava, Ph.D.

12:25 p.m., 235 Frank H.T. Rhodes Hall

Designing Healthy, Inclusive Environments for and With Children and Youth With Janet Loebach, Ph.D.

12:25 p.m., Abby and Howard Milstein Auditorium

Laboratory for Elementary-Particle Physics Theory Seminar With Ameen Ismail

1 p.m., 401 Physical Sciences Building

Caste, Outcaste, Anticaste: Reflections on Worldmaking With Anupama Rao, Ph.D.

4:45 p.m., Guerlac Room A.D. White House

Cornell Music: Mike Lee, Piano 8 p.m., Barnes Hall

Students Question Median Grades

By BREANNA MASCI Sun Staff Writer

A college transcript is one of the most vital components of any application, whether to graduate school or a company. At Cornell, student transcripts list course names, grades received and, most notably, the median grade achieved in each class.

Cornell officially began including median grades on the registrar’s website in 1998 and added them to student transcripts in 2008. However, in 2011, median grades were removed from the registrar’s website, where they were viewable to the entire Cornell student body. Ever since then, all students graduating from the University have the median grades for each of their classes listed only on their transcripts.

Rebecca Valli, director of media relations at Cornell, said median grades are not included on the registrar’s website because the University does not want students to become discouraged from taking certain classes based on average grades achieved.

“The hope is that students would not be deterred from taking courses that they wished to take simply because the medians in those courses were low,” Valli wrote in an email to The Sun.

Although the policy was designed to encourage students to take classes, Valeria Valencia ’23, president of the Cornell Student Assembly, said she believes the policy is more vexing than anything.

“In my own personal opinion, it’s more stressful to have [median grades] on transcripts,” Valencia said. “It’s not a common practice, and it is pretty odd and weird.”

The policy can be beneficial to students who score above the median grade, since it highlights how well they performed in relation to their peers, but Valencia worries that for those that score below the median grade, the policy can lower their self-esteem and negatively affect their mental health.

“If you do really well in a class and get an A because you worked really hard, then that A shows up on your transcript,” Valencia said. “But then you see that the median grade is also an A and instead of having that good feeling of having gotten an A, you are stressed and start going down that rabbit hole.”

In past years, the question of whether median grades should appear on transcripts has been brought before the Student Assembly. Although the topic was ultimately tabled, Valencia said she is interested in bringing it back to the floor to hear what current students have to say about it.

Valencia also wonders if this policy aims to combat grade inflation that many other Ivy League institutions are often accused of, such as Harvard and Yale. These schools do not put median grades on transcripts — the only other Ivy League to include them is Dartmouth.

At Cornell, the inclusion of median grades on transcripts remains a contested matter.

Jennifer Zhu ’26 said she supports the policy.

“I personally like to know where I stand in a class, so for me, it gives me a benchmark of where I am,” Zhu said.

Pursuing a pre-med track, Zhu believes that the inclusion of median grades on her transcript may provide the medical schools she applies to with a clearer picture of how she performs as a student without the concern of grade inflation.

To continue reading this article, please visit www.cornellsun.com.

Breanna Masci can be reached at bmasci@cornellsun.com.

Project Team Develops Apps

APPDEV

AppDev also runs four oneand two-credit courses each semester, taught by project team members. Students can choose to take courses focused around digital product design, backend development or iOS or Android development.

Hanzheng Li ’23, team lead, took the iOS development course during his freshman year, and enjoyed that mobile app development allowed for a product to get into the hands of users relatively quickly. After being accepted to the team during his sophomore year, Li worked on the iOS development for an app that was ultimately scrapped before moving to the Volume app, which brings together all Cornell student publications into a single app.

Cornellians Discover T eir Perfect Match

Cupid’s bow strikes campus again

MATCH

Continued from page 1

The team also made modifications to the survey’s format, with consideration for both convenience and accessibility. “We made the site a lot more mobile-friendly because we got feedback from a lot of users that they like taking it on their phone,” said Nick Varelas ’25, a member of Perfect Match.

Additionally, to eliminate users’ privacy concerns, the site pledged full anonymity of user’s survey answers.

“[Perfect Match] wanted to make extra sure this year that the data we got was all anonymized immediately, that there was no way for anyone online to acquire the data,” Katz said.

“We made the site a lot more mobile-friendly because we got feedback from a lot of users that they like taking it on their phone.”

Nick Varelas ’25

Overall, the Perfect Match team is thrilled to launch its survey and is hoping to contribute to the development of meaningful connections throughout the Cornell community.

Cornellians, too, are eager to see their Perfect Match this year.

but also because I was interested in seeing how the algorithm worked out and I wanted to make friends,” said Muna Mohammed ’24.

Though she has not yet filled out the survey this year, Mohammed expressed contentment with her past experiences.

“I stayed friends with all of my matches last year,” Mohammed said. “I’m excited to see how this year turns out.”

According to Stephanie Lopez ’23, students may struggle to find compatible companions in a large community like Cornell — however, Perfect Match sorts students based on their interests and preferences, which makes way for an entertaining networking opportunity as well.

“Even if you don’t have luck finding a partner through Perfect Match, it’s still a great way to meet new people,” Lopez said. “I was able to meet people that had a lot in common with me, and that worked out in a different way.”

AppDev is divided into five different subteams, each focused on one part of the app development process, from product design to marketing. After apps are chosen to be developed, a pod team of around ten students,

composed of students from each subteam and a product manager, is created. Apps are developed for both Android and iOS, where frontend teams work on the user experience. Other students focus on backend work, which entails getting the correct data from servers to eventually be displayed to users.

According to Li, teams then set goals to launch the app, creating a product with the core features to function. Later on, more features can be added as user feedback — a key component to AppDev’s work — is received.

“We want to get the app out and into people’s hands so we can start creating a cycle of feedback,” Li said. “Once we have that pipeline established, we can continuously improve our existing features and come up with new ones that people request.”

The team is also hoping to launch two new apps by the end of the spring semester. Scooped is a rideshare app that will eventually allow students to connect with others traveling to the same locations over breaks to lower travel expenses. Resell is a secondhand marketplace app where students will soon be able to sell old items such as clothes or school related items such as iClickers.

According to Solomon, because these apps are designed specifically for Cornell students, they set themselves apart from other products with similar premises like Uber or Facebook

Noah Solomon ’24

Marketplace by having a stronger connection to the community.

“One of the benefits of all our apps is they’re all specifically for Cornell students,” Solomon said. “So even though there might exist apps out there that are trying to solve these problems across the country or the world, we have the benefit of seeing how they impact students here.”

In the future, Li hopes that the team can continue to create apps that serve the Cornell community while improving the maintenance policies for existing apps. He also hopes that the team will provide AppDev members with the opportunity to create products they’re passionate about.

“My vision for the ideal AppDev future is one where everybody is placed on a pod in a position where they feel empowered to grow using a technology that they’re passionate about,” Li said. “A more concrete vision I have is just all of our apps being super useful to the students.”

“There are definitely pros and cons to attending a big school,” said Daniel Russo ’24. “You can meet a lot of people, but it’s also difficult to stay connected because the social scene here is busy. Perfect Match does a good job making the connections.”

Russo appreciates Perfect Match’s multifaceted matching algorithm, which considers personalities, lifestyles and preferences for a romantic partner.

According to Russo, Perfect Match demonstrates reliability in its decisions.

Some students reflected on their past experiences with Perfect Match, which was first introduced in 2019. While the main intent of Perfect Match is to form romantic relationships, it is also commonly used to build friendships

“I thought it would be fun to fill out, not only because I wanted to find a particular match

Sherry Liao ’25, who does not plan to participate in Perfect Match, referred to the rigorous coursework as a barrier to her romantic life.

“Work from my classes takes a lot of time out of my day,” Liao said. “I think a lot of students prioritize academic success over relationships, but also because they simply don’t have the time to spend with a significant other.”

While Cornell’s dating scene is not so robust due to its busy students, Liao continued, efforts such as Perfect Match and other dating services are a helpful and fun addition to campus life.

Perfect Match closes its survey on Feb. 13 at noon, and Varelas urges students to fill it out before the deadline.

Erin Yoon can be reached at eyoon@cornellsun.com

Rachel Kodysh can be reached at rjk243@cornell.edu

“We want to get the app out and into people’s hands so we can start creating a cycle of feedback.”

Hanzheng Li ’23

“Even if you don’t have luck finding a partner through Perfect Match, it’s still a great way to meet new people.”

Stephanie Lopez ’23

Grade gurus | Students study in Olin Library on Feb. 2.

MING DEMERS / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

“One of the benefits of all our apps is they’re all specifically for Cornell students.”

Dining

By JAKE FISHMAN, MARGARET HAYKIN and CATHERINE ZHANG Sun Staff Writers

Getting tired of going to the same dining halls? Then look no further. 104 West!, located by the Center for Jewish Living, offers a kosher dining experience with many delicious options for those following religious and special diets. Jewish or not, any student can enjoy a meal here and all you need is a meal swipe!

This Sunday, Feb. 5, we made our way to 104 West! to review the food options in a similar fashion to our A Comprehensive Review of West Campus Dining article. When that article was written, we did not have enough time to come to 104 West! despite its proximity to the West Campus and have been itching to try it since. Margaret specifically has been eager for a taste of this kosher dining hall because she has not been able to give it a try yet despite being Jewish.

Catherine: I honestly didn’t know what to expect going

104 West! Food Review

into this considering that I’ve never really heard of people talking about the food at 104 West!. Margaret and I consider ourselves frequenters of the West Campus dining halls,

schedule, but we walked in a few minutes before closing so this may have influenced our experience.

As indicated in the picture, I chose to go with the mac and cheese, meatless meatballs and roasted cauliflower and potatoes. The mac and cheese was on the gooey side (as opposed to having a crispy top layer) and had a strong cheesy flavor. I think I prefer the mac and cheese at Alice Cook House more.

to abiding by some of the laws of kashrut (keeping kosher).

but we tend to stick to the ones on the main West Campus “island.” I was surprised that 104 West! closes at 7 p.m. as most of the other dining halls on West close at 8 p.m. It might have been our fault for not checking the opening

But this could be my personal preference to white cheeses over yellow cheese — that’s not to say it wasn’t delicious. The roasted cauliflower and potatoes were perfectly crispy on the outside and the seasoning was well-balanced. The meatless meatballs were not my favorite, but I am biased because I tend to avoid vegan meat options. It was good for what it was though.

To me, the star of the show was the blueberries: In my one semester at Cornell, I don’t think I’ve ever eaten any sort of berry at a dining hall. As berries are my favorite fruit, I indulged in a hefty bowl (not pictured) after my meal. Margaret and Jake can confirm. They were not mushy (which is important) and absolutely delectable. Starting a petition to have blueberries at every dining hall, thanks.

Margaret: As per mine and Catherine’s article on the West Campus dining system, I maintain a pescetarian diet when eating on campus due

I cannot eat pork, unkosher meat or shellfish and cannot mix meat and milk. I was very excited to come to 104 West! and feel free to eat anything without restriction. We chose to go on a “dairy” day at 104 West!, meaning that no meat was served. Although I could have eaten the meat here if I so pleased, I typically do choose to avoid it anyway, so I was more than happy to review the kosher dairy options provided.

I grabbed a heaping plate of mac and cheese, meatless meatballs, potatoes, cauliflower and guacamole. The mac and cheese was quite good, with the seasoning helping to balance the creaminess. It may not compare to the mac and cheese at Alice Cook house, but it was still comforting, warm and delicious. Because I eat meatless meatballs so oten on campus, I consider myself somewhat of an expert on them. And I have to say, these were wonderful — crisp on the outside, tender and well-seasoned on the inside. Had I not known they were meatless, I definitely would have thought they were typical beef meatballs. My love of meatless meatballs may be biased, but I still feel that this evaluation is valid. The potatoes and cauliflower were fairly standard: well-seasoned and crispy, but it is important to note that they were both quite oily. I preferred them to the steamed or fried vegetables

typically found in other West Campus dining halls, though, and appreciated the effort to offer a tastier vegetable option. The guacamole was similar to that on West as well. Overall, I greatly enjoyed my experience at 104 West! and will definitely be returning for a meal free of fear.

Jake: The star of the show for me was the chocolate chip cookies. These cookies were mushy and gooey, and the chocolate chips melted on the tip of my tongue. These cookies were better than the ones I have had at any of the dining halls on West as I feel the ones on West are too crunchy. I would honestly go back to 104 West! just to get another bite of these.

As experts on West Campus dining, we, as well as Jake now, feel that 104 West! is definitely on par with the rest of the dining halls we’ve reviewed. It truly is the perfect place for kosher-keeping Jewish students, as well as non-Jewish students who simply want to mix it up or learn about Jewish eating practices.

Jake Fishman is sophomore in the Nolan School of Hoel Administration. He can be reached at jf838@cornell.edu.

Margaret Haykin is a sophomore in the College of Industrial and Labor Relations. She can be reached at meh369@cornell. edu.

Catherine Zhang is a sophomore in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She can be reached at cz456@cornell.edu.

“Iwasvery excited to come to 104 West! and feel free to eat anythingwithout restriction.”

Multicultural dining | 104 West! is a uniquley kosher dining hall experience for all students located by the Center for Jewish Living on Cornell’s West Campus.

News Editor ESTEE YI ’24

News Editor KAYLA RIGGS ’24 City Editor

JULA NAGEL ’24

Photography Editor

MEHER BHATIA ’24

Science Editor

KATRIEN DE WAARD ’24

Production Editor

PAREESAY AFZAL ’24 Assistant News Editor

JIWOOK JUNG ’25

ADITI HUKERIKAR ’23

DANIELA WISE-ROJAS ’25

Dining Editor

JASON WU ’24 Assistant Photography Editor

GRAYSON RUHL ’24

Assistant Sports Editor

KEVIN CHENG ’25

Newsletter Editor

HANNAH ROSENBERG ’23

Senior Editor

JYOTHSNA BOLLEDDULA ’24

Senior Editor

Working on Today’s Sun Editor in chief Angela Bunay ’24

Managing Desker Meher Bhatia ’24

Associate Desker Lili Mkrtchyan ’25

Dining Desker Kyle Roth ’25News Deskers Marisa Cefola ’26 Eric Reilly ‘25

Photography Desker Claire Li ’24

Adin Choung A Dinner is Served

South Korea During Winter Break

This winter break, I had the privilege to travel to South Korea for two weeks. It was my first time traveling internationally alone and my two weeks abroad has redefined education for me. I booked the tickets back in September and debated over traveling for months. I was wondering if it was worth the time, money, and effort to travel to Korea, especially since I was traveling by myself. It has been six years since I last visited Korea and it was nerve racking to think about exploring a foreign country without the help of others.

I worked throughout the summer before my freshman year and saved up enough money to book my tickets. I kept my eyes on ticket prices and snatched up the cheapest tickets possible. I spent weeks practicing Korean with my parents and went over how to travel by subway and bus routes. I also practiced simple Korean phrases that are useful in any situation, and gathered up gifts for my relatives. Before I knew it, it was time to leave.

I departed LAX bright and early on New Year’s Day and traveled up to Canada where I had a layover in Vancouver for an hour. It hit me the moment I stepped out of my plane that I had crossed international borders for the first time by myself and that the world is so much bigger than the life I know. I made the most out of my hour and explored the airport as much as I could — after all, it was my first time in Canada, even though it was short lived and I was stuck in the airport.

I realized quickly how fast you learn to become independent and make split second decisions for yourself when you are on your own in a foreign place. My head was swarming with different questions: do I eat at this restaurant or save money and eat later? Do I have all my documents with me? Am I able to use my phone in a foreign country? Some decisions aren’t as important as others but to be able to decide on my own how I want to lead my time at this airport was just as valuable of an experience for me.

My hour flew by and I was on the plane to travel to Incheon, South Korea where my grandparents were waiting for me. I’ve spent most of my time on the plane practicing my Korean and conversational skills. More than anything, I didn’t want to be seen as a gyopo or a Korean American. Community is strongly rooted in Korean culture — confucian values run deep, and individualism isn’t as practiced in Korea as it is in America. Being unique isn’t normal or appreciated and there are always mixed reviews on Koreans living overseas. I didn’t want my first independent excursion to be met with strange looks or overbearing strangers.

Before I knew it, the pilot announced we were landing soon and I opened my

window to see my first glimpse of Korean people. I started tearing up as I saw the familiar, yet foreign cities appear through my window and I was lucky enough to witness a beautiful sunset as we landed. I felt so grateful for the opportunity to travel to Korea and learn more about my heritage and was overwhelmed with emotions of happiness, anxiety, gratitude and excitement.

I soon reunited with my grandparents at Incheon Airport and they quickly whisked me home where a hot bowl of budae jjigae, or Korean army stew, was waiting for me. As my grandma has said, there was nothing better than a spicy stew to fill you up after a long day of travel. I settled into the room my mom and I would always stay in when I was younger and before long, my first day in Korea was over. The next two weeks were one of the most exciting and nerve racking weeks of my life. I was able to witness first hand my confidence in traveling by myself increase as each day passed. Thanks to Korea’s convenient public transportation, I was able to explore the country alone. It was a much different experience than when I last visited Korea when I was 12. Back then, my mother was able to take us around the country and show us significant sites from her childhood. Now I have to rely on myself and my somewhat fluent Korean vocabulary to visit different cities. Luckily, I had friends from the States visiting at the same time, so we were able to meet up and have fun together, whether we explored Hongdae, ate at cute cafes and aesthetic restaurants, or just walked down the streets together. I also spent a lot of time with my grandparents and helped them run errands or cook dinner. While it was exciting being able to explore as tourists, I loved having the quiet moments with my grandparents and settling into life together too.

I’ve come to truly appreciate and understand the value of travel and learning about different cultures. While Korea had a bustling culture full of activities, one of my favorite things I did during my trip was just observing the culture and understanding more about my heritage. I got to meet my extended family and see how much different my life could have been if my parents chose not to immigrate to America.

Although I did feel like an outsider sometimes, I never felt any hostility towards me. Everyone I met, although they immediately knew I lived overseas, accommodated me as much as possible and were proud to show their country to me. I was immensely proud to be Korean when I visited and took it upon myself to become more fluent in Korean so I would be able to better experience Korea.

Now that I am back in the States, there’s nothing more I want to do than travel again. Luckily, Cornell has a great study abroad program. Who knows where I will go next?

Adin Choung is a freshman in the College of Human Ecology. She can be reached at ac2522@cornell. edu. A Dinner is Served runs every other Sunday this semester.

Why, Oh Why is He Taken?

nnaleigh Ashford said it best as Lauren in Kinky Boots: they’re only nice when they’re unavailable.

I, Virginia Snatch, capped off an uneventful winter break with an extremely eventful return to campus. I left last semester’s sneaky link (the subject of one too many Sex on Thursday articles…) behind and went searching for a new one.

I hope you all have been up to the same hijinks as yours truly. However, this prowling has taken me back to square one: A guy I tried to curb my feelings for because of his relationship status. Yes, of course, the guy I like is taken. Another notch in a series of unfortunate events, that is, my love life.

(See Single or Taken: Why do We Want What We Can’t Have? for a good dose of Virginia Snatch irony.)

You may be asking yourself: Oh, Virginia, how did you get yourself into this situation?

Would you believe me if I said all it took was a fifteen-minute conversation?

I’m sure you would, given my track record. He’s just so sexy. As much as I hate that word, there’s no substitute. We talked about art, music and all that smart-guy stuff that makes me — or any sane girl — weak in the knees. Before talking to him, all I knew about this guy was that he’s in fraternity X, a member of clubs Y and Z and has a devoted girlfriend. Now, somehow, I know about his favorite artists, his greatest aspirations, and what keeps him up at night.

I’m not sure how we got into that deep of a conversation in a fraternity house, but we did. Also, did I mention that he approached me? I would’ve assumed that he was hitting on me if I didn’t know that he’s spoken for. I’m ashamed to admit that I almost wanted to lean in and play dumb when he’d eventually push me away. Is this what an illicit affair feels like? Is this the start of something truly wicked? Next weekend, when I inevitably find myself at yet another function with this guy, will I lose control and become a fullfledged homewrecker?

No. The answer to all of those questions is no. The guy is just nice, as simple as that. It sucks that his kindness makes me want him more, but unfortunately, I have

Annie Position | Te Sin Series

a thing for taken men in general.

Though my friends pick on me for it, I actually think that liking taken guys is a common thing. I didn’t touch on it in my “Single or Taken…” article, but I do think that a part of wanting what we can’t have is, at times, wanting taken men. Beside the fact that they’re only nice when they’re unavailable, I feel as though all the decent men are in committed relationships. Sometimes, I find myself wondering if being single is a red flag in an attractive guy.

It makes sense, right? The best men out there being off the market, I mean. I’m sure that this guy’s current girlfriend isn’t his first, either. A good guy like him should be in a long-term, happy relationship. Unfortunately, that means that all the dopes of campus are left for us — girls who didn’t lock down a guy freshman year.

Maybe I just want a taken man because I know he’s capable of treating a girl well. When engaging in a relationship with a perpetually single guy, you’re taking a risk — even if you’re a low-maintenance girl like yours truly. For me, all a boyfriend has to do is listen to me talk. Though I talk a lot, I feel like even pretending to listen isn’t that big of a commitment. It’s sad that some guys can’t even do that.

Regardless, while I don’t only like this guy because he’s taken, having a girlfriend makes him easier to fall for. Please, before you click away, allow me to explain.

If he were single, I’d have to stress about flirting with him, bumping into him at parties, and sending him a better and more interesting text than any other girl. If he were single, I’d kill myself over every word I say to him, over what could bloom between us if he should pick me to start a relationship with. Because he’s taken, I can take a breath. Every interaction with him feels fabricated and unreal. Some may say that this sounds like “friendship,” but as someone who isn’t really friends with guys, I say nay. This is just a simulation, a trivial little game of life.

I like to play pretend — I hide behind this personality online, proving how much I like to assume an identity and run with it. Sure, I’m sad that this guy is taken, but it’s far more comfortable for me to think about what could be than what actually might. Though this week’s lament is ending on a bit of a cliffhanger, if I do end up entertaining this guy, rest assured that you all will be the first to find out. After all, you know me pretty well by now.

To Screw or Not To Screw (In the Stacks)

Today I write with a confession of my own naivety, willing to admit that despite my self-proclaimed breadth of knowledge regarding Cornell’s sexscape, there is one element of our campus’ sensual situation that I have critically overlooked: I did not realize that people were actually fucking in the stacks.

Before we dive into the nitty-gritty, let me unravel the series of unfortunate (yet admittedly entertaining) events which led me to this realization.

Some Cornellians are lucky enough to celebrate “syllabus week,” and are able to avoid

you need to know is that, amidst an entire room of students grinding in the academic sense, my friends and I walked past two students (stereotypical Cornell engineers), grinding in the sexual sense on one of the single-person lounge chairs. Get a room.

firsthand witness to a lucky (or unlucky depending on your perspective) pair checking the #1 item off of “161 Things Every Cornellian Should Do.”

Manuscripts for a little hanky-panky, I urge you to to considertwothings:(1)HalfofCornellisjudgingyou, and (2) you are not being as subtle as you might think.

the campus library grind until the second or third week of classes. Unfortunately, my friends and I do not fall in that lucky category and found ourselves trudging through the snow to the basement stacks in Olin last Friday night.

Now, I could probably compose an entire article on PDA etiquette, specifically in academic settings, but that is a mountain to climb another day. All

If you’re familiar with the basement layout in Olin, you know that there is a large open room full of study tables and chairs (the scene of the PDA crime), surrounded on two sides by stacks. At the risk of exposing one of my favorite study spots, for the sake of the story I will tell you that there are two hidden tables tucked away from the stacks that can fit around six people. After exchanging wide-eyed glances at one another at the public chair routine, my friends and I made our way back to the secret tables. We quickly forgot the scene and became absorbed in our work until the couple in question walked past our apparently not-so-secret spot and disappeared into the stacks silently while holding hands.

My friends knew from experience that there is no way out of the stacks besides walking past our tables again, so when we didn’t see the couple for a suspicious amount of time, we knew something was up… Talk about lack of subtlety.

I will spare you the details, but in an act of misguided curiosity, one of my study partners was a

This got me wondering — did we witness an anomaly, or are students regularly turning to the stacks for a quick study break? I turned once again to the reli able masses of Cornell Sidechat, and the results are in:

Survey: Are people actual ly making love in the stacks? (318 total votes)

Yes, you’re living under a rock — 53 percent (170 votes)

No, that is unsanitary — 47 percent (148 votes)

Honorary Mentions: Post Responses

“Fucking, maybe. Making love, definitely not.”

“Bro this did not answer the question at all, it is still 50-50.”

Touché, commenter #2, touché. While the post responses were entertaining, I didn’t think the results would be nearly as divided as they were. But alas, my survey was less than informative. It would seem that our campus is split on whether or not intimacy in the stacks is a desirable activity.

All thoughts aired, next time you’re think ing about wander ing into the sensual land of Asian Studies

Annie Position is a student at Cornell University. Comments can be sent to opinion-editor@cornellsun. com. The Sin Series runs during alternate Sex on Thursdays this semester.

There is one element of our campus’ sensual situation that I have critically overlooked: I did not realize that people were actually fucking in the stacks.

Virginia Snatch is a student at Cornell University. Comments can be sent to opinion-editor@cornellsun.com. The Slip ‘N Slide runs during alternate Sex on Thursdays this semester.

Thoreau part 1

Sundoku Puzzle 1011001

ROBOTS

Fill in the empty cells, one number in each, so that each column, row, and region contains the numbers 1-9 exactly once. Each number in the solution therefore occurs only once in each of the three “directions,” hence the “single numbers” implied by the puzzle’s name. (Rules from wikipedia.org/wiki/ Sudoku)

Green One

We have availability for the 2023-2024 school year beginning June 1st at Hudson Heights apartments. These studios include electric, heat, water, garbage and parking. Coin-operated laundry facilities available on site. Prices start at $850/month for a 12 month lease, with options for 10 month and semester leases with different rates. If you have any questions or would like to schedule a tour contact us by email: renting@ithacaLS.com. Please visit our website www.ithacalivingsolutions.com for photos and more information.

Thoreau part 2

Thoreau part 1

SC I ENCE

New Cornell Center to Fight Antimicrobial Resistance

By KAITLYN LEE Sun Staff Writer

The Cornell Center for Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Education has been newly established, uniting experts in epidemiology, microbiology, sociology, among other fields to combat the critical issues of antimicrobial resistance.

Antimicrobials are chemicals used to treat infections by killing pathogenic bacteria — bacteria that cause disease — and other microbes, such as parasites, viruses and fungi.

However, overuse of antimicrobials results in microbes adapting and developing resistance. Additionally, antimicrobials kill beneficial bacteria in our body that provide defenses against disease.

According to Prof. Kyu Rhee, immunology and microbial pathogenesis, co-director of the Cornell Center for Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Education, AMR is a worldwide problem with significant health impacts on human, animal and environmental welfare. In the United States, more than 2.8 million infections

due to antimicrobial-resistant bacteria as well as 35,000 subsequent deaths occur each year.

The center was founded through collaboration between Cornell faculty from Ithaca and New York campuses interested in AMR. The Office of the Provost’s Radical Collaboration Task Force recognized AMR as an important topic of interest and Cornell’s unique strength in combining disciplines in life sciences and social sciences to find solutions to AMR.

“The broad goal of the center is to promote multidisciplinary research and education in antimicrobial resistance that will not only lead to the creation of innovative solutions but also more broadly increase awareness and advocacy of antimicrobial resistance,” Rhee said.

To achieve these goals, the AMR Center aims to initiate cooperation between faculty and trainees through events and programs like an annual symposium, a seminar series, lectures, seed grant programs, and travel fund programs.

The AMR Center is also hosting an inaugural symposium on Mar. 22 and 23 at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York. The event will feature professors and experts from Cornell University, Harvard University and Boston University.

As for AMR misinformation and public education, Rhee shared that science communication will be emphasized by communication science faculty in CALS. Prof. Renata Ivanek, epidemiology, steering committee member of the Cornell AMR Center, believes that public engagement is another approach to this issue. Ivanek hopes that sharing research with the public will promote awareness and action to resolve AMR spread.

Although the Cornell AMR Center has only been recently established, faculty members already have plans for their research to tackle the challenges of AMR.

Prof. Ilana Lauren Brito, biomedical engineering, steering Center committee member, is pursuing her research in the gut microbiome and its impact on AMR. She expresses interest

in the factors and interplay that allow certain pathogenic microbes to thrive in the gut microbiome.

“We’re interested in the gut microbiome and antimicrobial resistance because it might serve as a reservoir for these pathogenic organisms,” Brito said. “The gut microbiome could [also] help keep down the abundances of these antibiotic-resistant pathogens.”

As for Ivanek, her

research focuses on social dimensions of antimicrobial use and AMR in food-producing animals.

Ivanek aspires to advance AMR research from a One Health perspective, which connects the health of people, animals, plants and their environment.

In addition, the Cornell Center has formed a partnership with the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability in order to

support AMR interdisciplinary projects.

“I hope the Center will bring the local community and the world closer to Cornell faculty and make them more visible to the world in the domain of antimicrobial resistance, research, and education,” Ivanek said.

USDA Grants to Fund Cornell NYS Research Projects

By ANNA LABINER Sun Staff Writer

The United States Department of Agriculture is set to provide $3.8 million to fund Cornell research projects supporting agriculture, rural communities and local economies in New York State.

As a land-grant university, Cornell accepts grants from federal agencies to fund research projects that benefit

residents of New York. The funds tend to go towards paying faculty salaries, or in Cornell’s case, funding research projects.

The Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station distributes these grants among the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the College of Veterinary Medicine and the College of Human Ecology. Within these colleges, the AES prioritizes research

concerning agriculture and food systems, climate change, environment, natural resources and sustainable energy.

According to the University, the USDA grants are supporting 51 research projects, all which aim to support New York State communities. Though they serve a similar overarching purpose, these projects are diverse in their areas of focus.

One such agricultur-

ally-based project is being conducted by Prof. Gaurav Moghe, plant biology. He is currently working on improving sweet potato cultivation in New York State — a superfood that may be key to nutritional improvement due to its antioxidant properties. “Sweet potatoes produce a class of compounds which are very unique,” Moghe said. “There is a lot of interest in sweet potatoes in terms of the health benefits.”

Moghe’s lab aims to tap into the association between sweet potatoes and microbes to make them more resilient to environmental stressors. By exposing crops to Arbuscular mycorrhiza — a fungal species that increases nutrient absorption of sweet potatoes by expanding the surface area of their roots — Moghe hopes to make the crop more accessible to New York State farmers.

Cold tolerance in crops and reduction in crop loss are other focuses of Moghe’s research, as the two are primary concerns of farmers looking to invest in sweet potatoes.

The lab is also collaborating with Dyson School faculty, local farmers and the Cornell Cooperative

Extension to see how they can factor in farmers’ expenses in crops to assess profitability of growing sweet potatoes.

In addition to agricultural projects, the grant also supports efforts to service New York State residents from a social and economic perspective.

Prof. Mildred Warner, global development, is leading a project concentrated on observing population demographic changes in rural New York State communities.

According to Warner, there has been a pattern of population decline and increased mortality in rural areas, which may be attributed to reduced access to quality healthcare, lack of food quality, poor infrastructure and less supportive government structures. She added that trends were further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Warner and her students are currently surveying how localities are spending their American Rescue Plan money, and how local governments are promoting equity in their use of American Rescue Plan funds.

“One of the things that I’ve been trying to figure

out is what is it that communities can do to be better places for children to grow up and for adults to grow old,” Warner said.

Students in Warner’s lab have recently presented their research at conferences for the New York State City Managers Association and the American Planning Association. In March, her students will showcase their work at the Rockefeller Institute in SUNY Albany.

In addition to Moghe and Warner, other faculty members awarded with grant funding are serving New York State communities by researching pest management practices, invasive species, flood risk management and environmental conservation amongst other projects.

“Basically, grants are used to support professors’ research. In my case, it’s a collaboration across many states,” Warner said. “Those of us who are interested in rural demography and community development have joined together in a multi-state project looking at rural demographic change and what we can do about it.”

Sweet potatoes | Gaurav Moghe M.S. ’06 and his lab are harvesting sweet potatoes to determine factors that affect variety in yields.

Anna Labiner can reached at alabiner@cornellsun.com.

COURTESY OF CORNELL UNIVERSITY / GAURAV MOGHE

Global threat | Antimicrobial resistance is a rampant health issue the Cornell Center for Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Education hopes to ameliorate.

Kaitlyn Lee can reached at klee@cornellsun.com.