Cornell University Ithaca: A Farmer’s Contribution to American Education

Cornell University Ithaca: A Farmer’s Contribution to American Education

University education is a byproduct of university system and a strong foundation for societal development. This is because the system has three main functions or pillars for the societal development. The functions are teaching, research and community service. Knowledge is quickly acquired through learning and teaching is the instrument for learning. Research is a systematic activity undertaken for many reasons such as increase the stock of knowledge; discover new information on the existing happenings, problems and solutions identification, increasing system efficiency among others. In addition to teaching and research, which are other ways of serving the society, university is expected to render community service using pool of intellectual capacities at its disposal to solve societal problems. It is within this context that establishment of university is seen as a giant contribution to the educational development of a nation.  This is a story of Cornell University Ithaca, New York and its founder; a farmer – Senator, Ezra Cornell.

Cornell University was established in 1865 at Ithaca. Its establishment was the result of authorization by the New York State (NYS) Senate as the state’s land grants institution. A farmer, Ezra Cornell offered his farm in Ithaca, New York as a site and princely cash amounting to $500,000 from his personal fortune as an initial endowment. As part of patriotic and historic effort, a fellow senator and experienced educationist, Andrew Dickson White became the first president (equivalent of Vice Chancellor) of the university. During the next three years, White oversaw the construction of the first two buildings and traveled to attract students and faculty. Thus, White is considered as a cofounder of Cornell University. The university was inaugurated on October 7, 1868, and 412 students were admitted the next day.

Right from conception, Ezra Cornell’s vision for the University of his Dream was very clear, “I would (have) found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study – Ezra Cornell, 1868”. Ezra Cornell (January 11, 1807 – December 9, 1874) was a man with many trades; an American businessman, politician, philanthropist in addition to being a successful farmer. He was the founder of Western Union and He also served as President of the New York Agriculture Society as well as one of the famous Senators of his time.

Since then, Cornell University developed to become a giant institution with a lot of technological innovations and breakthroughs through research works within and outside its campus. For example, in 1883 it was one of the first university campuses to use electricity from a water-powered dynamo to light the grounds. Since 1894, Cornell has included colleges that are state funded and fulfill statutory requirements it has also administered research and agricultural extension activities that have been jointly funded by state and federal matching programs.

From 2000, Cornell University expanded its international programs to other continents, for instance in 2004, the university opened the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar. It established partnerships with institutions in India, Singapore, and the People's Republic of China. Former president Jeffrey S. Lehman described the university, with its high international profile, a "transnational university". On March 9, 2004, Cornell and Stanford University laid the cornerstone for a new 'Bridging the Rift Center' to be built and jointly operated for education on the Israel–Jordan border.

Administratively, Cornell University is decentralized, with its colleges and schools exercising wide autonomy. Each defines its own academic programs, operates its own admissions and advising programs, and confers its own degrees. The only university-wide requirements for a degree program are to pass a swimming test, take two physical education courses, and satisfy a writing requirement. A handful of inter-school academic departments offer courses in more than one college. All academic departments are affiliated with at least one college; the last department without such an affiliation, the Cornell Africana Studies and Research Center, merged with the Arts College in July 2011. In 2015, Cornell ranked 8th domestically and 10th internationally in the CWUR rankings. For 2016-17, Cornell ranked 16th in the QS World University Rankings and 19th in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. The university ranked 10th in the 2013 Business Insider Best Colleges in America ranking, 15th in the 2016 U.S. News & World Report National Universities ranking, and 13th globally in an academic ranking of world universities by Academic Ranking of World Universities in 2015. Cornell was ranked 27th nationally in The Washington Monthly's 2016 ranking of universities' contributions to research, community service, and social mobility. Cornell's Center for Advanced Computing was one of the five original centers of the NSF's Supercomputer Centers Program. The university’s School of Hotel Administration ranked No. 1 in world on March 8, 2016.

Cornell Plantations, located adjacent to the Ithaca campus, is used for conservation research as well as for recreation by Cornellians. In the basement of Goldwin Smith Hall, researchers in the Dendrochronology Lab determine the age of archaeological artifacts found at digs

Research is a central element of the university's mission; in 2009 Cornell spent $671 million on science and engineering research and development, the 16th highest in the United States. Thus, Cornell as a research university, is ranked fourth in the world in producing the largest number of graduates who go on to pursue PhDs in engineering or the natural sciences at American institutions, as well as fifth in the world in producing graduates who pursue PhDs at American institutions in any field. Latest Rankings

The achievements of the university in research became possible because of its dedicated staff and huge funds being expended on its research programs; example for the 2004–05 fiscal year, the university spent $561.3 million on research. The fund comes largely from federal sources, with federal investment amounting to $381.0 million. The federal agencies; the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Science Foundation contributed 51.4% and 30.7% of all federal investment to the university. Another breakthrough of Cornell reputation receiving patents, it was on the top-ten list of U.S. universities receiving the most patents in 2003, and was one of the nation's top five institutions in forming start-up companies. During the period of 2004–05, Cornell received 200 invention disclosures, filed 203 U.S. patent applications, completed 77 commercial license agreements, and distributed royalties of more than $4.1 million to Cornell units and inventors.

Another successful story of Cornell is the record of alumni. Cornell alumni are known for their accomplishments in public, professional, and corporate life. Many prominent personalities across the globe are alumni of Cornell. Prominent among the top public servants in many countries were Lee Teng-hui who was the president of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen was elected to be the first female president of Taiwan, Mario García Menocal was president of Cuba, Jamshid Amuzegar was prime minister of Iran. Others were Hu Shih who was a Chinese reformer and representative to the United Nations, Janet Reno was the first female United States Attorney General, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg serves on the Supreme Court. Alumnus David Starr Jordan was the founding president of Stanford University, and M. Carey Thomas founded Bryn Mawr College. Additionally, alumnus Matt Urban holds the distinction as the most decorated serviceman in United States history.

Still on Alumni in the business World; they include Citigroup CEO Sanford Weill, Goldman Sachs Group Chairman Stephen Friedman, Kraft Foods CEO Irene Rosenfeld and Autodesk CEO Carl Bass. Others are Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini,  S.C. Johnson & Son CEO Fisk Johnson, Cargill Chairman Warren Staley, Chevron Chairman Kenneth T. Derr, Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse, Burger King founder James McLamore, Hotels.com founder David Litman. This list is endless!

In medicine, some of the Alumni were inventors; Robert Atkins developed the Atkins Diet, Henry Heimlich developed the Heimlich maneuver, Wilson Greatbatch invented the pacemaker, James Maas coined the term "power nap", and C. Everett Koop served as Surgeon General of the United States. Thomas Midgley, Jr. invented Freon, Jon Rubinstein is credited with the development of the iPod, and Robert Tappan Morris developed the first computer worm on the Internet. Eight Cornellians have served as NASA astronauts; Steve Squyres is the principal investigator on the Mars Exploration Rover Mission. In aerospace, also, Otto Glasser directed the USAF program that developed the SM-65 Atlas, the World's first operational Intercontinental ballistic missile. Bill Nye is well known as "The Science Guy".

This is by no means a giant contribution to the university education by the founder Cornell and his Co-founder White. They permanently imprinted their names in the history of American university education with unlimited influence on the global technological development. Prominent Nigerians can take cue by investing in Nigerian university education without a goal of profit making. The history can start today.

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Solar System: Man's Discoveries and Activities on Mars II

Solar System: Man's Discoveries and Activities on Mars II

The business of mars mission is no doubt a serious one. the mission is enjoying billions of Dollars of investment globally. By Wednesday, March 26, 2015, there was news that NASA had announced more details in its plan for its Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM). ARM plans to test a number of new capabilities needed for future human expeditions to deep space, including to Mars in the mid-2020s. In addition, NASA also revealed it has increased the detection of near-Earth Asteroids by 65 percent since launching its asteroid initiative in 2012. For ARM, a robotic spacecraft will capture a boulder from the surface of a near-Earth asteroid and move it into a stable orbit around the moon for exploration by astronauts, all in support of advancing the man's long journey to Mars. It is expected that ARM will provide an initial demonstration of several spaceflight capabilities needed to send astronauts deeper into space, and eventually, to Mars or even beyond. Robert Lightfoot, NASA Associate Administrator was quoted saying "The option to retrieve a boulder from an asteroid will have a direct impact on planning for future human missions to deep space and begin a new era of spaceflight." NASA scientists carefully select asteroid for the mission based on certain characteristics, such as size, rotation, shape and precise orbit in the space. They have already identified three valid candidates for the mission: Itokawa, Bennu and 2008 EV5. The agency expects to identify one or two additional candidates each year leading up to the mission.

Another interesting venture is the ability of ARM robotic spacecraft to test a number of potential capabilities needed by man for future manned missions. This includes advanced Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP), a valuable capability that converts sunlight to electrical power through solar arrays and then uses the resulting power to propel charged atoms to move a spacecraft. This method of propulsion can move massive cargo very efficiently. While slower than conventional chemical rocket propulsion, SEP-powered spacecraft require significantly less propellant and fewer launches to support human exploration missions, which could reduce costs. This is certainly a tall ambition.

While NASA Scientists are busy  to send their first manned mission to mars by 2020, there are people with "crazy" idea of not only to visit mars but colonize it and make it a second planet to be occupied by man within the next 40 to 100 years.  A leading personality in this crop of adventurers is Elon Musk, the Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX. He is a co-founder, CEO, and product architect of Tesla Motors; co-founder and chairman of SolarCity; co-chairman of OpenAI; co-founder of Zip2; and founder of X.com which merged with PayPal of Confinity. As of June 2016, he has an estimated net worth of US$12.7 billion, making him the 83rd wealthiest person in the world by the recent ranking. As revealed by Wikipedia, in addition to his primary business pursuits, Musk has also envisioned a high-speed transportation system known as the Hyperloop, and has proposed a VTOL supersonic jet aircraft with electric fan propulsion, known as the Musk electric jet. Musk is not only in the club of world rich men but he is also a genius, at the age of 10, he developed an interest in computing with the Commodore. He taught himself computer programming and at age 12, sold the code for a BASIC-based video game he created called Blastar to a magazine called PC and Office Technology for approximately US$500. A web version of the game is available online.

At the risk of slight digressing, I have to mention that among the numerous projects, Musk pursued, the Solarcity is likely to be the most interesting to Nigeria. Musk provided the initial concept and financial capital for the Solarcity project, which was then co-founded in 2006 by his cousins Lyndon and Peter Rive but Musk remains the largest shareholder. SolarCity is now the second largest provider of solar power systems in the United States. The underlying motivation for funding both SolarCity and Tesla is to help combat global warming. In 2012, Musk announced that SolarCity and Tesla Motors are collaborating to use electric vehicle batteries to smooth the impact of rooftop solar on the power grid, with the program going live in 2013. On June 17, 2014, Musk committed to building in Buffalo, New York, a SolarCity advanced production facility that would triple the size of the largest solar plant in the United States. Musk stated the plant will be "one of the single largest solar panel production plants in the world", and it will be followed by one or more even bigger facilities in subsequent years. In June 2016, Musk's car company, Tesla Motors, formally submitted an offer to acquire SolarCity.  

Coming back to Musk colonization of Mars, what is the most inspirational force making Musk to want occupy Mars? It is the believe in extraterrestrial life. Although Musk believes "there is a good chance that there is simple life on other planets", he "questions whether there is other intelligent life in the known universe". Musk later clarified his "hope that there is other intelligent life in the known universe", and stated that it is "probably more likely than not, but that's a complete guess".

It will certainly be an exciting prospect;  sending real human beings to Mars to begin a  new life on this red planet. Musk said it is a necessity that mankind become a multi-planet species in order to survive, as it is only a matter of time before an extinction event wipes out civilization on Earth. That’s why, according to him, he is helping to spearhead an ambitious of a new project; "sending mankind to Mars". He is planning to build a massive rocket with 42 engines that would send entire colonies to the Red Planet.  The condition on Mars is certainly a far cry from that of Earth. The average temperature on the planet is negative 80 degrees Fahrenheit, and it  doesn’t have Earth’s dense atmosphere, which is what results in the huge temperature fluctuations and massive dust storms. Similarly, Mars also lacks a magnetic field, which means there’s nothing to shield inhabitants from the intense radiation that is blasted out by the sun. Basically, living on Mars would be like living in a bunker after a nuclear explosion. Despite the envisaged harsh condition on the red planet, the prospective travelers will not undertake the trip free of charge!  Trips to mars are estimated to cost about $10 billion per seat, although Musk is trying to drive that down to just $200,000. But the question is, why on Earth would someone wish to undertake this suicide mission? Musk thinks it appeals to some people’s sense of adventure. After all, America was founded by pioneers who braved some of the worst conditions imaginable first to cross the Atlantic Ocean to get there, and then to cross the entire country to the Pacific. Mars can be considered the next “New World” in that regard.

Musk and NASA are not alone in the competition for this rare adventure, there is group of prospective travelers to mars called "Mars One". The group is planning a one-way trip to the Red Planet by the year 2026. No traveling back and the missionaries must prepare to die over there.  All missions to Mars will be massive — and expensive — undertakings. There is still a lot we need to consider out to land heavy cargo on Mars and to protect people from radiation while traveling in space.  Then there’s the life-support system on the planet itself. We need to figure out how to create habitats that have electricity, sanitation, clean air, and potable water. And what about food supplies and spare parts when things break down? In addition, the one way trip to mars will take months to reach the destination.

While this mars mission sound bizarre, we must learn a lesson or two as Africans, we must invest more in science and technology to be able to conquer hunger, poverty, misery and bring hopes to the citizenry. It is the first thing that need to be done before development of spacecraft technology in Africa.  

Solar System: Man's Discoveries and Activities on Mars

Solar System: Man's Discoveries and Activities on Mars

We learnt from basic knowledge of geography at secondary school level that our solar system consists of a star called "the Sun" and “the nine planets” rotating and revolving around the sun. The planets of our solar system are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. At advanced level of physical geography, we were told that the solar system includes the satellites of the planets; numerous comets, asteroids, meteoroids, and the interplanetary medium. The Sun is the major source of electromagnetic energy (mostly in the form of heat and light) in the solar system. The Sun's nearest known stellar neighbor is a red dwarf star called Proxima Centauri, at a distance of 4.3 light years away. A light year is a unit of astronomical distance equivalent to the distance that light travels in one year, equivalent to 6 trillion miles or 9.6 trillion km. The whole solar system, together with the local stars visible on a clear night, orbits the center of our home galaxy, a spiral disk of 200 billion stars we call the Milky Way. The Milky Way has two small galaxies orbiting it nearby, which are visible from the southern hemisphere. They are called the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud. The nearest large galaxy is the Andromeda Galaxy. It is a spiral galaxy like the Milky Way but is 4 times as massive and is 2 million light years away. Our galaxy, one of billions of galaxies known, is traveling through intergalactic space. The planets, most of the satellites of the planets and the asteroids revolve around the Sun in the same direction, in nearly circular orbits. When looking down from above the Sun's North Pole, the planets orbit in a counter-clockwise direction. The planets orbit the Sun in or near the same plane, called the ecliptic. Pluto is a special case in that its orbit is the most highly inclined (18 degrees) and the most highly elliptical of all the planets. Because of this, for part of its orbit, Pluto is closer to the Sun than Neptune. The axis of rotation for most of the planets is nearly perpendicular to the ecliptic. The exceptions are Uranus and Pluto, which are tipped on their sides. The mystery of this space science is certainly beyond human comprehension and definitely beyond scope of this column. Scientists, round the years are working to uncover these mysteries but instead are discovering more mysteries.

Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are the four innermost planets in the solar system. They are called terrestrial planets because of their compact, rocky surfaces. The planets, Venus, Earth, and Mars have significant atmospheres while Mercury has almost none. The other planets; Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are called the Jovian (Jupiter-like) planets This is because they are all gigantic compared to our planet, Earth, and they have a gaseous nature like Jupiter's. The Jovian planets are also referred to as the gas giants, although some or all of them might have small solid cores. From the past five decades a myriad of space explorers have gone out of the Earth atmosphere discovered our planetary neighbors and their numerous satellites.

The first manned planetary mission to the moon, which was successfully accomplished on July 20, 1969 with astronomers.  Neil Armstrong was the first man to step onto the surface of the Moon. He was followed by Edwin Aldrin. They were both among the members of the Apollo 11 team mission. The first experience of these astronomers on the lunar world was the effects of no atmosphere surrounding the moon. Radio communications were used because sound waves can only be heard by travelling through the medium of air. The lunar sky is always black because diffraction of light requires an atmosphere. The astronauts also experienced gravitational differences. The moon's gravity is one-sixth of the earth's gravity and thus, their weights were less by one -sixth of their actual weights on the earth. Example a six kilograms weight on earth becomes only one kilogram on the moon.

Earlier than 1969 manned mission, the first unmanned mission was that of Luna 2, which became the first spacecraft to reach moon's surface successfully, It was intentionally made to impact on the Moon on 13 September 1959. In 1966, Luna 9 became the first spacecraft to achieve a controlled soft landing, while Luna 10 became the first mission to enter orbit. Since then, there were other numerous space missions undertaken to study earth's natural satellite. Between 1968 and 1972, many manned missions to the Moon were conducted by the United States as part of the Apollo program. Apollo 8 was the first manned mission to enter orbit in December 1968, and was followed by Apollo 10 in May 1969. Six missions landed men on the Moon, beginning with Apollo 11 in July 1969. Apollo 13 was intended to land, but couldn't due to a malfunction aboard the spacecraft. All nine manned missions returned safely to the Earth. Countries leading in spacecraft technologies are USA, Russia, China, Japan and India.  While the USA focused on the manned Apollo programme, the Soviet Union focused on unmanned missions that deployed rovers and returned samples to the Earth. Three rover missions were launched, of which two were successful, and eleven samples return flights were attempted with three successes. After recording successes on the moon mission, the next challenge taken by the astronomers is the "mission to mars".

Mars is the next simple destination after the moon mission for scientific discovery and robotic and human exploration as we expand our presence into the solar system. Mars formation and evolution are comparable to that of earth, therefore scientific study of Mars can help us learn more about our own planet’s history and future. Already some of the observations on Mars show conditions suitable for life in its past. Future exploration might uncover evidences of the fundamental mysteries human existence and galaxies. Why the man’s attention on mars in the last 40 years?

As mentioned, mars is the fourth planet from the sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, after Mercury. It is sometimes called the "Red Planet" because of the iron oxide prevalent on its surface, which gives it a reddish appearance. Mars as one of the terrestrial planets has a thin atmosphere, with surface features reminiscent both of the impact craters of the Moon and the valleys, deserts, and polar ice caps of Earth.

The rotational period and seasonal cycles of Mars are likewise similar to those of Earth, as is the tilt that produces the seasons. Mars is the site of Olympus Mons, the largest volcano and second-highest Known Mountain in the Solar System. The smooth Borealis basin in the northern hemisphere covers 40% of the planet and may be a giant impact feature. Mars has two moons orbiting around it, Phobos and Deimos, they are small and of irregularly shaped. These could be captured asteroids, similar to 5261 Eureka, a Mars trojan.

Physically, mars is approximately half the diameter of Earth and its surface area is only slightly less than the total area of Earth's dry land. Mars is less dense than Earth, having about 15% of Earth's volume and 11% of Earth's mass, resulting in about 38% of Earth's surface gravity. The red-orange appearance of the Martian surface is caused by iron (III) oxide, or rust.

Today, scientists are arduously working round the clock studying mars while billions of Dollars are globally being expended on such studies. This has made the robotic explorers to closely study Mars for more than 40 years, even as early as the 1950s, aerospace engineer Wernher von Braun, had published his vision of a mission to Mars in his book The Mars Project. The book became an inspirational material for the people interested in understanding our solar system.  NASA is leading in this expensive venture, its path for the human exploration of Mars begins in low-Earth orbit aboard the International Space Station. Astronauts on the orbiting laboratory are helping us prove many of the technologies and communications systems needed for human missions to deep space, including Mars. The space station also advances our understanding of how the body changes in space and how to protect astronaut health. What is the progress? What are the man’s discoveries and future plan for the mars mission? (To be continued next week)