inside esf 2000-1

The magazine of the SUNY

COLLEGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & FORESTRY

I N S I D E E ◆S ◆FSpring 2000

I N S I D E E ◆S ◆FSpring 2000

A New PresidentDr. Cornelius B. Murphy Jr.A New PresidentDr. Cornelius B. Murphy Jr.

The magazine of the SUNY

COLLEGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & FORESTRY

Campus Update 5

Urban Renewal 7

Weed Sprouts ‘Startling Discovery’ 12

Campus Profile: Susan E. Anagnost 13

On The Cover

INSIDE ESF is published fourtimes each year for alumniand friends of the SUNYCollege of EnvironmentalScience and Forestry.

SUNY-ESF1 Forestry DriveSyracuse, NY 13210-2778www.esf.edu

President: Ross S. Whaley

Vice President for Administration:

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and Syracuse Regional Lead Task Force;

page 12, Steve Ruark, The Syracuse News-

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The State University of New York College of Environmental Science andForestry offers a diverse range of accredited programs and degree options inchemistry, construction management and wood products engineering, environ-mental and forest biology, environmental resources and forest engineering, en-vironmental studies, forest resources management, forest technology, landscapearchitecture, and paper science and engineering.

The College’s mission is to be a world leader in instruction, research, andpublic service related to: understanding the structure and function of the world’secosystems; developing, managing, and using renewable natural resources; im-proving outdoor environments ranging from wilderness, to managed forests, tourban landscapes; and maintaining and enhancing biological diversity, envi-ronmental quality, and resource options. As such, ESF has maintained its uniquestatus within SUNY’s 64-school system as one of only five specialized collegesand one of only eight doctoral-granting institutions.

ESF takes affirmative action to provide equal opportunity for all people andto build a campus community that reflects a wealth of diversity.

In This Issue

Printed on recycled paper.

Cornelius B. Murphy Jr. Named President Of SUNY-ESF

Scholarship Honors ESF’s Ross S. Whaley

ESF’s Baker Laboratory Revamped For Engineering

More ESF researchers than ever are exploring the urban ecosys-tem and, beginning next fall, students can concentrate theirstudies through a new “urban initiative.”

Sometimes you find new and interesting things right in your ownbackyard.

Dr. Cornelius B. Murphy Jr., standing at left, meets students inthe William D. Gooden Laboratory for polymer and analyticalchemistry following his appointment as the third president ofthe College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Photo byDan Vecchio.

Work on a historic bridge takes this ESF engineer to “prime time.”

2000 Spring INSIDE ESF 3

I welcome with joy our new president, Neil Murphy.For the record, I spent a fair amount of time evaluat-

ing each presidential candidate and Neil was my clear,enthusiastic choice. My view was reinforced by meetingfour of his employees, who were universal in their greatadmiration and enthusiasm for Neil as a leader and aperson. I argued strongly in his behalf to my department.

So, Neil, a personal welcome. I believe that you willmaintain the good will that is a wonderful legacy of theWhaley years. And I am excited by what else I think youcan accomplish as president.

As the new president you will inherit a plate of obvi-ous institutional strengths and weaknesses. The strengthsinclude a skilled and dedicated faculty; remarkably eager,courteous and (often) very bright students; a cheerfulstaff willing to pitch in; an excellent reputation withinthe relatively small world within which we are known;and, in general, a great spirit of cooperation.

The problems include, as you know, the need for ourexcellence to be more widely understood, appreciatedand supported; by all New Yorkers particularly by theSUNY administration and board of trustees; relatively lowdollar support from Albany given that we are a major re-search university; a faculty, student body and missionneeding both diversification and, perhaps, a unifying di-rection; and assistance with the enormous demands uponthe time of many of our professors. I address each ofthese below from my perspective as a faculty member andsystems scientist.

I have no idea how our external relationships mightbe improved. A nationally ranked football or basketballteam might help us with the general populace and thelegislators upon whom we depend for financial support.My colleagues at Penn State, Michigan and Berkeley feelpretty well supported by their respective legislators. Butour woodsmen’s team, excellent as it might be, does notseem to fill that function.

I can speak to some other issues you will face at ESF:Teaching: Modern education emphasizes disciplinary

work, and it is difficult to learn all the special techniques

required to become a pro-fessional in science ormanagement. Part of ESF’sspecialness should be that we offer students a broaderperspective on how specialties fit into the larger socialand natural environment. I cannot think of any majorenvironmental issue that has a purely technical solu-tion, be it climate change, landscape change, sustain-able development, biodiversity or making low-environ-mental-impact paper.

We do a good job at encouraging interdisciplinarywork in some graduate programs, but not with under-graduates where it is most important. Let other collegesproduce the technicians — our students and facultyshould be leaders who are technically sound but who,in addition, use an integrative systems perspective tolook over the horizon.

One way to double our visibility to the state and ourstudent applicant pool and provide us with many inter-esting research issues is to become “The EnvironmentalCollege” for cities as well as rural areas. Many excellentstudents are in urban areas, who want to come to ESF.

I spent a recent weekend interviewing high schoolkids for our multicultural scholarship program, and mostwere from urban or near-urban areas. There were 14 won-derful kids visiting the college, all with excellent aca-demic records and wonderful environmental foci andexperience. One of them, for example, answered read-ily a conceptual question about calculus (and volun-teered its inverse solution) that few of our seniors are ableto. Most were far from affluent. Unfortunately, we hadonly five scholarships to offer, and I would have likedto offer 14. We are faced with a somewhat similar prob-lem with graduate admissions — the best applicants havethe least money. So, of course, we need more money forscholarships. Much more.

The ESF faculty and staff involved with these visitinghigh school students had concluded earlier that for thisprogram to succeed, we need a good mentoring program.

Campus Views

An Open LetterTo The New Presidentby Charles A.S. Hall

Charles A.S. Hall

Continued on next page

4 INSIDE ESF Spring 2000

Fortunately, many faculty members have volun-teered for this mentoring which would include bi-weekly meetings and freshman-year research pro-jects. But why not mentor all students?

Our first two years are focused on basic chemistry,physics, math and distributional requirements —hard courses not closely related to why studentschoose ESF. Why not give each freshman an inde-pendent project in the area they are most interested?

In addition, there is a lot we can do to integrateour science curricula better and prepare our stu-dents for the difficult environmental issues that lieahead. Then, maybe all our students can answer mycalculus question when they are seniors!

ESF is in an exceptional position to generatestudents who will become future Ph.D. or otherhigh-level professionals. Various studies show thatsmall colleges produce proportionately more un-dergraduates who become our main research sci-entists. Change Magazine ranked ESF 11th amongthe thousands of life science programs in the na-tion in the proportion of its undergraduates thatwent on to earn Ph.D.s. The main inspiration suc-cessful Ph.D.s give for initiation into the de-manding world of science is their experience work-ing as an undergraduate with one special professor— his or her first mentor.

But mentoring takes time, and time is somethingmost professors barely have. The main fact of mylife is the near impossibility of doing well every-thing expected of an ESF professor — at least if youtake your responsibilities seriously. Although I ama moderately successful researcher, I entered myprofession with a desire to teach, and that remainstrue today. But for me to teach and mentor effec-tively means that I have students in my office es-sentially 80 percent of the time I am there. If I spendthat time with students, I am not writing grant pro-posals, research papers or administrative reports.

Fortunately, I have tenure, and my professionalposition does not depend upon number of publi-cations or the amount of money I bring in. I suream glad that I am not a starting professor! Some-thing has to give for those young faculty. How canthat be changed?

Recent edicts from Albany tie the money a SUNYunit receives to how many students each faculty

member teaches in class. I cannot come up with abetter formula for encouraging poor teaching! For-tunately, Provost Tully has been successful in help-ing Albany understand that quantity teaching is notquality teaching, that ESF has really special stu-dents in part because we have many field trips andlaboratories, and because we take time to involvestudents in our research.

Research: The new reality is that, nationally,only about 10 percent of grant applications to majorfederal agencies are funded. I have a drawer fullof National Science Foundation proposals withevaluations of “very good,” “excellent” and “fund-ing recommended” that did not quite reach thatupper 10 percent.

The net effect of the process is that professorsall across the nation waste 90 percent of their pro-posal writing time, while a few well-oiled researchmachines receive the lion’s share of the funding.This is time spent not doing research and not men-toring students. National funding agencies act asa major detriment to good undergraduate teach-ing because they force us to waste so much timewriting proposals that will, in all probability, notbe funded. What can we do?

Directions: I am on a biology faculty committeecharged with determining what kind of faculty po-sitions will be most important to the future. Wewere quite surprised that each of the five positionswe initially came up with could not be filled withinthe biology department but were interdisciplinaryor transdisciplinary.

This confirms my long-held suspicions that oneof the greatest barriers to effective teaching andresearch is our departmental structure. Our pastattempts at formal interdisciplinary operationsmore or less withered on the vine. Some individ-uals choose to continue the process informally,but there is little explicit reward for interdisci-plinary work, especially at the undergraduate level.So we need to develop collegewide professors,courses, symposia and lectures.

There are many other things I could mention,but the above seem most critical.

I add my voice to the hundreds of others wel-coming you to your important new job!

Hall, a professor of environmental and forestbiology, joined the faculty in 1987.


The State University Board of Trustees ap-pointed Dr. Cornelius B. Murphy Jr. as the thirdESF president at its February 29 meeting in Al-bany, N.Y.

Murphy’s appointment is effective May 15. Hesucceeds Dr. Ross S. Whaley who will become aSUNY University Professor.

“I am convinced that Dr. Murphy, with his lead-ership skills, creative thinking, environmentaland scientific background, and strong ties to thecampus and the community, will prove to be anexcellent ESF president,”SUNY Chancellor Robert L.King said in recommendingMurphy to the board.

Murphy is chairman of theboard of O’Brien & Gere Ltd.,the largest design, engineer-ing and consulting firm basedin Central New York. Hebegan his career with O’Brien& Gere 30 years ago.

Murphy called his ap-pointment “the fulfillmentof a life-long dream.”

“This is indeed an excit-ing opportunity for me, andI look forward to workingwith the students, the fac-ulty, and staff at the school.”

Murphy was selected fromamong four finalists recommended to King by theESF Board of Trustees following a national search.

“We are delighted that SUNY officials agreedwith the recommendation of both the search com-mittee and the ESF Board of Trustees and selectedNeil Murphy to be our next president,” said Cur-tis H. Bauer ‘50, ESF trustee chair who also chairedthe college presidential search committee.

“Dr. Murphy was a stand-out candidate who,throughout the search and campus interviews,earned the overwhelming support of campus con-stituent groups.”

The 15-member search committee receivedmore than 40 applications in response to na-tional advertisements for the position, and, Bauersaid, committee members actively pursued

prospective candidates suggested by a variety ofprofessional contacts as well as by members ofthe ESF community.

The committee selected eight semi-finalists andconducted confidential in-person interviews. Fol-lowing these, the committee selected four final-ists for the position. Each finalist was invited fora two-day on-campus interview. The interviewsbegan January 20 and concluded February 3, 2000.

“Dr. Murphy is ideally suited to lead the Collegeof Environmental Science and Forestry,” said SUNY

Trustees Chairman Thomas F.Egan. “His professional expe-rience and his long associationwith the college make himuniquely qualified to lead thisoutstanding college.”

Murphy, who resides inMarcellus, N.Y., brings to ESFan array of expertise in tech-nical areas that reflect the col-lege’s focus in research andacademic efforts: environ-mental science and engi-neering management, haz-ardous waste management,environmental assessment,limnology, and industrialwastewater treatment.

He earned his bachelor’sdegree in chemistry from St.

Michael’s College in 1966 and a Ph.D. in chem-istry as a NASA Fellow at Syracuse Universityin 1970. Murphy has studied at the Syracuse Uni-versity School of Management and was a NationalScience Foundation trainee at Clark University.He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Sciencedegree from Clarkson University in 1997.

Murphy worked his way to the top echelonsof O’Brien & Gere’s leadership after he joined thecompany as a lab technician in 1970. He was thefirst person with a doctoral degree to be hired bythe company.

Murphy’s early work centered around researchand development, ultimately leading him to di-rect the company’s activities in that area. In 1982,

Campus Update

Dr. Cornelius B. Murphy Jr.

Cornelius B. Murphy Jr. Named President Of SUNY-ESF



he became senior vice president ofO’Brien & Gere Engineers Inc. andwas instrumental in the organiza-tion’s aggressive entry into the haz-ardous waste market.

His strong advocacy of blendingthe scientific and engineering disci-plines was critical to O’Brien & Gere’semergence as a leading firm in theNortheastern United States in themanagement of hazardous wastesites. He was also a driving force inthe development of the company’stwo textbooks on hazardous wastemanagement.

Murphy has been affiliated with anumber of civic and community as-sociations, including Success by Six,the Boy Scouts of America HiawathaCouncil, the SUNY Upstate MedicalUniversity Foundation and the Met-ropolitan Development AssociationVision 2010 Steering Committee.

Murphy and his wife, Joanne, havefour children, Tracy, Megan, Mau-reen and Michael.

Scholarship HonorsESF’s Ross S. Whaley

A $175,000 scholarship fund hasbeen established to honor Dr. Ross S.Whaley, the outgoing president of ESF.

The scholarship fund was estab-lished by the ESF Board of Trusteesand the College Foundation Board ofDirectors to honor Whaley for his ac-complishments as president.

Whaley’s tenure as college presi-dent will end May 14.

“We believed this would be a par-ticularly nice way to honor Ross, whois so supportive of meritorious stu-dents,” said J. Warren Young, a foun-dation director and a leader in thecampaign to establish the endow-ment. “People who know Ross wellwanted a permanent honor for him.”

Curtis H. Bauer, chair of the ESFBoard of Trustees, called the schol-arship endowment a “good way tohonor a man who devoted 16 yearsto the college.”

“ESF is on the cutting edge ofmajor innovations in the field of nat-ural resources. Scholarship is wherea lot of these ideas and techniquescome from,” said Bauer, who is alsoa member of the ESF Class of 1950.“The endowment seemed like a nat-ural way for the college to train thepeople the world needs.”

The first Whaley scholarships areexpected to bring two freshmen stu-dents to campus next fall. The schol-arships will be awarded based on thestudents’ academic achievementsand community service.

Initial contributions quickly ex-ceeded the foundation’s goal of$100,000. Those donations camefrom 115 individuals close to Wha-ley and the college. Members of thepublic who wish to contribute to thefund may do so by contacting theESF Office of Development.

Contributors to the fund will berecognized this spring during anevent that will celebrate Whaley’stenure at the college. He has beenpresident of ESF since April 1984.

ESF’s BakerLaboratory RevampedFor Engineering

An East Syracuse contractor hasbegun work on the first phase of a $23million overhaul of Baker Laboratory.

The building, which will becompletely renovated, containsfaculty offices and laboratories forthe college’s Faculty of Construc-tion Management and Wood Prod-ucts Engineering. Also housed in the

building are academic computingfacilities and the analytical and tech-nical services department.

The renovated Baker Laboratorywill provide the college with a cen-ter for engineering and technologyand a new home for the college’s Fac-ulty of Environmental Resources andForest Engineering, with its special-ties in water resources, mapping sci-ences and geographical informationsystems.

“We are thrilled to see space inBaker opening up to expand our teach-ing, research and outreach opportu-nities,” said Dr. George H. Kyanka,chair of the wood products faculty.

Murnane Building ContractorsInc. was awarded an $8.5 millioncontract for the first phase of the proj-ect, which will be a renovation of aone-story wing on the west side ofthe building. Work on this phase isexpected to last two years.

The project includes constructionof two multimedia lecture halls, a“smart” classroom outfitted for com-puter use and distance learning, andtwo construction management andplanning studios. It will also mod-ernize facilities tailored to the needsof Kyanka’s department for materi-als science testing, including a mod-ern dry kiln, a wood identificationlaboratory, shop facilities and a lab-oratory that will allow for humidityand moisture conditioning of woodsamples.

When completed, the one-storywing will also include temporary fa-cilities for operations that are nor-mally housed in the four-story sec-tion of the building. Work on thatlarger section will begin after the firstphase is completed.

Campus Update, continued


On Friday and Saturday nights, carscreep through the narrow streets of Syra-cuse’s historic Armory Square, in search ofparking spaces. People stroll the streets de-bating their options: a Thai restaurant, anIrish pub, a microbrewery, or the venerablepasta place that has been here since this nowbustling neighborhood on the fringe ofdowntown began inching back from thebrink of decay.

This is the hub of the city’s nightlife andan emerging center for the arts .

It is also an urban success story — the re-birth of a blighted neighborhood — in whichthe College of Environmental Science andForestry had a role. A group of undergrad-uate landscape architecture students, underthe tutelage of Distinguished ProfessorGeorge W. Curry, took on the neighborhoodas an urban design studio project in 1979.

“You can see it’s had a real economic ben-efit for the city of Syracuse,” said Curry’scolleague, Cheryl S. Doble, an associate pro-fessor in the Faculty of Landscape Archi-tecture. “The old buildings were preserved.They maintained some of the fabric and his-tory of this community. There was more toit, of course, than just the work George’s stu-dents did. But it was one of the pieces.”

The work in Armory Square stands as tes-tament to one of ESF’s greatest strengths:searching for solutions to the unique prob-lems generated by the tendency of Homosapiens to gather in one place. It is also partof the college’s rich history of involvementin urban environmental affairs, a historythat is not always apparent to casual ob-servers who believe ESF is focused strictlyon forested wilderness. That urban legacy

has evolved into a new academic electiveconcentration that will be offered to stu-dents next fall: the study of urban environ-mental issues.

The reasons for ESF’s focus on urban af-fairs are as varied as the disciplines involvedin the new initiative.

Dr. William P. Tully, provost and vice pres-ident for academic affairs, explains: “Urbancenters have their own natural resourcesand are great collectors of energy, water, andother natural and man-made resources. Thecity processes, consumes and uses these re-sources, then manages the distribution ofexcess and waste materials, often affectingthe urban environment. Our faculty includesexperts in the management of natural re-sources and the scientific evaluation of howthe quality of a community can be improvedby good design and management. This im-pressive array of expertise at ESF actively in-forms policy, planning and design of urbanenvironments and can lead urban centers inre-creating themselves. The goal of our newUrban Environment Initiative is to earn forESF a reputation as a center of excellence inurban environmental science and design.”

Emanuel J. Carter Jr., an associate profes-sor in the Faculty of Landscape Architec-ture, explains: “Natural scientists might haveanother opinion, but we in design, policyand planning tend to think that the largestrenegade organism on the planet is us. Weknow a lot about the rabbits and the deerand the birds. And as long as we don’t dis-turb their ecosystem, they’re going to be fine.

In 1920, ProfessorLaurie Cox undertookESF’s first study in acity setting. Today,a new academic initia-tive is leading anurban renaissance.

Urban Renewalby Claire B. Dunn

Continued on page 9


An Urban SamplerThere are hundreds of studies in New York’s cities

...these are just some of them.

Beyond The Borders

Allan P. Drew led a multidisciplinary team of stu-dents and faculty in developing a long-term treemanagement plan for the Burnet Park Zoo.

Called the “most polluted lake in the U.S.,”Onondaga Lake is also “most studied.” Begin-ning with Robert D. Hennigan in the 1960s morethan 30 college researchers and their studentshave looked at some facet of the lake’s ecosys-tem. Among the recent projects, biochemistGregory L. Boyer looked at last summer’s “worstever” algae bloom and diagnosed it was not toxicalgae killing the lake’s ducks.

George W. Curry’s urban design students haveworked in locations all over Syracuse, includingArmory Square, Clinton Square, the Central NewYork Regional Market, and Fayette Park.

Richard J. McClimans received a patent in 1999for a process he developed to create “biotechsoil” using ash from the Onondaga County Re-source Recovery Agency incinerator.

Charles A. Maynard, William A. Powell and ZizhuoXing are working to develop a blight-resistant Amer-ican chestnut, once a popular street tree in theeastern United States.

Solvay Paperboard, a division of Southern Con-tainer Corp., is a new breed of paper productionfacility: a “mini-mill” typically located in urban areas.ESF graduates and college faculty developed aseries of training courses for all plant employees.

Onondaga was one of the first counties to obtainfederal funding in the early 1970s to do pediatricblood lead testing. James M. Hassett developeda model for mapping childhood exposure to leadusing data from the county Health Department.David L. Johnson, who also worked on the proj-ect, said the studies showed a correlation be-tween high levels of lead in blood and the age ofthe child’s home.

George H. Kyanka took core samples from un-derground timber pilings for several bridges in theArmory Square district to check for deterioration.

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William F. Porter in collaboration with otherESF scientists and government officialsdeveloped a three-pronged deer man-agement program for the town of Ironde-quoit outside Rochester, N.Y. The programis a model other communities strugglingto control deer populations may use tomanage their herds.

ESF hosted the first national UrbanForestry Conference in Washington, D.C.Lee P. Herrington, also a member of theU.S. Forest Service’s original Pinchot Con-sortium initiative in urban forestry, wasconference general chair.

Francis X. Webster studies insect pestslike cockroaches, hoping to per fect achemical attractant that can be used —instead of insecticides — to bait and trapthese urban scourges.

Norman A. Richards is developing a streettree management program with the cityof Watertown in the wake of severe dam-age by the recent ice storm. The workbuilds on expertise Richards advanced inmore than 18 years of studying urbantrees in Syracuse.

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As soon as you interfere with that, and youbuild with reckless sprawl — which is whatwe do in this country — you mess it all up.”

Dr. David L. Johnson, a professor in the Fac-ulty of Chemistry who frequently works inurban settings, explains: “In cities, we don’tlet things happen naturally. We collect theleaves and scrape them off to the side of theroad. We compost them and people spreadthem in their backyards as mulch. Just thinkabout the possibilities of human interventionin this natural process.”

Curry is the college’s unofficial dean ofurban affairs and his department has long beena hot spot for urban activity. He has a list of24 projects dating back to 1972 in which hisstudents have participated.

“The bulk of the citizens of this statelive in urban and suburban environments,”Curry said. “If part of our mission is to servethem in the places they live, work and play,it makes sense for us to do urban work. We’rehaving an effect on people’s lives on a 24-hour-a-day basis.”

The revitalization of Armory Square helpstell the tale.

Twenty-five years ago, Armory Square wason a downhill slide. “In the 1970s, the biggeststory of the day was how many pigeons werein the Hogan block,” said Vito Sciscioli, Syra-cuse commissioner of community and eco-nomic development, referring to a blockwithin the neighborhood. “It was in deplorablecondition.”

Then local investors took an interest in theneighborhood and some of Curry’s studentsstarted sketching. “They really provided a lotof the thoughts about how that area could look,”Sciscioli said. “A combination of design talentand private investment interest all converged.”

Sciscioli said even he was pessimistic at first.“There was some doubt in my mind whethera city the size of Syracuse could sustain a chunkof urban activity that big,” he said.

But it worked. “It’s the biggest bright spotin the city’s central business district andthere’s no doubt about it,” he said.

Urban Renewal, continued

Emanuel J. Carter’s students recently have workedin the Gateway neighborhood down the hill fromthe ESF campus, and along South Avenue, a majorcorridor through the city’s south side.

For more than 22 years, ESF has been the homeof a U.S. Forest Service Urban Forestry Cooper-ative Research Unit — one of the first such unitscreated. Several full-time scientists, including Gor-don Heisler, pursue cooperative studies with ESFfaculty and students as well as individual projects.

In 1976, student members of The Wildlife Soci-ety chapter at ESF worked with children from theDr. Martin Luther King Jr. School, creating theBackyard Nature Program.

Larry W. VanDruff, a pioneering urban wildlife re-searcher, uses grey squirrel populations in Oak-wood Cemetery both as research subjects and infield exercises with his classes. VanDruff hasdone similar work in New York’s Central Park andthe Mall in Washington, D.C.

Johnson has studied trees in Oakwood Cemetery,investigating the ability of trees to collect parti-cles from the air. He studies the types of sub-stances found on leaves and needles and looksinto where they go from there.

John J. Howard, a state Department of Healthemployee based at ESF, works in several arealocations, including the Three Rivers Game Man-agement Area in Lysander, studying insect-bornediseases like Lyme disease. See Inside ESFWinter 2000.

In one of the earliest documented urban studiesat ESF, Laurie Cox analyzed Syracuse parks in1920 and suggested ways the city could preserveits historic trees.

Kyanka and Robert W. Meyer undertook a studyfor Crawford & Stearns architects of the woodtrim and other wood components used in SyracuseUniversity’s Crouse College. The study will ensurethe use of authentic materials in the historic struc-ture’s renovation.

Some of Cheryl S. Doble’s students are workingin the Fayette Street neighborhood, with architec-ture students from Syracuse University. On the eastside of Syracuse, landscape architecture studentsworked with Eastside Neighbors in Partnership todevelop a park for children.

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The college’s influence has crept intoother neighborhoods in every corner ofSyracuse. ESF students have worked down-town, along Gifford Street and on the city’snorth side. A current urban design studiohas landscape architecture students in East-wood. And just off campus, some of Doble’sstudents are in the Fayette Street neigh-borhood, alongside architecture studentsfrom Syracuse University.

Carter, who quickly grows passionateabout Americans’ tendency to disperseacross the countryside and live as far as pos-sible from each other, has recently been in-volved in projects in two of Syracuse’s strug-gling neighborhoods. A city planner bytraining, Carter has spent most of his career

in urban areas. He has worked extensivelyin Montreal and Fairmount Park, the na-tion’s largest landscaped park, in his home-town of Philadelphia. In addition, he hashelped in dozens of smaller cities in NewYork state.

Most recently, he and his graduate stu-dents have established a presence in the Gate-way neighborhood down the hill from theESF campus, and along South Avenue, amajor corridor through the city’s south side.“Both those neighborhoods were ‘red-lined’in 1937 by the federal government, meaningno federally backed mortgages were avail-able for people to buy homes,” he said. “Peo-ple with money and choices went else-where.”

In the Gateway neighborhood, Carter andhis team of students proposed improvementsto South Salina Street, which is the area’scentral corridor, and the development of in-dustry between Salina and Cortland Avenue.Several blocks away, along South Avenue,the ESF team put a strong emphasis on newpublic gathering spots, new commerce and

improved housing. The goal in both caseswas to entice reinvestment in the neighbor-hoods and bring empty storefronts and emptylots back to life.

A major element in these projects is part-nership — with Syracuse University, thecity government, or a grass-roots organiza-tion like Eastside Neighbors in Partnership.“These partnerships are really critical,”Doble said.

“No one group has a lot of resources, soit’s difficult for them to get anything donealone. Together, they can really make a dif-ference. One group alone really would strug-gle,” she said.

In addition, she said, the ties that developamong the various contributors encourage

students to learn about the residents’ con-cerns. And, in turn, the residents learn thebest steps to take to change their neighbor-hood for the better.

Partnerships are an integral part of ESF’snew Council for Community Design Re-search, based in landscape architecture. Thecouncil works in partnership with commu-nities, elected officials, agencies and not-for-profit organizations to provide techni-cal assistance, educational programs andresearch projects that build a community’sability to manage a sustainable future.

“To me, urban doesn’t have to meanSyracuse or Rochester or New York City,”Doble said. “It’s anywhere there’s a densityof settlement. It could be a village in theAdirondacks.”

Syracuse’s Eastside Neighbors in Part-nership, a neighborhood association thatdoes comprehensive community develop-ment, now features a park that caters to theinterests of very young children. Itsdesign was based in clumps of clay handed

“Natural scientists might have another opinion , but we in design , policy and


to neighborhood kids several years ago bysome of ESF’s urban design students.

“They asked the youngsters to use the clayto build a park,” said Jim Dessauer, the as-sociation’s senior coordinator. “Those plansbecame the basis for the development of EastFayette Street Community Park.”

“It’s a win-win situation,” Dessauer saidof the group’s relationship with the college.“The students are getting good experience incommunity design and the community ben-efits as well.”

Although much of the college’s urban workis concentrated in the Faculty of LandscapeArchitecture, which has its roots in a disci-pline called “city forestry,” there are threadsthat tie into nearly all of ESF’s disciplines.

Faculty members see it as an opportunity forspecialists from different parts of campus tolearn from each other and work together.

“The natural scientists are starting to seewe don’t speak a different language,” Cartersaid. “The urban initiative isn’t just the de-signers and the planners. It’s the foresters andthe ecologists and others who care about it.”

Tully said urban environmental coursesare offered by several faculties, including en-vironmental studies, environmental and for-est biology, forestry, chemistry, constructionmanagement and wood products engineering,landscape architecture, and environmentalresources and forest engineering. Studentsin any of these areas may elect a study con-centration on the urban environment.

Visiting Assistant Professor Myrna Hallis designing a cross-disciplinary class inurban ecology that is proposed for next fall.Her involvement in urban issues goes be-yond the list of class offerings. She is ac-tively involved with a team of ESF facultyand staff members in recruiting students ofcolor as part of ESF’s $100,000 USDA grant

to support multicultural scholars. The com-mittee has recently hosted on campus 14highly qualified minority students fromaround the country, including several fromNew York City.

In conjunction with these recruitment ef-forts, teachers at Kennedy High School inthe Bronx are now designing an urban ecol-ogy unit and assisting with a Hudson Rivermodule to be included in the Environmen-tal Studies Project run by ESF’s Office ofContinuing Education.

The urban component was featured on theESF display that traveled to Albany for the an-nual SUNY Day, a public education effort onbehalf of the entire statewide university sys-tem. The college has asked SUNY to provide

$160,000 in mission review money to sup-port the new urban studies.

“If ESF is really going to be the college ofthe environment, with half the world’s pop-ulation living in urban areas, environmen-tal science has to focus on urban areas,” Hallsaid. “Hopefully, it will increase diversityon this campus, not only with the people, butwith the subjects we explore.”

Dunn is assistant director of news and pub-lications at ESF.

planning tend to think that the largest renegade organism on the planet is us.”— Emanuel J. Carter Jr.

The discovery by Dr. José Giner and Jason Berkowitz,now a freshman at Tufts University, will be reported in anupcoming issue of the Journal of Natural Products.

Giner was helping Berkowitz, then a Jamesville-DeWittHigh School junior with an interest in chemistry, with aresearch project when they made the discovery during thesummer of 1998. They were analyzing the latex present ina small weed that grew in the yard of Giner’s university-area home.

Their discovery was two-pronged. In addition to find-ing the new compound, they also found a hydrocarbonfraction in the latex that is chemically identical to thepheromone that houseflies use as a sexual attractant. Thesubstance has been found before, but only in the flies them-selves. This marks the first time it has been seen in a plant.

“It was actually very exciting when I learned it was pub-lication material. That was always my objective,”Berkowitz said.

Giner called the discovery a thrill.“Sometimes you find new things and interesting things

in your backyard. My backyard, in this case,” he said.“This summer, the plant was elevated from a weed to a de-sired plant in my backyard. I wanted to be sure I hadenough of it.”

The new compound is the more startling discovery.They found it in a small weed commonly known as pettyspurge. The plant’s scientific name is Euphorbia peplus,so Giner and Berkowitz named the discovery peplusol.

Its structure indicates it could be used to develop a med-ication that could inhibit the formation of cholesterol.

Giner said peplusol belongs to a class of chemicals thathelps researchers understand the synthesis of cholesterolin the human body.

The chemical identical to the housefly pheromone couldbe used as an environmentally safe insecticide that worksby luring male houseflies into a trap, where they die.

The reason for the pheromone’s presence in the plantis unclear. “We’re wondering what the function of this is,”Giner said. “It could be used as a tool for pollination.”

Latex is a defense mechanism. It contains a natural rub-ber that protects the plant against predators, mostly mi-croorganisms. The latex contains a number of toxic chem-icals, some of which are being investigated as anti-cancerand pain-relief medications.

“It has a lot of medicinal interest,” Giner said. “Everytoxin is a medicine waiting to be discovered.”

The pending publication was a nice detail to add to col-lege applications, Berkowitz said.

“It was an incredible opportunity for me, living near auniversity,” he said. “I was doing college-level research asa high school junior.”

He spent up to three to six hours a week working withGiner during the course of a year. The toughest part waslearning the procedures and lab techniques.

“Dr. Giner had to teach me everything. In the beginning,it was kind of a rough ride,” Berkowitz said. “It was a chal-lenge. But that’s what drives me most of the time.”

Dunn is assistant director of news and publications at ESF.

This photo originally appeared in The Post-Standard Mon-day, November 29, 1999. The Herald Co., Syracuse, NY ©1999. All rights reserved.


An ESF chemist anda DeWitt teen-ager,examining a weedthey found in thechemist’s backyard,have discovered anew chemical com-pound that could beused in the battleagainst cholesterol.

Weed Sprouts‘Startling Discovery’

by Claire B. Dunn

Susan E. Anagnost, a re-search associate in theFaculty of ConstructionManagement and WoodProducts Engineering,spends much of hertime studying wood rotin utility poles. Her ex-perience in determiningthe amount and type ofrot in wood landed hera place on a team work-ing to restore a historic

covered bridge — and an appearance in a segmentof the PBS “Real Science!” show.

When Carl Schoder of Schoder Rivers Engi-neering, a contractor to Essex County, N.Y., work-ing to restore a historic covered wooden bridge inthe Adirondack town of Jay, needed experts to helpdetermine the amount of decay in the structure, hecontacted William B. Smith, associate professorof wood products engineering at ESF. Aware ofAnagnost’s expertise in identifying wood decay,Smith asked her to work with him on the bridge.

“Bill (Smith) knew I had worked a lot on proj-ects concerning utility poles,” says Anagnost, whoearned her master’s and doctoral degrees at ESF.“There have been a number of projects here at ESFover the last 20 years on utility poles. I worked onthem as a student and later as a research associ-ate, looking at decay at the ground line.”

“My first thought was for Susan to be involvedin this project because she is the premier woodanatomy microscopist in the Northeastern UnitedStates,” Smith says. “She’s the best person to takesamples and identify wood to species and to fun-gal deterioration. The project was a lot of work and

it took three things to do it well: experience, knowl-edge and skill. Susan has them all.”

Built in 1857 of timbers hewn from locally grownred and white pine, the Jay Covered Bridgespanned the east branch of the Ausable River. At160 feet, it was claimed to be the longest suchbridge in New York state and was also a well-known tourist attraction. The bridge was in con-stant use by local vehicular traffic until early 1997,when it was determined to be unsafe.

“The bridge was very badly decayed, especiallyat the ends where it was resting on the banks ofthe river,” Anagnost says. “On one side of the river,there’s a sawmill, so there were lumber trucks thatused the covered bridge quite often. Firetrucks andschool buses also used the bridge.”

To avert a tragedy, the bridge was closed to traf-fic, then dismantled into four large sections andplaced at the side of the river. A temporary one-lane bridge was put up in its place — but not with-out a lot of dissension. When the covered bridgewas taken down, many local people were upsetbecause they thought it would never be restored.

“The county is trying to restore it, keeping asmuch of the original bridge as possible,” Anagnostsays. “We found a few spots where there was moredecay, but it was in amazing condition. So they


Campus Profile

Preserving A Piece Of Historyby Paula Meseroll

Susan E. Anagnost

Anagnost examines an increment coreremoved from one of the beams of theJay Covered Bridge.

probably will be able to keep some of the originaltimber. We don’t yet know how much — we plan to dosome more sampling of parts of the bridge we could notreach before.”

The roof and siding of the bridge had been replacedover the years, but for the most part, the structural beamswere still original timbers. After it is restored, the bridgewill be open to foot traffic only, says Anagnost.

The ESF scientist never expected that her work onthe bridge would be featured on a television show, soshe was more than a little surprised when approachedabout doing the episode of “Real Science!”

Produced by Syracuse University graduate Chris Mil-lion, “Real Science!” uses high school students as in-terviewers — in this case, Leah Camilleri, a senior atMarcellus High School. Anagnost’s appearance on theprogram gave her a close-up look at how television showsare made.

“We did the taping in two parts,” she says. “The firstpart we did in the lab at ESF and I showed how we ex-amined our samples with the light microscope and scan-ning electron microscope, with Leah asking me questions.”

If the show has a relaxed, unscripted look, that’s be-cause it was — since much of Anagnost’s on-camera in-teraction with Camilleri was unrehearsed.

“She asked me good questions and we thought ofother questions as we went along,” Anagnost says.

When Camilleri was unable to travel to the bridge tofilm there, Anagnost and several ESF students went toJay with the film crew. Anagnost was filmed working atthe bridge, without speaking, since the voice-over wasto be dubbed in later.

“Doing the show was fun, very different,” she says.“It was the first time I’d ever done any TV and it wasinteresting to see how you tape everything one way, thenrepeat it all. We just kept repeating things until it cameout right.”

Anagnost, who plans more work on the bridge as soonas funding is secured, is pleased that her scientific skillshave been put to good use in the restoration of the struc-ture, a source of great pride to the people of the smallAdirondack town.

“Working on the bridge was very exciting because itis historically significant,” she says. “And I feel thatwe’re helping out the local community.”

Meseroll is a free-lance writer based in Syracuse.


More “Real Science!”Dr. Susan E. Anagnost of the

Faculty of Construction Manage-ment and Wood Products Engi-neering, and Dr. Robin W. Kimmererof the Faculty of Environmentaland Forest Biology will be featuredon upcoming segments of “RealScience!”

The show about Anagnost willfeature her work to preserve thehistoric Jay Covered Bridge. The show about Kimmererwill feature the work she does with native communi-ties to help preserve native plants.

“Real Science!”, which airs on the Public Broad-casting System, is seen at different times in differentcities. In Central New York, WCNY has scheduled the13-show series for 11 a.m. Sundays, beginning May 7.Kimmerer’s segment is the 10th in the series and Anag-nost’s is the 13th. People outside the Syracuse areawho are interested in seeing the shows should checktheir local listings.

Robin W. Kimmerer

The Jay Covered Bridge

IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE.

ESF’s Office of Development can help youmaximize your investments and minimizeyour taxes — at the same time you make a generous contribution to support ESF’s scholarship programs for undergraduate and graduate students.

Several IRS-approved charitable gift programs existthat can benefit you and ESF at the same time. Giftsto the college of highly appreciated assets, such assecurities or real estate, can help donors reduce in-come and high capital gains taxes. Other gift pro-grams, such as charitable trusts and annuities, provideboth tax benefits and lifetime income for donors. Two ofour most popular income producing options are:

1. POOLED INCOME FUND.

Our pooled income fund combines gifts from several donors. The funds are invested and donors share the investment income. Donorsreceive tax benefits on their gift, and ESF receives the moneyinvested after the death of the donor or his or her beneficiary.

2. TAX-FREE ANNUITY.

Tax-free annuities are similar to pooled income fund gifts since donors or beneficiaries receive regular income from the initialinvestment in exchange for a gift of cash or securities to the college.Allowable tax deductions for the donor are based on the value of the gift above that of the income payout.

DON’T WAIT. CALL TODAY.

Our Development staff will be happy to explain the requirements governing each program.

ESF has many qualified students who need assistance in meetingtheir college expenses. And wouldn’t you rather help them thanpay Uncle Sam?

ESF Office of Development204 Bray HallSUNY-ESF1 Forestry DriveSyracuse, NY 13210315-470-6683


Is that yourFINAL ANSWER?

On Campus

INSIDE E ◆ S ◆ FOffice of News & Publications1 Forestry DriveSyracuse, New York 13210-2778

C H A N G E S E R V I C E R E Q U E S T E D

Books and MonographsBentley, William R., M.B. Malmsheimer,and J. Cairo. The Role of Research, Edu-cation and Extension in Sustaining Amer-ica’s Forest Resources: Why You ShouldCare. National Association of ProfessionalForestry Schools and Colleges and USDACooperative State Research, Educationand Extension Service. Syracuse, N.Y. 16pages. 1999.

Hall, Charles A.S., editor, Quantifying Sus-tainable Development: The Future of Trop-ical Economies. Academic Press, SanDiego, Calif. April 2000.

Of NoteDuggin, Michael J., co-chair, InternationalSymposium on Optical Science and Tech-nology, August 2000. San Diego, Calif.

Harden, Gregory, ESF trustee, first nomi-nee to the Central New York Business Hallof Fame. February 2000.

Smardon, Richard C., appointed one-yearm, International Wetlands CoordinatingCouncil.

Campus Calendar

N O N — P R O F I T O R G .

U . S . P O S TAG E

PAIDI T H A C A , N . Y .PERMIT NO. 164

April 29 ESF Spring Open House for prospective students. Syracusecampus. Additional information: Office of UndergraduateAdmissions, 315-470-6600.

May 13-14 Commencement weekend. Syracuse campus.

May 20 Ranger School graduation.

May 30-July 21 Summer Program in Field Forestry. Wanakena campus.

June 1-3 Senior Alumni Reunions. Syracuse campus. Additional informa-tion: Office of Alumni Affairs, 315-470-6632.

June 4-30 Summer Program in Environmental and Forest Biology. Session I.Cranberry Lake Biological Station.

July 2-28 Summer Program in Environmental and Forest Biology. Session II.Cranberry Lake Biological Station.

August 4-5 Ranger School Alumni Reunion. Wanakena campus.

August 16-19 Council of Eastern Forest Technology Schools Annual Meeting.Ranger School, Wanakena campus. Additional information:C. Westbrook, 315-848-2566.

August 20-22 Orientation and Registration. Ranger School.

August 23 Classes begin. Ranger School.

August 24-27 New Student Orientation and Registration. Syracuse campus.

August 28 Classes begin. Syracuse campus.

inside esf 2000-1

Documents

smith page

environmental resources

gustavodallmann page

new presidentdr

syracuse newspapers

forest engineering

paper science

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