A Trip to Cornell University

The National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect is housed at Cornell University in the College of Human Ecology. (What is human ecology? Just think of a modern day perspectives of home economics. What was once cooking, sewing, home finances, and child rearing is now nutrition, textiles/fashion, financial literacy, and child development.) A data archive does pretty much it suggests...this one archives data sets on child abuse and neglect. This means that the data from large, sometimes multi-year studies which are conducted on abused and neglected children, are housed and available for other researchers to use. This is known as "public use data sets." In order to use these data sets, one has to apply to the holder of the data, explain the purpose for use, and provide evidence that this purpose has been approved by one's Institutional Review Board - or, a board of ethics.


The National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect goes one step further. They provide a week-long Summer Research Institute, where one makes application to be accepted as an on-site researcher and to receive on-site training about the data sets by the Archive staff who maintain and know the data sets inside and out. I made such an application last January and was accepted to be among the 2012 group of summer participants. Little did I know, but the acceptance rate is about 20%, so I was definitely honored to be among the group of 15 researchers who came together for a week of "data camp." Here is a picture of the Cornell College of Human Ecology and as well as a picture of the computer lab where we spent most of our days.  

Cornell University, College of Human Ecology

2012 Summer Research Institute computer lab

This alone would be actually be enough, but in addition, I got to visit Cornell University, to be well-fed, to meet new colleagues, and to see the surrounding area - the Finger Lakes region of upper-state New York. It was a wonderful, rich, and rewarding way to spend a week away from home. We were first rewarded by staying in the Statler Hotel, which is located on the Cornell campus. Most of the staff are students who are studying hotel administration. Boy are they cute and eager! I have never been to a hotel where the staff were any better than at the Statler Hotel. Further, the view from my hotel room was wonderful. 

View from Statler Hotel room.

View from Statler Hotel room at night.

I had no idea that the Cornell campus was so beautiful. One would expect an Ivy League school to have a beautiful campus, but I was most impressed with the natural beauty. There are many streams and rivers that flow through campus and several waterfalls and deep gorges. I can't say enough about the natural beauty, except that I got to run through campus and around Ithaca during my visit. Further, after lunch, the Archive staff would "host" a walk to a particular lovely destination for anyone who wanted to join. Here are some of the places where I ran/walked during my visit.

We had an afternoon walk to the New York State Herb Garden, which is on the Cornell campus.

One morning I ran through the Cornell Arboretum. 

I ran past the falls and around Beebe Lake at Cornell.

Here is a gorge on Fall Creek.

On our final night at Cornell, the Archive staff took us on an outing to Red Newt Winery and Bistro, which uses only local ingredients. All of the wine that was served came from grapes that were grown within a 5 mile radius of the bistro and the food came from farms within a 30 mile radius of the bistro. This appears to be a theme in the larger Ithaca area -- supporting local efforts. In fact, there was an independent book store in Ithaca which could no longer fight Amazon and the like and was slated to close. The town rallied and everyone bought shares of the store. As a result? A community-owned, cooperative, independent bookstore -- Buffalo Street Books. I heard stories like this time and again. But, I digress. Before we reached the Red Newt, we also went to Taughhannock Falls, which boasts the tallest waterfall east of the Rockies - yes, even taller than Niagara Falls. There is a wonderful park at Taughhannock Falls, which looks as if it was built during the Works Project Administration or by the Civilian Conservation Corp, walking trails, etc. 

Taughannock Falls

View of grape fields in the Finger Lakes region.

Sunset at Red Newt.

So, it was a wonderful week. I learned about a data set that is new to me that I can use in my research (the National Child Abuse and Neglect Dataset - NCANDS), I got great advise from the Archive staff that I would not have otherwise received, I worked on my research projects, I have a host of wonderful new colleagues, and I learned about the great natural beauty of Cornell university and the surrounding area. My only regret is the Neil did not go with me and that I never did get to Hickey's Music Store, which I understand from my friend, Nancy, is an institution in upper-state New York. Next time.