THE CORNELL DAILY SUN | Monday, January 26, 2015 3
NEWS
Student Creates Smart MaternityWear By OLIVIA LUTWAK
Last Week In Review Sorority Formal Recruitment Numbers Drop Since Last Year
Despite the addition of a new sorority, there was a 12 percent drop in recruitment participation, only 771 women participated in recruitment, in comparison to 871 last year, The Sun reported Friday. Green Certification Awarded To Law School Addition
Cornell Law School’s Myron Taylor Hall won LEED Platinum certification from the United States Green Building Council, The Sun reported Jan. 20. The certification is awarded to buildings that emphasize sustainable energy, and is Cornell’s second Platinum certification.
Sun Staff Writer
Fashion design student Blake Uretsky ’15 completely reimagined maternity wear to win one of four $30,000 Geoffrey Beene national scholarships earlier this month. Uretsky said her brand — “B” Maternity Wearables — uses innovative design and technology to not only enhance a woman’s style, but also her health. Conductive fiber technology is directly incorporated into the clothing’s fabrics and has the ability to record a pregnant woman’s vital signs. Information about her heart rate, blood pressure, temperature and respiration are sent directly to her smartphone, allowing her to monitor her health throughout all trimesters of her pregnancy, according to Uretsky. The topic of the Geoffrey Beene scholarship contest this year was a case study in wearable technology, according to Uretsky. “[It is] a growing trend in fashion, yet no one really knows how to create a successful piece of wearable technology that entices consumers to buy,” she said. Uretsky said she envisioned two characteristics that all new products of wearable technology should have in order to be successful when she was researching the case study proposal.
State N.Y. State Police Send Out Early Notices to Gun Owners
New York State Police plan to start the five-year re-certification process for pistol permits by sending out notices asking for voluntary re-certification— nearly three years ahead of schedule, according to The Ithaca Journal. The plan is part of the Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act — adopted in Jan. 2013 — which requires re-certification starting in 2018. Northeast to Be Hit By ‘Crippling Storm’
The National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning for the East Coast. Mayor Bill De Blasio said the storm could potentially be the worst storm to hit New York City since records were first created in 1872, The New York Times reported.
National 13 Year Old Arrested In Connection with Stabbing
A 13-year-old boy was booked on suspicion of murder in connection to the fatal stabbing of another teenage boy, according to The Los Angeles Times. The stabbing occurred Friday afternoon at David Wark Griffith Middle School, which is located in East Los Angeles. American Muslims Protest Religious Extremism
Pakistani Americans in Washington D.C., Boston, Houston, Los Angeles and other cities gathered to protest violent Islamic extremism, according to The Washington Post. The protests also aimed to commemorate the deaths of 148 students and teachers at a school in Pakistan. — Compiled by Anika Sethy
IMAGE PROVIDED BY BLAKE URETSKY ’15
Tech trousers | Blake Uretsky ’15 designed a line of maternity wear that can measure vital signs of the wearer and her baby.
“Wearable tech products must be both aesthetically pleasing and have meaningful … characteristics that users value,” she said. Uretsky said she decided to focus on maternity wear because it had been “overlooked.” She added that incorporating technology into maternity wear is valuable since monitoring pregnancies is necessary. When researching her project, Uretsky said she surveyed more than 30 pregnant women and tried on maternity wear herself while wearing a fake baby bump. After trying on clothing and listening to responses, Uretsky said she noted the “poor fit” and “unflattering styles” of maternity wear. According to Uretsky, she began working on her project when the case study was handed out last May and continued to work on it until the awards ceremony this January. Uretsky said Prof. Anita Racine, fiber science and apparel design and Prof. Van Dyk Lewis, fiber science and apparel design, provided her with “endless support, guidance, and helpful critiques” in an otherwise “complex” and “challenging” case study. “What challenged me … was that the clothing I designed for these women were to be worn before, during and after pregnancy rather than strictly just for the short nine months of pregnancy,” Uretsky said. “I had to create numerous muslin samples of each design to make sure it worked for both the non-pregnant body shape as well as the pregnant body shape.” According to Uretsky, around 50 schools compete in the Geoffrey Beene Case Study Competition, and each school only sends one student to the competition. A panel of industry leaders choose the top eight students, who then go to New York City to present their work to another panel of judges. All eight attend an awards gala, during which the top four winners are each presented with a $30,000 scholarship, while four runner-ups are presented with $10,000. Former New York Yankees pitcher Mariano Rivera handed Uretsky her award, a moment she said was “nerve-wracking.” “It was … exciting being on stage in front of 1,500 people and waiting for your name to be called. I was thrilled when I was handed the award,” she said. Though Uretsky said she is uncertain of the future of her maternity-wear line, she added that she wants to pursue a career in fashion design and plans on using her scholarship money towards starting her own brand. Uretsky is the second Cornell student in a row to win the scholarship. Justine Lee ’14 was awarded the same scholarship last year for her line of convertible clothing and accessories. Olivia Lutwak can be reached at olutwak@cornellsun.com.
C.U. Glee Club Completes Northeast Tour By JEANETTE SI Sun Staff Writer
The Cornell University Glee Club performed the final concert of their annual tour Friday night in the Willard Straight Hall Memorial Auditorium, marking the end of a series of performances across the northeastern United States. The 14-day northeast tour covered 10 cities in five different states and featured a diverse repertoire of songs from various
“We were never left onstage in front of an empty [venue] anywhere.” Becket Harney ’17 musical genres, which all shared a motif of “passing time,” according to Jacob Cohen ’16, glee club president. Cohen said his favorite performance piece was one that was especially written for the glee club by Pulitzer finalist Christopher Cerrone. The choral piece — titled “Not One Word” — was inspired by the writings of Zen philosopher Ryokan Taigu. “That was a really special piece,” Cohen said. “We got to meet the composer … here for our concert a couple of months ago, and getting to work with him [in person] was great.” Tour manager Becket
Harney ’17 said Washington D.C. was their most impressive stop. Their performance at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts was sold out. They were also able to arrange a private performance for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ’54, according to Harney. “In the past we’ve been able to sing for [Justice Ginsburg],” he said. “This year, just on a whim, we checked to see if she was there when we were in D.C. Turned out she was, so we were able to arrange a private performance in the Supreme Court with her [fellow justice Sonia] Sotomayor and President-Elect Elizabeth Garrett.” The glee club also performed their own rendition of the Cornell fight song “Give My Regards to Davy” for President David Skorton at the Cornell Alumni Leadership Conference in Boston. “Since he’s retiring, we changed the words a little bit to ‘Give My Regards to David,’” Cohen said. “He was there, we brought him up onstage, and we surprised him with our new rendition. He was always a big supporter of Glee Club, and he was very jovial about [the surprise].” Cohen and Harney said they were both impressed by the number of audience members at each concert. “It made me think, especially in the Northeast, how many Cornell alumni and…Glee
Club alumni there are,” Cohen Orchestra — which is one of said. “So everywhere we went, the premier professional ensemwe have audiences who are bles in the country — and a excited to hear us…and make world premiere by Cornell sure they can plan their sched- composer Roberto Sierra,” ules [to attend a performance.] Cohen said. “It’s going to be a At the end [they] would come really special opportunity for up on the stage and join us in us.” Harney added that the glee the alma mater … everywhere club will perform in the United we go.” “There were healthy crowds States, Mexico and Guatemala everywhere,” Harney said. “We along with the Cornell Chorus were never left onstage in front for next year’s international of an empty [venue] anywhere.” tour. He said that as he looks to Now that the northeast tour the club’s future, he is inspired is finished, the glee club is by words from Justice preparing for their perfor- Ginsburg. “One of the best [things] mances closer to home. According to Cohen, they will that she said was [that] she’s perform on April 19 at heard the Glee Club sixty years Carnegie Hall in New York ago,” Harney said, “but we’re City, in honor of Cornell’s better than ever now.” sesquicentennial. “[The performance] will fea- Jeanette Si can be reached at ture the American Symphony jsi@cornellsun.com.
RILEY YUAN / SUN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Give my regards to David | The Cornell University Glee Club performs in Willard Straight Hall for the final performance of its annual tour.