Stanford Report, February 11, 2004

PHYSICIAN-ASTRONAUT AND AIR FORCE Col. YVONNE CAGLE, a new consulting professor in medicine at Stanford, has piloted everything from helicopters and F-18s to NASA's KC-135 "Vomit Comet." But after videotaping an interview last Wednesday with News Service science writer DAWN LEVY, she had a special request: Could she tool around her new environs a bit in the News Service golf cart? Levy let the astronaut drive. Their tour of campus included Memorial Church, the Cantor Arts Center, the Clark Center and the Red Barn. In return, Levy asked Cagle to autograph her "Astronaut Barbie," whose white jumpsuit already sports ELLEN OCHOA's signature on the left leg and SALLY RIDE's on the right. When Cagle isn't piloting planes or golf carts, her regular ride is a Volkswagen Beetle. The Beetle's license plate frame reads, "My other car is the Shuttle."

ON APRIL 22, MORE THAN 300 OF OUR children and young friends will be coming to campus for "Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day," and TERESA RASCO, director of the WorkLife Office, is looking for help in showing them a good, even inspiring, time. The event will allow children to choose from among two dozen hands-on workshops, and Rasco still has plenty of openings for departments and schools willing to host a group of 10 to 15 children for about two hours. The workshops can be tailored to younger (10 to 12) or older (13 to 15) aged children, and workshop content is limited only by the organizers' imaginations, Rasco said. (Last year, PAMELA KARLAN, the Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Law, successfully defended Goldilocks against a charge of theft leveled by the Three Bears in a mock trial held at the Law School.) If you'd like to participate but aren't quite sure how to engagingly present your school or department's work, staff at the WorkLife Office are happy to help you come up with a plan, Rasco said. To respond, e-mail her at trasco@stanford.edu or call 723-2660.

THE BELLS THAT HIKERS HEARD RINGING through the skies over the Dish area last December didn't herald a visit from Santa -- they were bells attached to the leg of a red-tailed hawk. Campus biologist ALAN LAUNER theorized that the bird, which has made the Dish area her new home, had flown away from a hobbyist. A hawk expert was called in and after two days of trying was able to catch the hawk, remove the bells and release her back into the foothills. There was no band to identify who had owned the hawk, Launer said. Red-tailed hawks forage on campus for California ground squirrels and smaller rodents, and the jingling didn't seem to interfere with the bird's ability to catch her prey, Launer said. "Given how many times we've seen her with a rodent in her talons, she's obviously a pretty good hunter."

Write to Barbara Palmer at barbara.palmer@stanford.edu or mail code 2245 or call her at 724--6184.

Barbara Palmer