On April 9, 2013, Howard Milstein welcomed participants to the American Museum of Natural History’s Milstein Science Symposium 2013. The subject of the Symposium was “Understanding Ecological and Social Resilience in Island Systems: Informing Policy and Sharing Lessons for Management.” The American Museum of Natural History’s Center for Biodiversity and Conservation and its partners organized the three-day symposium that brought together local resource managers, researchers, educators, island leaders, policy makers, and other leading conservation practitioners to present and analyze real-world resilience case studies.  Central to the symposium was understanding resilience: the ability of ecological and social systems to absorb, resist, or recover from stressors and adapt to change while maintaining critical ecosystem functions and benefits.

In his remarks before the program began, Howard Milstein recalled the Milstein family’s long association with the Museum. “I’ve always felt at home here, ever since my mother brought us as kids to the Whale Room, a long time before it was the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life. And we’ve been privileged to support this museum for two generations,” he said. “Given that long history, it’s a special joy to welcome such a distinguished group of speakers. You’ve come from around the globe to address the theme of islands, a topic that takes on urgency with each shift in climate and ecology, and each shift of the major and minor tectonic plates that undergird many of world’s major islands.”

Island ecosystems present unique challenges for conservation due to distinctive ecological and evolutionary processes and vulnerability to threats.  The Milstein Science Symposium explored case studies that exemplify responses to disturbance of change in order to elucidate patterns and processes that foster resilience. Through sharing lessons learned and fostering networks of island managers who are addressing similar challenges, the symposium deepened manager insight into how to promote the resilience of coastal systems, particularly in tropical small island nations, as well as strengthen networks among island leaders, international scientists, and policy makers, paving the way for ongoing collaboration in the future.

The Milstein Science Symposium is proudly sponsored by the Irma and Paul Milstein Family.

Source: American Museum of Natural History

In connection with the commitment to support outstanding medical research related to geriatric medicine and aging research, the Milstein Medical Asian American Partnership Foundation (MMAAP) invites the submission of applications from mainland China for:

1) Irma and Paul Milstein Program for Senior Health Fellowship Award to support one year of training at a prominent sponsoring institution in the US for one Chinese scholar in geriatric medicine and aging research

2) Translational Research Project Award of the Irma and Paul Milstein Program for Senior Health to support one such project with potential for immediate impact on improving senior health in China.

The aim of this program is to build an enduring partnership between the United States and Asia through the training of future Chinese academic leaders, and to encourage long-term collaborations between the two regions. The fellowship award will provide support for the fellow in the amount of $60,000, accompanied by a grant of $25,000 to the hosting U.S. institution. The translational project award will provide support for the project to be conducted at applicant’s home institution in China in the amount of $50,000, and support for the U.S. partner institution in the amount of $10,000.

The 2013 Fellowship Award was given to Genxiang Mao, MD, of Zhejiang Provincial Key Lab of Geriatrics at Zhejiang Hospital, for a project entitled “A New Strategy for Delaying Cellular Senescence: Modulating Mitochondrial Biogenesis.” The Translational Research Project Award was given to Peking Union Medical College Hospital, with principal investigator Xiaohong Liu, MD, PhD, for a project entitled “Development of a Chinese At-Home Senior Care Model for Community-Dwelling Disabled Older Adults.” For this first round of MMAAP Foundation awards, Johns Hopkins University will serve as both the hosting institution for the fellow and the partner institution for the translational research project.

The 2014 award application deadline is November 1, 2013. For detailed information including application guidelines and eligibility, please visit www.mmaapf.org.

Click here for a Chinese language version of this announcement.

Contact: Victor Ning, Project Manager, MMAAP Foundation
Phone: 212-850-4505
Email: vning@mmaapf.org

SOURCE: The American Geriatrics Society

The Milstein family was recently recognized for its long tradition of philanthropy in New York City by The Real Deal: New York City Real Estate News. In the illustration of the connections between the city’s nonprofit institutions and the real estate community accompanying “The Charity Web,” the Milstein family was given a central position. The Real Deal reporter Leigh Kamping-Carter traces the family’s involvement to the founding of Milstein Properties by Paul and Seymour Milstein, which was the basis for “several family foundations that control tens of millions of dollars in charitable wealth.” Kamping-Carter highlights Irma Milstein’s membership on the board of the American Museum of Natural History, where the Irma and Paul Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Life is located. Paul and Irma’s son, Howard, chairs the boards of the New York Blood Center and American Skin Association and is a member of the boards of Weill Cornell Medical Center and the National September 11 Memorial and Museum. Other family members are represented on the boards of the New York Public Library, the Metropolitan Opera, New York University, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

For the complete story, click here.

Paul Milstein Hall at Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art and Planning (AAP) received a 2013 AIA Institute Honor Award for Architecture. Awarded annually by the American Institute of Architects, the Institute Honor Award is “the profession’s highest recognition of works that exemplify excellence in architecture, interior architecture, and urban design.”

The award citation said of Paul Milstein Hall, “Milstein Hall is the first new building in over 100 years for the renowned College of Architecture, Art and Planning at Cornell University. Rather than creating a new freestanding building, Milstein Hall is an addition to the AAP buildings, creating a unified complex with continuous levels of indoor and outdoor interconnected spaces. Enclosed by floor-to-ceiling glass and a green roof with 41 skylights, this ‘upper plate’ cantilevers almost 50 feet over University Avenue to establish a relationship with the Foundry, a third existing AAP facility.”

One jury member said about Milstein Hall that is “praised by users for its ‘transactional’ qualities: The college’s activities have become far more visually accessible within the Cornell campus; spaces created are connective between Sibley and Rand Halls; and functional relocations—such as the design library—have enhanced communication between student cohorts within the college.” And another said, “The exposed systems and relaxed social ambience tolerate and celebrate the creative clutter created by students.”

“We’re delighted that Milstein Hall has received this high honor,” said Kent Kleinman, the Gale and Ira Drukier Dean of AAP. “It is gratifying to all who worked so hard on this project to have the effort validated by this national jury.”

Construction of Paul Milstein Hall, completed in 2012, was made possible by a grant from the Paul and Irma Milstein Foundation. Architect for the project was Rem Koolhaas and the Office of Metropolitan Architecture.

The AIA page devoted to Milstein Hall can be seen here.

SOURCE: Cornell Chronicle, American Institute of Architects

Paul Milstein Hall of Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art and Planning (AAP) was the focus of a weekend celebration by alumni, faculty, and students in early March to mark the building’s completion. The highlight of the weekend was a talk on March 9 by internationally renowned architect Rem Koolhaas, who designed Milstein Hall with his Office of Metropolitan Architecture. AAP Dean Kent Kleinman introduced Koolhaas and moderated a Q&A for a capacity audience of nearly 300 in the Abby and Howard Milstein Auditorium and Boardroom.

The building “is both a remarkable accomplishment architecturally and a transformative pedagogical tool,” Kleinman told the Cornell Chronicle. “It is by design that Milstein Hall functions as connective tissue uniting students and faculty across departments. … No contemporary architect, in my mind, other than Rem Koolhaas could have embodied in space and material our complex needs and our aspirational spirit. The transformation of the college is already profound.”

Nearly 500 AAP alumni (a record for a college gathering) were on hand for the weekend’s events, which included an evening dance party on March 10 held in the Sibley Dome and the Milstein Dome, exhibitions by alumni, and a talk on the origins of the Savannah, Georgia, city plan by AAP emeritus professor John Reps and planning professor Michael Tomian.