One of the most important lessons Estefania Perez ’21, learned during her time at Cornell — to be bold — continues to pay off for her as she begins her career.
Perez, a first-generation college student and part of the Posse Program, was also chosen for the Pathways Internship Program her sophomore year. Mentors from Arts & Sciences Career Development helped her prepare and apply for about…
Chris Kitchen
Franklin Zheng '25 experimented with AI in three of his classes this semester.
This semester, rather than banning the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for his assignments, three of Franklin Zheng ’25’s five professors actually required him to use it. It’s a trend happening in universities around the country, as AI becomes another research tool rather than something to be feared.
For Zheng, AI helped him analyze 70,000 court records to find themes, topics, keywords and…
In celebration of the 30th anniversary of Toni Morrison’s M.A. ‘55 Nobel Prize in Literature, Cornell’s Toni Morrison Collective is partnering with Calvary Baptist Church to give away free copies of two of Morrison’s books and hold book talks in various locations during the month of December.
Through a $2,500 Community Celebrations grant to Calvary Baptist from the Tompkins County…
Mostafa Minawi, associate professor of history in the College of Arts & Sciences and director of the Center for Critical Ottoman and Post-Ottoman Studies, has been honored with the Albert Hourani Book Award for “Losing Istanbul: Arab-Ottoman Imperialists and the End of Empire.”
The award, given by the Middle East Studies Association, recognizes a work that exemplifies scholarly…
Two professors in the Department of Mathematics were recently named fellows in the American Mathematical Society.
Xin Zhou and Slawomir Solecki, both associate professors of mathematics, were recently elected as fellows, an honor given to members who have made outstanding contributions to the creation, exposition, advancement, communication and utilization of mathematics.
“The…
Patrick Shanahan
Krystyna Golovakova works with students in her Ukrainian language class.
A few times a week, songs from Ukraine can be heard coming from a classroom in Goldwin Smith Hall. Cornell's Ukrainian program is bringing the country’s culture to campus through language learning, folk tradition and history. The effort is led by Krystyna Golovakova, a native of Ukraine and a recent refugee from the war-torn nation.
This summer, Golovakova and Serge Petchenyi, multimedia…
Provided
Anthropology Collections curator Frederic Gleach held an open house during the Northeast Conference on Andean and Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory that highlighted materials from the Andes, including the items pictured here: Andean textiles and ceramics, with a Sican gold mask
Cornell’s long history of Andean studies was celebrated at the 40th Annual Northeast Conference on Andean and Amazonian Archaeology and Ethnohistory (NCAAE) held Nov. 4-5 in Klarman Hall.
“The conference was actually founded here at Cornell in 1982 and is part of a much longer history of Andean research at our university, stretching back to the Vicos Project in highland Peru in the 1950s…
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine have awarded top prize for science communication by a “research scientist–later career” to Steven Strogatz, the Susan and Barton Winokur Distinguished Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and Mathematics in the College of Arts and Sciences. Neil Lewis, Jr., an associate professor of communication in the College of…
Former Twitch leader Emmett Shear is taking over as OpenAI’s interim chief executive following a chaotic weekend of changes at the company. Shear plans to hire an independent investigator to look into what led up to Sam Altman’s ouster late Friday.
Sarah Kreps, professor of government and director of the Tech Policy Institute at Cornell University, says differences of opinion about OpenAI’s …
Nestor Barbitta/Unsplash
Congress of the Republic of Argentina, Buenos Aires
Argentines have voted to elect Javier Milei, economist and former TV pundit, as their next president.
Gustavo Flores-Macías is a professor of government at Cornell University and an expert in Latin American politics. He says that though Milei will see little support among governors and Congress, his popular platform is likely to bring significant change.
Flores-Macías says: “The…
Territory of American Canada/Creative Commons 4.0 International license
President Joe Biden will meet face-to-face with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in San Francisco on Wednesday. The meeting breaks a yearlong silence marked by rising tensions that increasingly tough rhetoric.
Allen Carlson, an associate professor of government at Cornell University and an expert on Chinese foreign policy, says a key factor for the meeting will be how much…
redcharlie/Unsplash
Livraria Lello, Porto, Portugal
The modern university besieged by requests (or demands) to do many things—among them, to stimulate economic productivity, to foster social justice and to provide training for lucrative careers. In his Nov. 30 talk, distinguished historian and classicist Christopher S. Celenza will argue that a response should begin by asking a foundational question: What are the arts and sciences and why do they…
Chris Kitchen
Neil Cholli often goes to the white board in his Uris Hall office to "think things through" while analyzing data on social mobility
As a 19-year-old college student, economist Neil Cholli spent a summer teaching with The Algebra Project in an underprivileged neighborhood of Miami. He’d witnessed “visceral” poverty on trips to India to visit family, “but seeing that kind of poverty and inequality in the U.S., in my own country, was eye opening for me,” he said. “I thought, ‘I have to do something about this.’”
The…
Students interested in internships in public service or public affairs can learn about internship opportunities during a panel discussion, Internships in Public Service, Nov. 15 from 4:30 - 6 p.m. in Room 401 of the Physical Sciences Building. Students may RSVP on Handshake at this link.
Speakers at the event will include:
Former Congressman, Steve Israel (D-N.Y.),…
Provided
Shirley Lim's most recent book on Anna May Wong.
Before Anna May Wong became one of 20 women chosen for a new series of U.S. quarters, Shirley Lim ’90 felt she was “toiling away in obscurity” studying and writing about the actress’ life.
Now Lim’s research has been featured in two PBS documentaries, she’s been interviewed by NPR, she appeared as a guest on the Mobituaries podcast and her book on Wong was featured in The New York Times. She’s…
David O. Brown/Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University
Works in 'Between Performance and Documentation'
A performance art movement emerged in 1990s China, centered in the Beijing neighborhood known as the East Village. In reaction to massive changes in the urban landscape and to everyday living, artists put on one-time performances – but they also filmed and photographed each other, creating a new layer of art, says art historian Nancy P. Lin.
“Performance is an ephemeral artform that’s…
Despite efforts by Gov. Glenn Youngkin to take control of Virginia’s General Assembly, Virginia voters flipped the House of Delegates to Democratic control and preserved that majority in the state Senate; but is this an indication of what’s to come nationally in 2024?
David Bateman, professor of government and policy at Cornell University and expert on democratic institutions, says we should…
A Nov. 16 talk sponsored by the Office of the Provost and the College of Arts and Sciences will shed light on the history of hate movements in the U.S.
“The Intersectionality of Antisemitism, Islamophobia and Racism,” a talk by Ross Brann, the Milton R. Konvitz Professor of Judeo-Islamic Studies & Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow (A&S), will begin at 4 p.m. in the Alice Statler…
Riché Richardson, professor of Africana studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, has been awarded the C. Hugh Holman Award from the Society for the Study of Southern Literature (SSSL).
"I was delighted and it was truly a blessing to receive the news that my book ‘Emancipation's Daughters’ (2021, Duke University Press) won the 2022 C. Hugh Holman Award,” Richardson said. The award will be…
Elon Musk has introduced “Grok,” an artificially intelligent chatbot, for some users of X. The billionaire suggests the technology has a sarcastic sense of humor.
David Shoemaker, professor of philosophy at Cornell University, studies the moral psychology of humor. He recently penned an op-ed examining why artificial intelligence isn’t funny.
Shoemaker says: “The ‘sarcasm’ of…
After a year’s leave of absence to her home in Vietnam, An Le ‘25 returned to campus this fall feeling fulfilled. Through hosting a talk show and traveling around the Middle East, Le relearned the value of passion, exemplifying that the path to success is not homogenous.
Le spent her first year studying remotely because of COVID-19, and upon arrival, she struggled to socialize and navigate her…
Lockdowns, cancellations, transitions to online learning: the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted higher education when it spread worldwide in 2020. Three years later, teaching and research continue to be immensely different from pre-pandemic times, according to scholar Debra Castillo.
“We knew COVID-19 was causing major stress for faculty and students, major fractures in our students’ learning, major…
Cornell University file photo
A. R. Ammons in 1998
The Temple of Zeus café used to host a weekly open mic reading at which students and faculty shared their work with enthusiastic listeners. Among the regular attendees was the late Archie Ammons, Goldwin Smith Professor of Poetry in the College of Arts & Sciences (A&S), whose presence told student writers that their work merited the attention of Cornell’s most honored poet. The…
For humans to travel the solar system, we first need to be liberated from Earth’s orbit. High power electric propulsion and nuclear propulsion systems offer promise in getting us off Earth, but how do we practically test these powerful engines on the ground?
Physicist and engineer John Foster, who thinks hard on how to mimic space travel on earth, will give the fall 2023 Bethe Lecture on this…
Chris Kitchen
Dayal Meshri, right, and his daughter, Gita, left, in the newly renovated Baker 200 auditorium.
More than 40 percent of Cornell students spend time in Baker Laboratory Room 200 taking chemistry classes. And even more fill the 494-seat lecture hall for courses in other subjects, including American studies, biology, Classics, economics and government.
This fall, when students entered the room, they were greeted by a new, light-filled space and a photo celebrating the couple who made the…
Five professors will argue for the importance of their disciplines during the Logos Philosophy Debate Club’s annual Apocalypse debate Thursday, Nov. 9 in Goldwin Smith Room 132.
The debate includes professors from different fields, debating about why their discipline is the most vital for life to survive a global apocalypse. This year’s professors include:
Magnus Fiskesjo,…
Women will vote for the first time at the Catholic Church’s Synod on Synodality which ends Oct. 29.
Kim Haines-Eitzen, Cornell University professor of ancient Mediterranean religions with a specialty in early Christianity, says that the role of women in early Christian communities can help inform the present moment in the Roman Catholic Church.
Haines-Eitzen says: “The early history of…
Argentina is headed to a second-round presidential run-off election following a surprisingly strong showing by the candidate of the incumbent center-left Peronist party, Economy Minister Sergio Massa.
Kenneth Roberts, Professor of Government in the College of Arts and Sciences with a specialization in Latin American politics at Cornell University, says that Argentina’s runoff outcome will…
A strong and independent press plays a critical role in a healthy democracy. At a time of crippling polarization and the closing of newsrooms across the country, how is American’s Fourth Estate doing?
On Nov. 14, NPR’s David Folkenflik ’91, Zubrow Distinguished Visiting Journalist in the College of Arts and Sciences, will moderate a panel of noted journalists and faculty who will discuss “Free…
Jesse Goldberg, associate professor and Robert R. Capranica Fellow in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, has been selected by the Pew Charitable Trusts to be a member of the 2023 class of Innovation Fund investigators.
Goldberg studies the ways learning processes are implemented in the brain. He will team up with New York University’s Robert C. Froemke to undertake joint research…
The Department of Near Eastern Studies will offer a panel discussion, “Understanding Events in Israel – Palestine” from 5-6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 26 in Room 165 of McGraw Hall. (Note: Location has changed to allow for greater occupancy, but seating is limited.)
Panelists will provide historical context for the recent developments in the region and respond to questions from the audience.
…
David Levine
Illustrating the humor in "Stay Cool: Why Dark Comedy Matters in the Fight Against Climate Change,”
How to cope with the despair caused by climate change? In the “Climate Change Comedy Hour,” environmental historian Aaron Sachs will use a combination of gallows humor, history and silly videos to show how we can shift our attitude about climate change -- and how that shift might help us get to the next stage of climate activism.
The presentation will be at 5:15 p.m. on Nov. 2, in Lewis…
Poland’s Law and Justice party is slated to lose power as exit polling indicates opposition parties won enough votes in Sunday’s parliamentary election to oust it.
Bryn Rosenfeld, assistant professor of government in the College of Arts & Sciences, says that despite attempts to bolster supporter turnout, the Law and Justice party appears to have both lost its parliamentary majority, and…
Public domain
An Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) launch,
Ukrainian forces reportedly used American-supplied, long-range missiles on the battlefield for the first time on Tuesday.
David Silbey, adjunct associate professor of history in the College of Arts & Sciences, specializes in military history, defense policy and battlefield analysis. He says that although the missiles put some of northern Crimea in attacking range, there likely won’t…
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
The paper advances understanding of life in the context of other complex evolving systems. The image shows the edge of a nearby, young, star-forming region NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. Captured in infrared light by the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.
Darwin applied the theory of evolution to life on earth, but not to other massively complex systems like planets, stars, atoms and minerals. Now, an interdisciplinary group of researchers has identified a missing aspect of that theory that applies to essentially everything.
Their paper, “On the roles of function and selection in evolving systems,” published Oct. 16 in the Proceedings of the…
Cornell undergraduate students from all majors are invited to compete in The Cornell Mathematical Contest in Modeling (CMCM). This annual competition, slated for Nov. 10-13, allows students to work on open-ended real world problems, showcasing the multifaceted nature of applied mathematics.
During the event, students compete in teams of three to build a mathematical model, obtain a…
Widner Collection/National Gallery of Art
'Portrait of Elena Grimaldi Cattaneo’ by Anthony van Dyck
For years, art historian Ana Howie had been intrigued by Anthony van Dyck’s striking 1632 portrait of Italian noblewoman Elena Grimaldi Cattaneo – and was not satisfied with scholarly understandings of the work.
“It is an incredibly powerful painting to see in real life as it is over life-size, and I felt there was so much more to say about its composition, messaging and links to the histories…
Provided
A sampling of the instruments that Jesse Jones built for the Cornell ReSounds project.
An Oct. 24 concert in Barnes Hall will feature a rebuilt experimental keyboard originally created in the 1960s by David Rothenberg and Robert Moog Ph.D. ’65. It will be the first time the instrument will be played in public. The concert begins at 7 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
The Rothenberg-Moog 31-tone keyboard will be played by Xak Bjerken, professor of music in the College of…
World-renowned performer and composer Simon Shaheen will offer a lecture on Arabic music and a performance by the Simon Shaheen Quartet in late October. The Palestinian-American will speak on “Arabic Music” at 5 p.m. Oct. 20 in 132 Goldwin Smith Hall, and the Quartet will perform at 7 p.m. Oct. 21 in the Rhodes-Rawlings Auditorium in Klarman Hall. Both events are free and open to the public.
…
The haunting sounds of traditional Mongolian music come to campus in a month-long celebration hosted by the Department of Music in the College of Arts & Sciences and The Endless Steppe Project. Two more concerts of Mongolian music are coming up, highlighting the musical legacy of composer Byambasurengiin Sharav, Oct. 20 and 22 at Barnes Hall.
“Sharav is a household name in…
Priscilla Du Preez/Unsplash
Desperate for information
Misinformation about the Israel-Hamas conflict is flooding social media, in particular Elon Musk’s platform X, where users have been sharing false and misleading claims about the assault.
Gordon Pennycook, associate professor of psychology in the College of Arts & Sciences, studies misinformation. His research has investigated various interventions on social media, including accuracy…
Lindsay France/Cornell University
Chemist Song Lin
Two Cornell chemistry professors have received the 2024 Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award from the American Chemical Society.
They are: Tristan Lambert, the William T. Miller Professor of Chemistry and chair of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S); and Song Lin, Tisch University Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical…
N.R. Narayana Murthy, founder of Infosys Limited, will offer the keynote address during an India Conference at Cornell Oct. 13-15 that will span economics, politics and policy.
“India’s Economy in a Changing Global Landscape" will include leading economists and corporate leaders assessing the state of India's economy. They will explore India's historical, present and future trajectories and…
Ryan Young/Cornell University
Amit Vishwas ’10, M.Eng.,’14, Ph.D. ’19, research scientist in the College of Arts & Sciences, works on the ALPACA instrument, with Donald Campbell, professor emeritus of astronomy (A&S), looking on.
The Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in West Virginia will soon see a radical transformation of its survey capabilities, thanks to a decade-long effort at Cornell to build the Advanced L-Band Phased Array Camera for Astronomy (ALPACA). Currently the GBT’s single-dish radio telescope can see only one or at most a few pixels in the sky at any given time; ALPACA will enable the GBT to observe the sky with…
Provided
The collaborators who created the concert "Riding the Currents of the Wilding Wind": (seated l-r) playwright Virginia Grise, novelist Helena María Viramontes, and composer Martha Gonzalez. Standing is Kendra Ware, the production's director.
The legacy of Professor Helena María Viramontes, novelist and foundational voice in Chicana feminism, will be honored in “Lest Silence Be Destructive,” a two-day celebration of Chicana feminism and Viramonte’s creative work and influence, Oct. 20-21. Scholars, former students, and Viramontes herself will present and give readings Oct. 21 in the A.D. White House starting at 9:30 a.m.
“Helena…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday declared that his country was “at a war,” a day after Hamas fighters breached the border from Gaza in an unprecedented surprise attack.
Uriel Abulof, a visiting professor of government in the College of Arts & Sciences and a professor of politics at Tel-Aviv University, commented on the situation. He said the sense of collective…
Network engineer-turned-professor of English Tung-Hui Hu will offer insight into the rapidly expanding field of the digital humanities as this year’s Digital Humanities Lecturer. His talk, “The Grid vs. the Set: Early Attempts at Classifying Data,” will be on Wednesday, October 18, at 5 p.m. in the A.D. White House’s Guerlac Room. The lecture is free and open to the public and will be followed by…
NATO/Creative Commons license 2.0
Speech by the NATO Secretary General at a Joint Meeting of the US House of Representatives and Senate
This week, Kevin McCarthy was ousted from his role as Speaker of the House—a move made successful by eight hard-right members of McCarthy’s own party.
Mabel Baerezin is a comparative sociologist whose work explores the intersection of political institutions with an emphasis on challenges to democratic cohesion. She says that with our government stalled, our democracy is threatened like never…
