News

Government

Iranian nuclear project may be more dangerous now than ever

6/24/2025 A&S Communications

Professor of government Uriel Abulof: “In the aftermath of recent regional escalations, there’s a growing risk of repeating a familiar—and dangerous—pattern: ceasefire, self-congratulation, and strategic blindness

Person sitting on grass, reading a book propped on knees — Sreang Hok/Cornell University Summer reading on the Arts Quad

Alumni

Your June 2025 reads

6/23/2025 Cornellians

This month’s featured titles include the latest from A&S faculty Ishion Hutchinson and Charlie Green, plus A&A alumni Chris Pavone '89 and Sarah Spain '02.

Music

Dallas Morse Coors Concert Series announces 2025-26 Season

6/13/2025 A&S Communications

The season will include explorations of timeless classics, as well as concerts highlighting new frontiers in music.

Person sitting at a white piano on a stage, giving an "okay" sign with hand — Takahiro Kyono/Creative Commons license 2.0 Brian Wilson in 2012 in The Beach Boys 50th Anniversary Reunion

Music

‘End of a hopeful era’: Cornell expert reflects on Wilson and Stone legacies

6/11/2025 A&S Communications

The deaths of Brian Wilson, co-founder of The Beach Boys, and funk and soul pioneer Sly Stone, of Sly and the Family Stone, mark the end of a pivotal era in music, says professor Judith Peraino.

Person wearing pink headphones, walking outdoors in a city — Devon Divine/Unsplash

Psychology

Study shows how city life shapes music choices

6/10/2025 A&S Communications

Living in a metropolis broadens our musical horizons, and makes our playlists less alike.

people in military fatigues stand by the side of a street — Levi Meir Clancy/Unsplash

Military history

Military use in Los Angles coming right up to Insurrection Act

6/10/2025 A&S Communications

History professor David Silbey points out restrictions on and risks of using active-duty military to respond to protests.

Person sitting on a bench under a tree, reading a book — Noël Heaney/Cornell University Graduate student Esther Kondo Heller (MFA, Cornell Poetry ’23)

Literatures in English

Your May 2025 reads

5/27/2025 Cornellians

This month’s featured titles include essays on womanhood by A&S alumna Nicole Graev Lipson ’98.

Doctor's stethoscope and blood pressure cuff — Immo Wegmann/Unsplash

Psychology

Surgeon General nominee is a prescription for ‘pseudoscience’

5/9/2025 A&S Communications

The nomination of Dr. Casey Means is the latest example of the administration’s disregard for scientific expertise and evidence-based policy, says a Cornell University expert.

Cornell undergraduate students diagnosing wine grape diseases in a plant pathology laboratory in Chile. — Cornell undergraduate students diagnosing wine grape diseases in a plant pathology laboratory in Chile in 2018.

Physics

Cornell STEM education expert weighs in on NSF funding cuts

5/9/2025 A&S Communications

"Students across the country are going to miss out on innovative improvements to their science education – innovations that would have critically prepared them for the competitive 21st century technological workforce."

People in religious robes on a balcony — Creative Commons license 4.0 Pope Leo XIV waves at the people gathered in St. Peter's Square in his first public appearance as pope.

Sociology

Pope Leo XIV bridges Catholicism's geographic divide

5/9/2025 A&S Communications

The historic selection of Cardinal Robert Prevost, a Chicago-born U.S. citizen and naturalized Peruvian, reflects Catholicism's evolving global identity.

White stone building with two flags flying over it — Doug Nealy/Unsplash The Peace Arch, situated near the westernmost point of the Canada–United States border in the contiguous United States, between Blaine, Washington and Surrey, British Columbia.

International politics

Carney’s first meeting with Trump yields ‘mixed outcomes’

5/7/2025 A&S Communications

Tuesday's meeting between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and the White House yielded “mixed outcomes” that fell short of a substantial reset of relations between the U.S. and Canada, says scholar Jon Parmenter.

Large aircraft without a cockpit parked on a runway at sunset — Defense Visual Information Distribution Service An MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle parked on a taxiway at Creech Air Force Base, Nevada

Government

$36B drone plan echoes Ukraine, may not map onto U.S. Army

5/1/2025 A&S Communications

The idea of supplementing or replacing heavy equipment with unmanned systems isn’t new, says Sarah Kreps, professor of government and law, and founding director of the Tech Policy Institute.

Graduate student research

Student spotlight: Haowen Zheng

5/1/2025 Cornell University Graduate School

Haowen Zheng, a doctoral candidate in sociology from Zibo, China, now studies why people move long distances within a country and how those moves shape their lives.

Cars speed down a six-lane road through a city — Oleksandr Zhabin/Unsplash Kyiv, Ukraine

International politics

Even if a ‘peace’ deal is reached, Russia won’t give up on Ukraine

4/30/2025 A&S Communications

Cornell experts Bryn Rosenfeld and David Silbey comment on a 72-hour ceasefire in Ukraine starting May 8, declared by Russian President Vladimir Putin to mark the anniversary of Nazi Germany’s defeat in World War II.

Lake in autumn — John Wisniewski/Creative commons license 2.0 Massapequa Lake, Massapequa, New York

History

‘Self-indigenizers’ using executive bully pulpit in school mascot fight

4/30/2025 A&S Communications

The Long Island community of Massapequa is getting support from President Donald Trump for refusing to change its school mascot from Native American imagery, despite a state mandate, a fascinating example of self-indigenization says historian Jon Parmenter

Building with a cross on top, blue ksy — Pedro Honn/Unsplash

Religion

Catholic charter school matter ‘raises profound questions about equal access’

4/30/2025 A&S Communications

The Supreme Court's decision in the matter of Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond will represent a critical test of the separation between church and state in public education, says Landon Schnabel, associate professor of sociology.

Colorful picture books in a bin — Taylor Heery/Unsplash

Religion

If parents can opt out of LGBTQ themes, can others opt out of traditional ones?

4/22/2025 A&S Communications

Hearing arguments on whether religious parents should be permitted to opt out their children from public school story time that includes LGBTQ themes, U.S. Supreme Court justices appeared to favor the idea that parents can remove their children from these lessons, which 'prompts reflection on the boundaries of religious liberty in a pluralistic society,' says a Cornell sociologist.

Pope Francis waves to a crowd — Zebra48bo/Creative Commons license 4.0 Pope Francis in 20215

Religion

Death of Pope Francis marks end of historic papacy

4/21/2025 A&S Communications

Cornell experts comment on the legacy of Pope Francis, who died on Monday, marking the end of a historic papacy.

Person sitting on a bench and reading under a small, flowering tree. — Jason Koski/Cornell University Spring reading on the Arts Quad

Alumni authors

Your April 2025 reads

4/11/2025 Cornellians

This month’s featured titles include poetry, a Creative Writing Program prof’s neo noir novel, and a memoir about working for two celebrity chefs

about a dozen people in creative clothing sit in a richly decorated room — Anja Schütz/Provided Roomful of Teeth

Cornell Concert Series

Vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth featured on Cornell Concert Series April 24

4/10/2025 A&S Communications

Roomful of Teeth is a Grammy Award-winning vocal band dedicated to re-imagining the expressive potential of the human voice.

Chemistry and Chemical Biology

Graduate student Elizabeth Ryan selected to attend Lindau Nobel Laureate meeting

4/10/2025 Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology

A Chemistry and Chemical Biology graduate student in the Weill Institute’s Baskin Lab, Ryan will be among 600 young scientists from around the world to come together in Lindau, Germany.

Two people laughing near a large poster showing a wave — Provided Doctoral candidate Jonathon Thomalla and Professor Mariana Wolfner

Graduate student research

Mentorship series: Jonathon Thomalla and Mariana Wolfner

4/9/2025 Cornell University Graduate School

Jonathon Thomalla, a Ph.D. candidate in biochemistry, molecular and cell biology, and Mariana Wolfner, distinguished professor of molecular biology and genetics and Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow in Molecular Biology and Genetics, discuss their mentoring relationship in a Q&A.

Corey Booker in suit and tie on a large screen with a huge American flag in front of it, — Jamelle Bouie Corey Booker.

Government

Booker’s speech: A retreat from the ‘acquiescent liberal elite’ and an embrace of ‘good trouble’

4/3/2025 A&S Communications

Prof. Alexander Livingston comments on Senator Corey Booker's historic 25-hour speech.

A city near a coastline; cloudy sky — Wikimedia Creative Commons The coastline of offshore Cijin Island in the South China Sea, which belongs to the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung.

History

Chinese military drills send ominous message to Taiwan

4/1/2025 A&S Communications

The drills, in the waters and airspace around Taiwan, serve three military purposes, says professor David Silbey.

Nicola Kountoupes/University Relations Paul Ginsparg

Physics

Inside arXiv—the Most Transformative Platform in All of Science

3/31/2025 Wired.com

Modern science wouldn’t exist without the online research repository known as arXiv, Sheon Han writes in a Wired feature about arXiv's creator Paul Ginsparg, professor of physics.

Vox España/Creative Commons license 1.0 Marine Le Pen in February 2025

Sociology

Le Pen conviction could ‘backfire’ on French political establishment

3/31/2025 A&S Communications

Le Pen’s sentence for embezzling $3 million is going to push French politics into even more tumult, says sociology professor Mabel Berezin.

Jason Koski/Cornell University Ziad Fahmy

Near Eastern studies

Fulbright funds research on early Egyptian radio

3/31/2025 A&S Communications

With the award, Ziad Fahmy is working on the first critical history of early Egyptian radio.

Black and white historic image of three people, wearing ties, looking over a tabletop model of a building — Cornell University file photo Robert Wilson, right, with a model of the Robert Wilson Laboratory, built in 1968 on the Cornell campus.

Cornell Cinema

Cornell Cinema to screen ‘The Accelerator,’ film on physicist Wilson

3/26/2025 Cornell Chronicle

Producer David Raubach will attend the free screening of the documentary April 8 and participate in a discussion following the film.

Labor studies

Cook-Gray Lecture will examine transformative labor movement

3/21/2025 ILR School

Annelise Orleck, Dartmouth College, will deliver the 2025 Alice Cook-Lois Gray Distinguished Lecture on April 15: “Poverty Wages, 'We're Not Lovin' It': Gender, Race and Inequality Rising in the 21st Century.”

Canada's red and white flag with Ottawa's Peace Tower in the background — Jason Hafso on Unsplash Ottawa's Peace Tower

History

Canadian ‘snap’ election all about President Trump, says Cornell historian

3/21/2025 A&S Communications

Professor Jon Parmenter says Prime Minister Mark Carney’s decision to call the election looks like a smart decision.

Literatures in English

Rosenberg named Poet Laureate of Tompkins County

3/20/2025 A&S Communications

“I believe poetry offers us valuable opportunities to slow down, to reflect, and to extend our empathy, and I’m excited to share these gifts with our whole community,” Rosenberg said.

Graduate student research

Student spotlight: Jingya Guo

3/19/2025 Cornell University Graduate School

Jingya Guo, a doctoral candidate in history, studies how historical actors contested and reconfigured the demarcation between pathology and health for female bodies in China.

Patches of dark blue, turquoise and orange scattered on a grid of black broken lines, with an oxagonal and a star-shaped line drawing next to it. — ACT collaboration Part of the new image of the cosmic microwave background from ACT, that adds to Planck satellite measurements, showing the light’s vibration direction overlaid. These black polarization ‘sticks’ are used to work out how much radial-type (blue) or tangential-type (red) polarization there is around any place in the sky. This lets the team make a new image that reveals the velocity of the primordial plasma, with the blue radial-pattern showing where gas clumps are getting pulled inwards by gravity.

Cosmology

Clearest images yet of 380,000-year-old baby universe released

3/19/2025 A&S Communications

The new results confirm a simple model of the universe and have ruled out a majority of competing alternatives, says the research team.

Person sitting high in a tree, reading a book with a large college building in the background — Sreang Hok/Cornell University. Early spring reading on the Arts Quad

Alumni authors

Your March 2025 reads

3/14/2025 Cornellians

This month’s featured titles include a debut novel and a nonfiction book about the comedy troupe Firesign Theater, both by A&S authors.

Car driving past a factory belching smoke — Olga Subach/Unsplash Newark, New Jersey

Government

Cornell expert: EPA regulations rollback  will reduce quality of life

3/13/2025 A&S Communications

Rolling back these regulations will reduce the quality of life for everyday Americans, says Talbot Andrews, who studies policy design and the changing environment.

Society for the Humanities

Jane Bennett to deliver Culler Lecture in Critical Theory

3/12/2025 A&S Communications

Bennett, a founding scholar of the field of new materialism, will talk about the limits of “data” as the unit of humanistic study.

Person holding a microphone and a certificate — Simon Wheeler for Cornell University Meagan Sundstrom, Ph.D. '24, winner of Cornell's 3MT competition

Graduate student research

Eight students advance to 3MT finals

3/12/2025 Cornell University Graduate School

Students from several graduate fields, including physics in A&S, will compete in the final round of the 2025 Three Minute Thesis competition (3MT) on March 19.

Cornell Concert Series

Cornell Concert Series hosts Sona Jobarteh, musician of the West African griot tradition

3/6/2025 A&S Communications

A living archive of the Gambian people, Sona Jobarteh innovates to support a more humanitarian future.

Government and technology

Cutting CHIPS funding could be ‘politically challenging’ for some GOP lawmakers

3/6/2025 A&S Communications

Given its bipartisan support and national security implications, CHIPS funding will be difficult to cut, says professor Sarah Kreps.

Government

Trump administration’s shift from European allies could be ‘devastating’

3/4/2025 A&S Communications

Prof. Thomas Pepinsky comments on Pres. Trump's foreign policy.

Row of cars for sale in a parking lot — Francesco Vantini/Unsplash

Government

No winners in looming trade war with Mexico, Canada and China

3/4/2025 A&S Communications

The effects of tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico are already felt, and the consequences will increase in the coming weeks, says government professor Gustavo Flores-Macías.

Government

Budget plan: ‘Long and extremely divisive process’ ahead for Republicans

2/27/2025 A&S Communications

With House Republicans narrowly pushing through a budget plan, the strain on an already strained federal workforce could get worse, says government scholar David Bateman.

Two people walk across a snowy college quad — Jason Koski/Cornell University The Arts Quad in winter

Alumni authors

Your February 2025 reads

2/25/2025 Cornellians

This month’s featured titles include books by A&S faculty and alumni: poetry, a kids’ book about Bali, and a short story collection.

Ukraine

After three years of war in Ukraine, Cornell experts assess endgame

2/24/2025 A&S Communications

On he third anniversary of Russia’s invasion, Cornell University experts discuss sanctions and the state of US and European support for Ukraine.

Ellen Lust, smiling, standing in front of a map of Africa — Provided

Government

Ellen Lust Leads Einaudi as New Director

2/21/2025 Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies

Prof. Lust's research examines the role of social institutions and local authorities in governance, particularly in Southwest Asia and North Africa.

armored vehicle flying a blue and yellow flage — Taras Gren/Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Anti-terrorist operation in eastern Ukraine

Government

Trump posture on Ukraine peace based on flawed assumptions

2/19/2025 A&S Communications

Prof. Bryn Rosenfeld comments on the summit between Pres. Trump and Putin.

A man on a camel with a red turban standing amidst ruins, with a broken column next to him and desert mountain sin the background. — Graham van der Wielen, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons Camel driver at Palmyra in Syria.

Archaeology

Experts call for 'accountability' before restoring Syria heritage sites

2/19/2025 A&S Communications

Cornell experts comment on the restoration of Syria's damaged and looted historical sites.

Brittani Samuel, head tilted to the right, smiling broadly, with long hair in small tight braids, wearing a flowered sleeveless dress — Provided Brittani Samuel

Awards and Honors

Freelance Theater Critic and Editor Brittani Samuel Wins George Jean Nathan Award

2/18/2025 A&S Communications

The award committee praised Samuel for her “impressive breadth of address to the playgoing public,” foregrounding “the critic’s own social position in an effort to promote more thoughtful and empathetic theatergoing.”

Lots of small orange dots in an upside-down 'U' shape — mike-uderevsky-SGcFBTuSSU4-unsplash

Government

Decentralization in the Middle East and North Africa

2/15/2025 Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies

Government professor Ellen Lust is coeditor of a new open-access book examining how decentralization affects communities in the Middle East and North Africa.

Person speaking at a podium with stained glass windows in the background — Cornell University file photo Melissa Harris-Perry delivers the 2015 Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Lecture at Cornell

Center for Racial Justice and Equitable Futures

Writer Melissa Harris-Perry to speak on community care and democracy

2/14/2025 A&S Communications

The Feb. 27 public lecture will be the third event in the Black History Month series organized and hosted by the Center for Racial Justice and Equitable Futures.

Several children sit on a rug in a classroom — CDC/Unsplash

Sociology

With education funding cut looming, ‘irreplaceable data on schools’ at risk

2/12/2025 A&S Communications

The real economic and social value of the Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences research won’t show up in DOGE’s metrics.

Two people standing at a chalk board, talking about a graphic — Provided/Cornell University Graduate School Professor Natasha Holmes (left) and doctoral candidate Rebeckah Fussell

Graduate student research

Mentorship series: Rebeckah Fussell and Natasha Holmes

2/11/2025 Cornell University Graduate School

In a series of interviews with faculty-graduate student pairs, the Cornell University Graduate School spoke with Rebeckah Fussell, a Ph.D. candidate in physics, and Natasha Holmes, Ann S. Bowers Associate Professor of physics.

Person sitting at a grand piano, playing thoughtfully — Robin Herrod/McKnight Center for the Performing Arts Jonathan Biss

Cornell Concert Series

Pianist Jonathan Biss featured on Cornell Concert Series Feb. 21

2/10/2025 A&S Communications

Biss is a performer, teacher and musical thinker whose on-stage repertoire ranges from the core canon to contemporary commissions. He will perform works by Franz Schubert and Tyson Gholston Davis.

Awards and Honors

2/10/2025 A&S Communications

Awards and honors received by faculty, postdocs and graduate students in the College of Arts & Sciences.

Four young ice hockey players, skating — April Walker/Unsplash

Philosophy

Cornell expert: Anti-trans executive order belies unfounded moral panic

2/6/2025 Arts & Sciences Communications

Wednesday's executive order prohibiting transgender women and girls from competing in female sports discriminates not only against transgender people, but also against women, says philosophy professor Kate Manne.

Two people on a tarmack facing a plane. They're wearing shirts with "USAID" written across the back — Sgt. Corban Lundborg/U.S. Air Force Photo USAID workers in Beira, Mozambique in 2019

Government

Dismantling of USAID will have “clear costs at home and abroad”

2/5/2025 A&S Communications

Such a retreat from current U.S. commitments dangerously disrupts protections to life and liberty, says Rachel Beatty Riedl, professor of government and director of Cornell University’s Center on Global Democracy.

History of Art and Visual Studies

Dadi leads Climate Congress symposium with Getty Foundation grant

2/4/2025 A&S Communications

The conference, in Lahore, Pakistan, featured more than thirty guest scholars, curators, artists, and other practitioners and twenty-seven emerging scholars.

A wide river dividing two banks with a bridge in the distance — Bing Hui Yau/Unsplash The Canada-U.S. border at the Niagara River

History

U.S.-Canada relationship entering ‘sad chapter’

2/3/2025 A&S Communications

The U.S. president's collective actions against Canada have needlessly harmed a long-cherished and close relationship says Jon Parmenter, a professor of North American history.

Two people wearing fashionable red, white and black winter clothing sit back to back on a large rock, each holding a book. They are surrounded by snow — Ben White/Unsplash

Alumni authors

Your January 2025 reads

1/30/2025 Cornellians

This month’s featured titles – most by A&S authors – include a work of nonfiction about honeybees, a kids’ picture book, and a novel set in rural Nova Scotia.

11 Lego figures set in rainbow order — James A. Molnar/Unsplash

Sociology

New research project investigates U.S./U.K. LGBTQ data

1/27/2025 A&S Communications

Researchers from Cornell and the University of Edinburgh are investigating how data about LGBTQ communities is used (and misused) by governments, companies and community organizations.

Close up of a film camera — José Pinto/Unsplash Film camera

Performing and Media Arts

Cornell media arts expert: ‘Nickel Boys’ challenges viewers

1/24/2025 A&S Communications

The film's snub in the Best Cinematography category may be due to the use of an immersive first-person camera style, says film scholar Kristen Warner.

smart phone on a stand on a desk, showing TikTok home page — Nik/Unsplash

Government

What’s next for TikTok? Kreps outlines possible paths forward

1/17/2025 A&S Communications

With the U.S. Supreme Court upholding a federal law that would effectively ban TikTok in the U.S., Sarah Kreps, professor of government and law, discusses possible paths forward for the popular app.

People playing large drums, joyfully — Provided YAMATO The Drummers of Japan

Cornell Concert Series

YAMATO The Drummers of Japan featured on Cornell Concert Series February 2

1/16/2025 A&S Communications

Described as the “epitome of the Japanese spirit,” Yamato will bright their show “Hito no Chikara”, The Power of Human Strength to Baily Hall.

Graduate student research

Student spotlight: Nianpo Su

1/14/2025 Cornell University Graduate School

Nianpo Su, doctoral candidate in linguistics, studies how syntactic principles determine the structure of sentences in human languages.

Surprise - French Flag — Latrach Med Jamil/Unsplash

International politics

Cornell expert on Jean-Marie Le Pen: a ‘driving force’ for French far-right

1/7/2025 A&S Communications

“Le Pen wasn’t responsible for the political events which moved the right forward across Europe. Yet, the French National Front created the institutional framework necessary to take advantage of crisis events," says Mabel Berezin.

hands typing on a computer — Sergey Zolkin/Unsplash

Psychology

‘Politics, not policy’: Meta ending fact-check program

1/7/2025 A&S Communications

Psychology professor Gordon Pennycook, a misinformation expert, says he supports using crowdsourced fact-checking, "but removing third-party (professional) fact-checking strikes me as a major mistake.”

© European Union 2017 - European Parliament/Creative Commons license Justin Trudeau in 2017

Government

Trudeau resignation surrounded by uncertainty, says Cornell expert

1/6/2025 A&S Communications

Peter John Loewen, the Harold Tanner Dean of Arts and Sciences and professor of government, says it is unclear how a new Liberal leader will be selected in Canada, and whether the Liberal caucus will agree to Trudeau’s wish to stay on until a new leader is chosen.

President Jimmy Carter — PICRYL/public domain Jimmy Carter portrait

American history

President Carter pushed the U.S. ‘to act as a force for good in the world.’

1/2/2025 A&S Communications

Carter's presidency ultimately set in motion many of the trends that have shaped the world we live in today, says Ruth Lawlor, assistant professor at Cornell University and historian of American foreign relations.

Government and technology

TikTok heading to SCOTUS: ‘Constitutional freedoms versus national security’

12/18/2024 A&S Communications

“The Supreme Court’s decision to hear the TikTok case reflects an inclination to make its mark on a potentially landmark decision – how to balance constitutional freedoms against national security in an era of globalized technology."

Person holding a sign "Stop femicide" — Thomas Hawk/Creative Commons license 2.0

Global Cornell

Cornell expert: Kenya femicide crisis part of a global trend

12/17/2024 A&S Communications

Kenyan women are taking to the streets and calling for President Ruto to declare femicide a national crisis following the murders of 97 women over three months; professor Sabrina Karim sees it as part of a global trend.

Person sitting near a window, reading a book. There is snow outside — Kelly Sikkema/Unsplash

Alumni authors

Your December 2024 reads

12/13/2024 Cornellians

This month’s featured titles include a history Harlem by a government alum and a prof’s memoir about his education under Apartheid.

Government

Student spotlight: Danielle Obisie-Orlu

12/11/2024 Cornell University Graduate School

Danielle Obisie-Orlu, doctoral student in government with a focus on international relations, studies how memory and migration shape international relations and affairs under the guidance of Oumar Ba.

Hand holding a smart phone showing the TikTok icon — Solen Feyissa/Unsplash

Government

TikTok in ‘increasingly desperate’ situation

12/9/2024 A&S Communications

We are one step closer to a world where TikTok will no longer be available on app stores, says Sarah Kreps, professor of government and law and director of the Tech Policy Institute at Cornell.

Looking down a desolate street damaged by war — Mahmoud Sulaiman/Unsplash Daraa, Syria

International relations

Syria developments and foreign involvement: Cornell experts comment

12/9/2024 A&S Communications

Cornell government and history scholars provide perspective on the end of 14 years of civil war and 24 years of the Assad dictatorship.

Yellow tape that says "Do Not Cross, Police" — David von Diemar/Unsplash

Ethics and public life

Ethics expert on dark discourse around death of UnitedHealthcare CEO

12/6/2024 A&S Communications

The darker-than-darkly humorous comments and the horrified responses to them are compatible forms of righteous blame, says David Shoemaker, a professor in ethics and public life.

Public building with a green domed roof, beside a river — Ox1997cow/Creative Commons license 3.0 Han River and National Assembly Building of South Korea

Government

Cornell democracy experts provide insight on South Korea martial law episode

12/4/2024 A&S Communications

Calls for impeachment are following South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration and subsequent lifting of martial law. Cornell University experts provide insight on what other democracies should take away from the events of the last two days.

A wide river running through a city — JEONGUK/Unsplash Seoul, South Korea

Government

Cornell expert available on South Korea imposing martial law

12/3/2024 A&S Communications

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol says he will lift the declaration of martial law he had imposed overnight; his actions could reinvigorate South Korea’s tradition of expressing political dissent through candlelight rallies, says Sidney Tarrow, an emeritus professor of government.

Jeremy Peschard Pórtela with white shirt and black tie, a faint beard and mustache, in front of a sunlight building.

History

Student Spotlight: Jeremy Peschard Pórtela

11/25/2024 Cornell University Graduate School

Jeremy Peschard Pórtela studies the histories of Latinos, immigration and mental health under the guidance of Prof. Maria Cristina Garcia.

A glass vial sits in a patch of sunlight on a square tiled floor, with shadow around it. — Hanning Jiang Inside this reaction vial, spotlit by concentrated sunlight, a piece of black polystyrene from a foam tray breaks down into a recyclable material.

Chemistry & Chemical Biology

Using sunlight to recycle black plastics: Researchers leverage additive to make materials chemically useful

11/25/2024 A&S Communications

The researchers say that their method could create a closed-loop recycling process for this type of plastic.

Three baboons in the wild; one is a baby clinging to an adult — Matthew Zipple Wild female baboons near Amboseli National Park, Kenya.

Neurobiology and Behavior

Researchers assess whether animals feel emotion

11/19/2024 A&S Communications

An interdisciplinary group of animal behavior researchers from the fields of biology, psychology, anthropology and philosophy were included in the survey. Klarman Fellow Matthew Zipple is first author.

Missile heading up into the sky — Photo by Maciej Ruminkiewicz on Unsplash

International relations

Ahead of Trump takeover, long-range missiles unlikely to change tide in Ukraine

11/18/2024 A&S Communications

The Biden White House is likely trying to give Ukraine everything it can before the administration changes, says military historian David Silbey.

small orange handheld video game player with a spaceship backdrop — TRIN WA/Unsplash Nintendo Game Boy

Music

Nintendo music app ‘rivals major record labels,’ not just for gamers

11/13/2024 A&S Communications

Some of Nintendo's music has attained classic status, says music professor Roger Moseley.

hundreds of people crowded together, waiting for a public event to being. It is cold; most of them wear hats and coats — David Todd McCarty/Unsplash A Trump rally in New Jersey

Government

What the election of Donald Trump says about democracy globally

11/7/2024 A&S Communications

Trump’s actions and signaling illustrate that the U.S. is not immune to the same democratic backsliding now occurring in an unprecedented number of wealthy countries, says Rachel Riedl, professor of government and policy and director of the Center on Global Democracy.

Brown eggs in a cardboard container — Jakub Kapusnak/Unsplash

Economics

Economic woes: Can Trump fix inflation?

11/6/2024 A&S Communications

Will President Donald Trump’s policies rectify the high prices Americans are seeing? Kaushik Basu, professor of economics at Cornell, says inflation is beyond the control of the party in power and is shaped by other actors.

Government

A new political landscape: Hispanic voters, Trump's transactional politics

11/6/2024 A&S Communications

With about 45% of Hispanics voting for Trump, we’re witnessing an important realignment of a group previously thought to be squarely within the coalition supporting Democratic candidates, says professor Gustavo Flores-Macías.

Dozens of people standing on a lawn, at a public rally — Heather Mount/Unsplash A rally in Texas

Politics and philosophy

‘Violent indifference to women’ and gender stereotypes affect top ticket

11/6/2024 A&S Communications

The results of the 2024 U.S. presidential election aren’t due to a simple dislike or distrust of women, but a reflection of America’s violent indifference to women.

Person holding an LP in front of recording equipment in a studio — Los Angeles Times Photographic Collection at the UCLA Library/Creative Commons license 4.0 Quincy Jones in his studio, 1980

Music

Jones understood all art, especially Black art, is ‘political’

11/4/2024 A&S Communications

Music producing legend Quincy Jones understood the political aspect of art, says Cornell music scholar.

Cornell Concert Series

Danish String Quartet featured on Cornell Concert Series Nov. 14

10/30/2024 A&S Communications

At Cornell, the GRAMMY-nominated quartet will perform works by Caroline Shaw, Haydn, Shostakovich, and a selection of their original compositions and traditional folk tunes.

A microphone — Kane Reinholdtsen/Unsplash

Campaign rhetoric

Cornell experts analyze rhetoric used by both campaigns in final stretch

10/29/2024 A&S Communications

Following former President Trump’s campaign rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, Cornell experts comment on the event's speeches and on Democrats' responses.

Africana Studies

‘Icon of national femininity’: Beyoncé to appear at VP Harris Houston rally

10/25/2024 A&S Communications

As Election Day closes in, a Cornell expert in Black feminism sees 'deep meaning and significance' in superstar Beyoncé's support for Vice President Kamala Harris.

Creative Writing Program

Sigrid Nunez reading Nov. 7 concludes fall 2024 Zalaznick series

10/24/2024 A&S Communications

“Sigrid Nunez’s novels meditate on life and the world with unfussy clarity and lightness. Today she is one of the most profound living American writers."

Soldiers in brown formal uniforms march in line beside a blue wall — Office of the Secretary of Defense The Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK), also, North Korea, People's Army guards

International relations

North Korean troop deployment aimed at cementing alliance with Russia

10/22/2024 A&S Communications

Cornell military expert says North Korea sending troops to Russia for for eventual deployment in Ukraine, if true, amounts to more of a political statement, than a military one.

A large group of students — Provided Fall 2024 cohort of eLab

Entrepreneurship

eLab Welcomes 24 student startup teams to fall cohort

10/21/2024 Entrepreneurship at Cornell

Twenty-four student teams, including several A&S students, have been selected for the Fall 2024 cohort of eLab, Cornell’s student startup accelerator.

Government

Sean Grayson due in court, attorney and legal scholar comments

10/18/2024 A&S Communications

Bodycam footage illustrates multiple instances in which Grayson made matters worse, says criminal law expert and professor of government Joseph Margulies.

Person in a suit — Gage Skidmore/Creative Commons license 2.0 Donald Trump shown in 2022

Politics and psychology

Trump’s abrupt decision to play DJ, a sign of ‘accelerating cognitive decline’ says Cornell expert

10/16/2024 A&S Communications

Harry Segal, senior lecturer in the Psychology Department and in the Psychiatry Department at Weill Cornell Medicine, says Trump’s awkward display at his rally was another clear sign of mental decline.

Alumni authors

Your October 2024 reads

10/16/2024 Cornellians

This month’s titles, featured in Cornellians, include "Invisible Labor: The Untold Story of the Cesarean Section" by A&S alum Rachel Somerstein ’04.

Creative Writing Program

Poet and sportswriter Rowan Ricardo Phillips to read Oct. 17

10/7/2024 A&S Communications

“Rowan Ricardo Phillips is a renowned sportswriter, and has written extensively on baseball, soccer, and tennis. He is, however, first and foremost a poet of the highest order, full of formal sophistication, lyrical possibility, and musical syncopation."

Middle East

A weakened Hezbollah could open the door for a two-state solution

10/2/2024 A&S Communications

A Cornell government scholar says that the reality of a severely diminished Hezbollah in Lebanon may provide an opportunity for a path toward peace.

Claudia Sheinbaum standing at a podium — Ernesto Toboa/Creative Commons license 2.0 Claudia Sheinbaum during her press conference as Mexico's president-elect during the transition period.

Government

Will Mexico’s first female president take a different line on security, economy?

10/1/2024 A&S Communications

Claudia Sheinbaum, being sworn in as Mexico's first female president today, faces several major challenges, says Gustavo Flores-Macías.

Person standing on a stage with arms spread

Performing and Media Arts

Cornell Keynotes podcast: Conquering our biggest fear

9/27/2024 Cornell Chronicle

Cornell College of Arts & Sciences professor David Feldshuh shares methods for speaking with confidence and moving past fear into connection on the Cornell Keynotes podcast.