News

People on a stage; one in military uniform stands at attention — Devin Flores/Cornell University Marine 2nd Lt. Connor Eaton is pinned at the Cornell University ROTC Tri-Service Commissioning Ceremony, held May 23 in Statler Auditorium.

Student life

Cornell graduates aim to ‘lead from the front’ as military officers

5/27/2025 Cornell Chronicle

During a May 23 ceremony in Statler Auditorium, more than 25 members of Cornell’s Reserve Officers' Training Corps Tri-Service Brigade were commissioned as second lieutenants or ensigns in the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Space Force.

person at a desk with computers, looking thoughtful — Ryan Young/Cornell University Semiconductors are at the core of the economy and national security. Their importance makes them a target. Sarah Kreps, director of the Tech Policy Institute in the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy, discusses how Cornell is helping to keep the semiconductor supply chain safe.

Government

Research at risk: Protecting national defense from cyberattacks

5/8/2025 Cornell Chronicle

A Cornell-led assessment of vulnerabilities in the semiconductor supply chain and how to mitigate them is on hold after receiving a stop-work order.

artificial intelligence graphic with brain, lights and circuits

Psychology

Brain’s ‘blue spot’ key to healthy aging, early Alzheimer’s detection

4/24/2025 Cornell Chronicle

Specialized MRI scans revealed dramatic changes over the human lifespan in the locus coeruleus, a finding that helps characterize healthy aging patterns.

Person sitting under a tree — Angel Balashev/Unsplash

Sociology

DIY religion: More Americans finding faith outside church

4/14/2025 Cornell Chronicle

Cornell-led research finds that large numbers of Americans are leaving organized religion – not in favor of secular rationality, but to pursue spirituality in ways that better align with their individual values.

Wooden judges gavel — Wesley Tingey/Unsplash

Government

Legality unlikely to sway public opinion about executive actions

3/19/2025 Cornell Chronicle

Don’t expect a broader backlash against President Donald Trump's flurry of executive orders simply because they may rest on shaky legal ground, new Cornell research suggests.

Six people sit in a row, during a panel discussion event — Jason Koski/Cornell University In Goldwin Smith Hall on Feb. 28, Peter Loewen, the Harold Tanner Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and professor of government, spoke during the “Science Under Siege?” faculty panel discussion hosted by the Department of Science and Technology Studies.

Research

Panels discuss federal research funding threats, opportunities

3/5/2025 Cornell Chronicle

Experts discussed support for science research during a pair of panels organized by faculty and students on Feb. 28.

Person speaking at a podium with an image of a planet in the background — Cornell University file photo Joseph A. Burns, Ph.D. ’66, emeritus professor of engineering and astronomy, and a former vice provost and dean of the Cornell faculty, speaks at Charter Day Weekend in 2015.

In memory

Joseph Burns, emeritus professor, former dean of faculty, dies at 83

3/4/2025 Cornell Chronicle

Joseph A. Burns, Ph.D. ’66, emeritus professor of engineering and astronomy, and a former vice provost and dean of the Cornell faculty, died Feb. 26 in Ithaca.

Government

The key to some nations’ public support for mental health care

2/11/2025 Cornell Chronicle

Isabel Perera explains why some countries have failed to provide adequate services for the mentally ill while others expanded care.

Illustration of an adult holding a baby, both with speech balloons — Caitlin Cook/Cornell University

Psychology

Power of babble: Babies elicit simpler speech from adults

2/6/2025 Cornell Chronicle

Across languages and cultures, parents simplify their speech in response to babies’ babbling and early speech, supporting language development, new Cornell research finds.

Person holding a smart phone — Daria Nepriakhina/Unsplash

Psychology

Short and sweet: Supportive texts give partners a boost

2/3/2025 Cornell Chronicle

Supportive texts from a significant other can help people cope with stressful events in their daily lives, Cornell psychology research finds.

Illustation showing a box labeled "vote" decorated with a light bulb and a trophy. A hand is placing a square into a slot in the box — Credit: Seung Yeon Kim/Cornell University

Government

Good intentions pave incumbents’ road to re-election

1/15/2025 Cornell Chronicle

Voters care if they’re better off than before the last election — but also about incumbent politicians’ intentions, Cornell research finds.

Illustration of three television sets, each with a pair of people showing on the screen — Credit: Caitlin Cook/Cornell University

Psychology

We mimic each other, like it or not

12/18/2024 Cornell Chronicle

Mimicry appears to be a fundamental behavior that helps people understand each other, not just when they get along, new Cornell psychology research finds.

Person sits on a porch with one hand on a blue historic marker — Ryan Young/Cornell University Thomas J. Campanella, MLA ’91, professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning in the College of Architecture, Art and Planning, spearheaded the effort to commemorate Pearl S. Buck’s first residency in Ithaca with a New York State Historic Marker, funded by the Pomeroy Foundation. He offered a preview of the marker prior to its Dec. 8 installation near Forest Home Chapel.

Literatures in English

Historic marker celebrates Pearl S. Buck’s stop in Ithaca

12/6/2024 Cornell Chronicle

Years before writing “The Good Earth” and winning the Nobel Prize in Literature, the aspiring novelist received encouragement and a master’s degree at Cornell.

Person speaking into a microphone — Sreang Hok/Cornell University. Lisa Kaltenegger, director of the Carl Sagan Institute, associate professor of astronomy and author of “Alien Earths: The New Science of Planet Hunting in the Cosmos,” said the thousands of exoplanets detected to date suggest there are “billions and billions” of possibilities for life beyond Earth.

Astronomy

Sagan celebrated for scientific mind – and imagination

11/12/2024 Cornell Chronicle

In person and online Nov. 9, thousands attended an interdisciplinary program of research presentations and music celebrating Carl Sagan’s legacy, on what would have been his 90th birthday.

Illustration of a sign "Fake News" on an easel — Hartono Creative Studio/Unsplash

Psychology

Could ‘inoculation’ limit election misinformation?

11/4/2024 Cornell Chronicle

A popular strategy for combating misinformation can help people distinguish truth from falsehood – when combined with reminders to focus on accuracy, Cornell-led research finds.

NASA/JPL-CalTech An artist's concept of NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft.

Astronomy

Scientists supporting mission to assess Europa’s habitability

10/14/2024 Cornell Chronicle

Jupiter’s moon Europa may have conditions that could support life. To find out, NASA has launched its next flagship science mission, Europa Clipper, and Cornell scientists will play a role.

child wearing sunglasses, holding two strawberriers — quentin touvard/Unsplash

Economics

Kids don’t need to love salads to maintain healthy weight

10/2/2024 Cornell Chronicle

Serving children more nutritious meals didn't reduce their taste for sweets, but promoted healthier weight over time by reducing added sugar and fat consumption, a Cornell-led study found.

Book cover: Positioning Women in Conflict Studies

Government

Improving women’s status promotes peace – but how?

9/17/2024 Cornell Chronicle

Scholars and policymakers need to look at more than "gender equality" to assess women’s status and how it contributes to political violence or peace, political scientist Sabrina Karim argues in a new book.

Toy car in front of colored blocks — Michael Goldstein/B.A.B.Y Lab/Provided Cornell researchers designed this remote-controlled car to study the importance in early development of contingency – caregivers’ responses close in time to a baby’s behavior. Babies formed strong expectations that the car would be responsive, showing they are highly flexible in what they will learn from contingently, even including machines that lack human features.

Psychology

Timely responses – even from a car – drive babies’ learning

8/9/2024 Cornell Chronicle

The timing of others’ reactions to their babbling is key to how babies begin learning, Cornell developmental psychologists found – with help from a remote-controlled car.

Person in Cornell cap speaks enthusiastically to a small group — Jason Koski/Cornell University Navy veteran Tyler Parker said the Warrior-Scholar Project’s two-week academic boot camp at Cornell, which included coursework in humanities and in science, technology, engineering and math, had helped advance his goals to pursue neuroscience research.

Warrior-Scholar Project

Academic boot camp tackles mission: imposter syndrome

8/9/2024 Cornell Chronicle

A group of military service members and veterans spent two weeks at Cornell as part of the Warrior-Scholar Project, which helps participants build skills and navigate transitions to higher education.

Person juggling four orange clubs under a dark overhang — Jason Koski/Cornell University After taking up juggling at age 10, Jonah Botvinick-Greenhouse won the World Juggling Federation’s junior title at 12 – two years before becoming the youngest to win its advanced overall championship.

Mathematics

Going for Paris gold, math scholar aids juggling’s Olympic bid

6/25/2024 Cornell Chronicle

Doctoral student Jonah Botvinick-Greenhouse could be crowned the world’s best juggler in a June 30 competition that aims to help build a case for juggling as an Olympic sport.

Multi-colored, uneven bands, some straight, some with curved projections, represent ice layers — NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/JHU This image taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows ice sheets at Mars’ south pole.

Astronomy

Simulations dampen excitement about liquid water on Mars

6/7/2024 Cornell Chronicle

Cornell researchers have provided a simple and comprehensive – if less dramatic – explanation for bright radar reflections initially interpreted as liquid water beneath the ice cap on Mars’ south pole.

Five people in military uniforms stand at attention — Ryan Young/Cornell University Newly commissioned Army second lieutenants during a May 24 ceremony in Alice Statler Hall. From left to right: Tyler Unrath; Emily Segal; Julian Morales; John Mather; and Ryan Kim.

ROTC

‘Ready to serve’: ROTC grads commissioned as officers

5/25/2024 Cornell Chronicle

At a May 24 ceremony in Statler Auditorium, 21 graduating members of the Tri-Service Brigade received commissions as officers in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Space Force.

Person speaking into a megaphone — Clem Onojeghuo/Unsplash

Government

Personal crises reduce voter turnout, but may prompt other political action

5/23/2024 Cornell Chronicle

People with unstable lives are systematically underrepresented at the ballot box, finds new political science research co-authored by Jamila Michener.

Person working in a chemistry lab, pouring colored liquid from one beaker to another

Economics

Marginal students reap more benefits from STEM programs

5/22/2024 Cornell Chronicle

Enrolling in a selective college STEM program pays off more for academically marginal students – even though they are less likely to graduate, Cornell economics research finds.

College campus with stately buildings and green lawns under a blue sky, with a lake in the background

Campus policy

Committee to recommend final expressive activity policy

5/16/2024 Cornell Chronicle

The committee of faculty members, students and staff has begun a review of the university’s interim expressive activity policy and will recommend a final policy early in the fall semester.

Anthropology

Beyond the ‘booms’: Book probes everyday disasters in South Baltimore, offers hope

5/9/2024 Cornell Chronicle

In “Futures After Progress,” anthropologist Chloe Ahmann documents Curtis Bay’s industrial past and how it is grappling with pollution and the loss of steady work.

Four rocky objects against a black background — Credit: NASA/Goddard/SwRI/Johns Hopkins APL/NOIRLab for the original images/Brian May/Claudia Manzoni for stereo processing of the images A pair of stereoscopic images of the asteroid Dinkinesh and Selam created with data collected by the L’LORRI camera on NASA's Lucy spacecraft in the minutes around closest approach on Nov. 1, 2023.

Astronomy

Novel calculations peg age of ‘baby’ asteroid

5/1/2024 Cornell Chronicle

A Cornell-led research team derived the age of Selam, a “moonlet” orbiting the asteroid Dinkinesh in the main asteroid belt, based only on the pair’s dynamics.

Person in lab coat holding a glass bottle — Ryan Young/Cornell University Lígia Fonseca Coelho, postdoctoral associate at the Carl Sagan Institute and first author of the study, cultivating bacteria samples in the lab.

Astronomy

In search for alien life, purple may be the new green

4/16/2024 Cornell Chronicle

Purple bacteria is one of the primary contenders for life that could dominate a variety of Earth-like planets orbiting different stars, and would produce a distinctive "light fingerprint," Cornell scientists report.

Person in military fatigues addresses others — Andrew Cutraro/Provided On April 11, 2004, Maj. Richard J. Gannon II '95 addressed Marines under his command during a memorial service for Lance Cpl. Christopher B. Wasser of Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, at Camp Husaybah, Iraq, near the Syrian border. Gannon was killed days later while trying to help a wounded Marine. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and Silver Star.

Cornell Veterans

5K run, remembrances to honor fallen Cornell war hero

4/4/2024 Cornell Chronicle

On April 13, the Navy Reserve Officers' Training Corps will celebrate the legacy of U.S. Marine Maj. Richard J. Gannon II '95, nearly 20 years after he was killed in Iraq.

hundreds of workers wearing red caps bend over long tables, rolling cigarettes — Marina Welker/Provided Workers hand roll kretek in a "living factory" at House of Sampoerna, a kretek museum in the East Javanese port city of Surabaya. Kretek museums present the history of the commodity in a nostalgic and flattering light and frame kretek manufacturers as benevolent patrons.

Anthropology

Why kretek – ‘no ordinary cigarette’ – thrives in Indonesia

4/1/2024 Cornell Chronicle

In a new book, anthropologist Marina Welker examines the staggering success of clove-laced tobacco cigarettes called “kretek” in Indonesia, the world’s second-largest cigarette market.

Metal machine with wheels on a rocky landscape — NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS NASA’s Perseverance rover exploring Jezero Crater

Astronomy

Mars Sample Return a top scientific priority, Lunine testifies

3/21/2024 Cornell Chronicle

Samples of Martian rock and soil could be stranded if Congress doesn't adequately fund a NASA mission to retrieve them, Astronomy Chair Jonathan Lunine told a U.S. House subcommittee on March 21.

The frozen ocean world of Enceladus, a moon of Saturn.

Astronomy

Ice shell thickness reveals water temp on ocean worlds

2/29/2024 Cornell Chronicle

Decades before any probe dips a toe – and thermometer – into the waters of distant ocean worlds, Cornell astrobiologists have devised a way to determine ocean temperatures based on the thickness of their ice shells, effectively conducting oceanography from space.

Two people leaning back to back against a wall, shadowed — Henri Pham/Unsplash

Couples studies

For couples, negative speaks louder than positive

2/13/2024 Cornell Chronicle

People with stronger negative implicit judgments about a partner are more likely to perceive negativity in daily interactions with them, which hurts relationship satisfaction over time, Cornell psychology research finds.

Outline of a brain in colorful lines against a black background

Psychology

Mouse social calls and distress calls linked to different neurons

1/31/2024 Cornell Chronicle

“Vocal communication is central to our experience as humans and fundamental to social success for animals generally,” said Prof. Katherine Tschida.

Sign showing Populism going one way and democracy the other

Government

Democratic decline a global phenomenon, even in wealthy nations

1/18/2024 Cornell Chronicle

Democratic backsliding is occurring in an unprecedented number of wealthy countries once thought immune to such forces – the United States among them, finds a new analysis led by Cornell political scientists.

Government

Poverty is a political choice, Michener tells NYS Senate

12/14/2023 Cornell Chronicle

On Dec. 12, Jamila Michener offered expert testimony during a New York State Senate committee hearing focused on the causes and effects of poverty in the state’s small and midsized cities.

Person pointing to a brightly lit, colorful computer schreen — Jason Koski/Cornell University Anna Ho, assistant professor of astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Astronomy

With unprecedented flares, stellar corpse shows signs of life

11/15/2023 Cornell Chronicle

The bright, brief flashes – as short as a few minutes in duration, and as powerful as the original explosion 100 days later – appeared in the aftermath of a rare type of stellar cataclysm.

Illustration of a tree, a dinosaur and a bird

Astronomy

Jurassic worlds might be easier to spot than modern Earth

11/2/2023 Cornell Chronicle

Telescopes could better detect potential chemical signatures of life in the atmosphere of an Earth-like exoplanet more closely resembling the age the dinosaurs inhabited than the one we know today, Cornell astronomers find.

Orange tube-like machine covered with lice — Icefin/NASA PSTAR RISE UP/Schmidt/Lawrence The Icefin underwater vehicle has sonar, chemical and biological sensors that help researchers characterize sub-ice environments.

Astronomy

Underwater robot updates understanding of ice shelf crevasses

10/27/2023 Cornell Chronicle

Crevasses play an important role in circulating seawater beneath Antarctic ice shelves, potentially influencing their stability, finds Cornell-led research based on first-of-its-kind exploration by an underwater robot.

tiny island sprouting palm trees and a few buildings

Effecting Policy Changes

Governments around the world have shown resistance to dealing substantively with climate change, and people who care deeply have struggled to make a difference. Social scientists at Cornell studying the issue offer new ways to look at the problem, and new approaches to effect real change – like working from the bottom up.

From bottom up, bureaucrats elevate climate change as priority

illustration of gravitaional waves — NANOGrav/Sonoma State University/Aurore Simonnet The NANOGrav collaboration has found the first evidence for low-frequency gravitational waves permeating the cosmos. The finding was made possible with 15 years of pulsar observations that turned the Milky Way into a galaxy-sized gravitational wave detector.

Astronomy

After 15 years, gravitational waves detected as cosmic ‘hum’

6/29/2023 Cornell Chronicle

A 15-year collaboration in which Cornell astrophysicists have played leading roles has found the first evidence of gravitational waves slowly undulating through the galaxy.

Black and white image of two people sitting on a bench, seen from behind — Marc A. Sporys/Unsplash A couple

Sociology

Spouses sharing friends may live longer after widowhood

6/28/2023 Cornell Chronicle

New Cornell sociology research: The “widowhood effect” – the tendency for married people to die in close succession – is accelerated when spouses don’t know each other’s friends well.

Illustration of three planets side-by-side — Carl Sagan Institute/R. Payne Artist impression showing the exoplanet LP 890-9c’s potential evolution from a hot Earth to a desiccated Venus.

Astronomy

Exoplanet may reveal secrets about the edge of habitability

6/21/2023 Cornell Chronicle

A recently discovered exoplanet may be key to solving how close a rocky planet can be to a star, and still sustain water and life.

Digital image of purple building-like shapes emerging from a blue floor — Google DeepMind/Unsplash Generative AI

Technology

Kreps: Generative AI holds promise, peril for democracies

5/23/2023 Cornell Chronicle

Popularized in 2022 by Open AI’s ChatGPT, generative artificial intelligence threatens to undermine trust in democracies when misused, but may also be harnessed for public good.

Bright pink circle shot through with blue against a black background — NASA/CXC/SAO/IXPE This image of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, the first object observed by NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) satellite, combines some of the first X-ray data collected by IXPE, shown in magenta, with high-energy X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory, in blue. The satellite later detected polarized X-rays from 4U 0142+61, a highly magnetized neutron star located in the Cassiopeia constellation.

Astronomy

Neutron star’s X-rays reveal ‘photon metamorphosis’

5/4/2023 Cornell Chronicle

Scientists were surprised when a NASA satellite detected that lower- and higher-energy X-rays were polarized differently, with electromagnetic fields oriented at right angles to each other.

Kristina Hugar, Ph.D. ‘15, Ecolectro’s chief science officer, conducts research in the startup’s laboratory space at Cornell’s McGovern Center.

Sociology

Integrating STEM majors won’t end gender segregation at work

5/1/2023 Cornell Chronicle

Only 36% of the gender segregation seen among college-educated workers is tied to their undergraduate degrees, a new study finds.

Psychology

Circumstances influence happiness as much as personality

4/25/2023 Cornell Chronicle

Surveys of happiness and life satisfaction overstate the importance of psychological traits, but a methodological change – simply asking someone how they’re doing – enables a fairer comparison.

TV screen, socked feet on a coffee table

Economics

‘Cheap thrills’: Low-cost leisure leads to less work, more play

4/24/2023 Cornell Chronicle

Researchers found that people today work substantially less than they did generations ago because of virtually unlimited cheap entertainment increasingly at their fingertips.

Person speaks to an audience in a room lighted blue — Evangeline Shaw/Unsplash Being a woman or racial minority can help someone stand out when few others look like them but they are more likely to be confused in settings where others share the same attributes.

Economics

Remember me? Gender, race may make you forgettable

4/3/2023 Cornell Chronicle

Economist Michèle Belot says that systemic biases in the way we remember people could influence social networks important to career advancement.

Ryan Young/Cornell University Darryl Seligman, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences, and a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow.

Astronomy

First known interstellar interloper resembles ‘dark comet’

3/22/2023 Cornell Chronicle

Insights from Oumuamua could advance our understanding of planet formation in this solar system and others.

Red circle with blue light at the end and two threads leading down — Icefin/NASA PSTAR RISE UP/Schmidt/Quartini The remotely operated underwater vehicle Icefin, developed by a team led by Britney Schmidt, is visible as it is lowered via a 4.3-mm fiber-optic tether through a borehole to start one of three dives beneath the Ross Ice Shelf near Kamb Ice Stream in Dedcember 2019. A tent shelter’s color is reflected in the ice.

Astronomy

Robot provides unprecedented views below Antarctic ice shelf

3/2/2023 Cornell Chronicle

A U.S.-New Zealand research team recognized a shift as evidence of “ice pumping” – a process important to the stability of the Ross Ice Shelf.

A disc of stars in space — NASA/JPL-Caltech

Astronomy

Astronomers discover metal-rich galaxies in early universe

2/27/2023 Cornell Chronicle

Cornell astronomers discovered a companion galaxy estimated at 1.4 billion years old while scanning images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.

Group of people in an equipment room, a table of parts — Noël Heaney/Cornell University Britney Schmidt, center, and research team members

Climate research

Underwater robot helps explain Antarctic glacier’s retreat

2/15/2023 Cornell Chronicle

First-of-their-kind observations beneath the floating shelf of a vulnerable Antarctic glacier reveal widespread cracks and crevasses where melting occurs more rapidly, contributing to the glacier’s retreat.

Sociology

Same-race reviews reduce inequality in Airbnb bookings

2/8/2023 Cornell Chronicle

White guests favor Airbnb properties with white hosts, but are more inclined to rent from Black or Asian hosts if they see featured reviews from previous white guests, Cornell research finds.

Government

‘Bombing among friends’: Historian probes Allied raids on Italy

1/26/2023 Cornell Chronicle

In WWII, two-thirds of the Italian civilian victims of Allied bombing were killed when Italy was no longer an enemy.

An auditorium with a large crowd celebrating a graduation — Lindsay France/Cornell University In Barton Hall on Dec. 18, the university’s 20th recognition ceremony for December graduates honored more than 700 recipients of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees.

December graduates

December graduation celebrates unique paths to Cornell education

12/23/2022 Cornell Chronicle

More than 700 students were awarded degrees at the university’s 20th recognition ceremony Dec. 18.

Six people stand in a group at the front of a classroom, conversing — Jason Koski/Cornell University David Hernandez ’23 talks with students in the Cornell University Panhellenic Council after giving a talk to the group on his experience as a student veteran at Cornell.

Student veterans

Breaking barriers: Peer outreach boosts student veterans

11/10/2022 Cornell Chronicle

The number of undergraduate veterans enrolled at Cornell has nearly quadrupled over the past five years, thanks in part to outreach by a team of student veteran peer counselors.

Peter Enns — Peter K. Enns, the Robert S. Harrison Director of the Cornell Center for Social Sciences, Executive Director of the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research and professor of government

Government

Cornell-led election survey seeks to improve science of polls

11/4/2022 Cornell Chronicle

The survey boasts a sample size 20 times larger than most nationally representative surveys.

Red flag against a white sky — Alejandro Luengo/Unsplash Chinese flag

China

People over numbers: Book charts China’s neopolitical turn

11/1/2022 Cornell Chronicle

Jeremy Lee Wallace explains how a few numbers came to define Chinese politics “until they did not count what mattered and what they counted did not measure up,” and the “stunning about-face” led by Xi Jinping within the Chinese Communist Party.

International studies

How security crises can spur state-building in Latin America

10/17/2022 Cornell Chronicle

Gustavo Flores-Macías analyzes key factors of public safety across Latin America in his new book.

Two people stand in front of a pond surrounded by woods — Lisa Godfrey Evon and Sydney Antonio sustainably manage 450 acres of forestland in Greene County, New York.

Rural Humanities

Outreach supports Black rural landowners in Northeast

10/4/2022 Cornell Chronicle

Supported by a grant from the College of Arts and Sciences' Rural Humanities initiative through an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation award, a 30-page publication highlights the stories of five Black owners of forestland in Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire and Vermont

Two people smile, discovering a piece of scientific equipment — Noël Heaney/Cornell 2022 Warrior-Scholars Samuel Espino (Left, Active Duty Air Force) and Marbin Garcia Renoj (Right, Active Duty Marine Corps) look at equipment during a tour of the Newman Accelerator Laboratory.

Student veterans

Academic boot camp boosts veterans’ higher ed mission

8/11/2022 Cornell Chronicle

Professors in physics and classics contributed to the Warrior-Scholar Project (WSP) hosted at Cornell for military veterans July 23 to Aug. 6.

metal sculpture of a figure blindfolded and holding scales — Tingey Injury Law Firm/ Unsplash Justice representation

Government

Courts, not amendments, best route for constitutional reform

7/18/2022 Cornell Chronicle

Since the mid-20th century, Congress has repurposed Article V of the U.S. Constitution from a tool for constitutional reform into a mechanism for taking positions on issues, according to research by David A. Bateman.

History

How Herman Melville can help us cope with dark times

6/15/2022 Cornell Chronicle

Prof. Aaron Sachs’ new book tells the stories of two American writers, who he says show us how history can offer hope.

World map, color coded — Canuckguy et al./Creative Commons license 3.0 Fitch ratings of world countries

Economics

Self-fulfilling rankings boost agencies’ power, influence

5/17/2022 Cornell Chronicle

Cornell researchers developed a theoretical model that suggests an explanation for ratings produced by firms like Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch, or the World Bank.

Mother holding baby, leaning her forehead against the baby's forehead. Both are smiling. — Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash

Linguistics

After ‘mama,’ children’s first words include ‘this’ and ‘that’

4/7/2022 Cornell Chronicle

A new Cornell study by Klarman Fellow Amalia Skilton is the largest ever, by sample size, of early vocabulary development in an Indigenous language.

People stand in a half circle in a sunny outdoor plaza — Sreang Hok/Cornell University Members of the Cornell community gathered March 4 on Ho Plaza for a vigil showing solidarity with the people of Ukraine, organized by the Cornell Interfaith Council.

International

Experts: Ukraine war puts world in ‘uncharted territory’

3/5/2022 Cornell Chronicle

Clarity about the goals of sanctions against Russia will be key to attempts to de-escalate the conflict, Cornell faculty experts said during a March 4 panel discussion.

Government

Tenant groups build power in marginalized communities

3/1/2022 Cornell Chronicle

Scholars have overlooked tenant organizations as a crucial source of political power in the most precarious communities, according to new research co-authored by Jamila Michener.

Psychology

Why language is like charades – and could save us from AI

2/22/2022 Cornell Chronicle

Language emerges from a continual flow of creative improvisation, not biologically evolved genes or instincts, argue authors of a new book.

Africana Studies and Research Center

Water crisis increased Flint children’s lead exposure

1/25/2022 Cornell Chronicle

As many as one in four children in Flint, Michigan – far above the national average – may have experienced elevated blood lead levels after the city’s 2014 water crisis, finds new research by Jerel Ezell, assistant professor in the Africana Studies and Research Center.

Person walking past a wall painted with many faces

Psychology

Fear of majority-minority changes perceptions of race

1/19/2022 Cornell Chronicle

The threat of demographic change may alter who white Americans perceive as racial minorities, potentially making more people vulnerable to discrimination, suggests new Cornell psychology research.

Government

How to transform neighborhoods without destroying them

12/2/2021 Cornell Chronicle

"In the wealthiest country on earth, can it possibly be that low-income residents only get to live in wretched places?"

Awards

Weiss teaching awards honor 10 exceptional faculty

10/18/2021 Cornell Chronicle

Three A&S faculty members have been selected to receive Stephen H. Weiss Awards honoring excellence in undergraduate teaching and mentoring, President Martha E. Pollack announced Oct. 18.

Maserati in front of elaborate house with fountain and sculpture in courtyard — Photo by Anastase Maragos on Unsplash

Psychology

Lavish wealth tolerated more for individuals than groups

10/18/2021 Cornell Chronicle

Driving the effect, the researchers propose, is our tendency to see internal traits as more responsible for individual successes and failures than for group outcomes.

Center for the Study of Economy & Society

Center links economy and society to study changing world

9/27/2021 Cornell Chronicle

The development of regional knowledge economies is one of several primary areas of research focus for the center’s Economic Sociology Lab, supported by graduate researchers and undergraduate assistants.

Public Policy

Decades in making, public policy school now a reality

9/17/2021 Cornell Chronicle

The Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy creates a home for policy-oriented faculty to study and teach, and for students to learn, about effective, thoughtful policymaking, analysis and management.

Two mice perched on flowers and facing each other

Psychology

Lonely mice more vocal, more social after isolation

9/1/2021 Cornell Chronicle

Female mice exhibit a strong drive to socialize with other females following periods of acute isolation.

Psychology

How moviemaking evolved to draw us in

8/24/2021 Cornell Chronicle

James Cutting, the Susan Linn Sage Professor of Psychology Emeritus in the College of Arts and Sciences, has a new book, “Movies on Our Minds: The Evolution of Cinematic Engagement,” published Aug. 24

Kaushik Basu wearing a tweed jacket with hand upraised as he delivers a talk. — Cornell University File Photo Kaushik Basu at a 2016 Chats in the Stacks talk about his book “An Economist in the Real World.”

Economics

Dear diary: Basu shares notes from policymaking’s front lines

8/3/2021 Cornell Chronicle

Prof. Kaushik Basu's new book recounts his experiences in government, as India's chief economist and as senior vice president at the World Bank.

Sociology

Religious have fewer children in secular countries

7/29/2021 Cornell Chronicle

The study reveals that “societal secularism” is a better predictor of fertility rates than surveys of individuals’ religiosity or secularism.

Wedding bouquet and rings — Beatriz Perez Moya on Unsplash

Sociology

Choose wisely: Spouses consolidate resources in families

7/23/2021 Cornell Chronicle

In consolidating multiple types of resources, married partners deal themselves and their children better hands with long-term payoffs, but the process may amplify inequality across generations.

People placing their hands together in a circle

Moral Psychology

Following the ‘wisdom of crowds’ can stifle diversity

7/20/2021 Cornell Chronicle

People who believe there is a single right answer to a question are better at coordinating with others, but that benefit may come at the expense of a diversity of opinions.

Government

Money talks: Wealthy ‘hijack’ agenda to gain policy influence

7/12/2021 Cornell Chronicle

Analyzing more than 20 years of floor speeches by members of Congress, a new book co-authored by Peter K. Enns, professor in the Department of Government, explains why corporate and wealthy interests dominate the national economic agenda.

Economics

Report: Ithaca economy shouldn’t return to business as usual

6/30/2021 Cornell Chronicle

Economist Michèle Belot and the ILR School’s Ithaca Co-Lab recommend workforce strategies to reduce racial disparities, remove barriers to work and prioritize living-wage jobs.

Public policy

Colleen Barry named inaugural dean of public policy school

6/15/2021 Cornell Chronicle

Colleen L. Barry, a professor and department chair at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, has been named the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy’s first dean, effective Sept. 15.

Public policy

Gift endows, names Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy

6/10/2021 Cornell Chronicle

The major gift from the Brooks family, whose Cornell roots span three generations, provides an early boost to help the university’s newest school achieve world-class excellence.

Psychology

Face value? Attractiveness biases financial decisions

6/4/2021 Cornell Chronicle

Vivian Zayas, associate professor of psychology, found attractive investment partners were seen as more trustworthy even if they weren’t the most profitable.

Government

Skipping the second shot could prolong pandemic, study finds

4/29/2021 Cornell Chronicle

New Cornell research shows many Americans remain confused about when COVID-19 vaccines provide strong protection.

View between two library shelves full of books

Cornell Center for Social Sciences

Grants advance social sciences research, collaboration

4/29/2021 Cornell Chronicle

The Cornell Center for Social Sciences has awarded spring grants supporting research and conferences involving more than 30 faculty and researchers across campus, including collaborations within new and expanded superdepartments.

Africana Studies

Water crisis took toll on Flint adults’ physical, mental health

4/16/2021 Cornell Chronicle

“If you don’t trust your water and you actively avoid it over persistent concerns on its safety, that’s a stark form of psychological trauma in and of itself.”

Government

Fear year: Pandemic politics made us anxious, but hardly safer

4/15/2021 Cornell Chronicle

According to new research by government professor Uriel Abelof, the past year has seen a dramatic rise in existential fear, with people around the world thinking about death twice as often as before.

Economics

Sweet rewards valued more, may contribute to obesity

4/14/2021 Cornell Chronicle

Next time you reward a child with a treat, consider offering nuts instead of candy, a Cornell economist suggests.

Government

President Clinton: U.S. in ‘dogfight’ for democracy

3/19/2021 Cornell Chronicle

During a March 18 webinar on the state of American democracy hosted by the Institute of Politics and Global Affairs (IOPGA), former President Bill Clinton challenged more than 3,600 students and other viewers to stand up for democratic norms including voting rights.

Government, Sociology

Search committee set for policy school’s founding dean

2/25/2021 Cornell Chronicle

The university has launched a search for the founding dean of the School of Public Policy, building excitement about the fledgling school that could formally start operations as soon as this fall.

Cornell Center for Social Sciences

Center for Social Sciences announces 2021-22 faculty fellows

2/5/2021 Cornell Chronicle

Political polarization, environmental justice and inclusion in higher education are a few of big issues faculty members—including several from the College of Arts and Sciences—will tackle in the next academic year as fellows at the Cornell Center for Social Sciences (CCSS).

Sociology

Pandemic reshaped ‘small world’ campus networks

1/28/2021 Cornell Chronicle

Through courses alone, more than 90% of students were linked by three or fewer degrees of separation.

Migrations Initiative

Migrations initiative wins $5M Mellon grant for racial justice

1/13/2021 Cornell Chronicle

Migrations: A Global Grand Challenge, part of Global Cornell, has won a three-year, $5 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s Just Futures Initiative that will bring together scholars across the university and beyond to study the links between racism, dispossession and migration.

Government

Perceived erosion of democracy spawns new campaign

1/13/2021 Cornell Chronicle

During his 16 years representing a Long Island district in Congress, Steve Israel said he saw divisiveness and partisanship grow exponentially. By the time he retired from the House of Representatives in 2017, compromise and respect for democratic norms seemed almost irrelevant, he said, and his biggest fear was not of foreign conflict but internal division.

Cornell Center for Social Sciences

Center’s grants seed diverse research in the social sciences

1/5/2021 Cornell Chronicle

How do perceptions of luck shape views about inequality and redistribution? Could interventions nudge hiring managers to evaluate job candidates blindly, and thus more objectively? Has remote instruction during the pandemic improved student interactions and equity in science labs?