Mohammad Hamidian, Ph.D. ’11, has been named the 2016 winner of the prestigious Lee-Osheroff-Richardson Prize for his discoveries of new forms of electronic matter at the nanoscale and at extreme low temperatures.
Gerard Aching, director of the Africana Studies and Research Center, sees connections between the messages in two popular books and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Cuban poet and slave Juan Francisco Manzano (1797–1854) and his 1839 “Autobiografía de un esclavo,” the only slave narrative to surface in the Spanish-speaking world, are the starting point of an examination of 19th-century Cuban literature and social politics in Gerard Aching’s recent book, “Freedom from Liberation: Slavery, Sentiment, and Literature in Cuba.”
by :
Linda B. Glaser
,
Arts & Sciences Communications
The mind that thinks our thoughts is a pretty special place. But is it distinct from the brain? Is there, in fact, a soul directing our thoughts or are they determined entirely by the output of our biology? Could that mouse scampering through your garden be thinking deep thoughts, or are humans really special?
In testimony before the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies March 3, Jonathan Lunine, the David Duncan Professor in the Physical Sciences, discussed the rationale for scientific, seafaring journeys to Jupiter’s moon Europa, and to Saturn’s moons Enceladus and Titan – trips that may take place in the 2020s.
After combing through Cornell-archived data, astronomers have discovered the pop-pop-pop of a mysterious, cosmic Gatling gun – 10 millisecond-long “fast radio bursts” – caught by the Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico, as reported in Nature, March 2.
In the shadow of Saturn’s hulking planetary mass, Titan’s liquid hydrocarbon seas seem a bit choppy, astronomers say.Two and a half years ago, surfing through Cassini mission radar images of Ligeia Mare, the second-largest sea on Saturn’s moon Titan, a team of Cornell astronomers found a bright, mysterious feature – a transient feature they dubbed “Magic Island.”
Dan Schwarz, the Frederic J. Whiton Professor of English and a Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow, recently released a new book on undergraduate education, “How to Succeed in College and Beyond: The Art of Learning.”
From Virginia Woolf to Debussy, faculty share the works that have impacted their careers and their lives during this series of lunchtime talks with students.
A tribute to Alice Colby-Hall, emeritus professor of Romance Studies, will be released this May and includes essays by colleagues, some of whom are also former students. The volume will be presented to her on May 14 at a banquet at the International Congress on Medieval Studies at the University of Western Michigan in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Richard Swedberg, professor of sociology recently received an honorary doctorate from the Social Science Faculty of Upsala University in Sweden for his contributions to economic sociology and sociological theory.
We are living through an “extended moment of making fun of philosophers” in America, according to National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Chair William D. Adams, who spoke on the past and future of the humanities in Klarman Hall auditorium Feb. 24.
Just as the single-crystal silicon wafer forever changed the nature of electronics 60 years ago, a group of Cornell researchers is hoping its work with quantum dot solids – crystals made out of crystals – can help usher in a new era in electronics.
by :
Linda B. Glaser
,
Arts & Sciences Communications
Media studies research and teaching at Cornell elaborates on traditional techniques of scholarship, bringing in new objects of analysis and combining disciplines.
Hands and feet are two examples of chiral objects – non-superimposable mirror images of each other. One image is distinctly “left-handed,” while the other is “right-handed.” A simple drinking glass and a ball are achiral, meaning the object and its mirror image look exactly the same.
Students used Cornell’s photography and textile collections in creative ways as they developed research, critical thinking and writing skills in a pair of fall first-year writing seminars.
Cornell assistant professors Yimon Aye and David Mimno have been named recipients of fellowships from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, which supports early career faculty members’ original research and broad-based education related to science, technology and economic performance.
A platoon of Cornell faculty, alumni and students contributed to the mix of eminent global researchers at the 2016 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C., Feb. 11-15. They offered fresh thought on the world’s scientific strides.
This past December, Assistant Professor of English Elisha Cohn published her new book Still Life: Suspended Development in the Victorian Novel (Oxford University Press), an extension of her research on Victorian novels and theories of the aesthetic.
Faculty remember the "gentle yet powerful influence" of Steven Stucky, emeritus professor of music and Pulitzer Prize winner, who died this month at his home in Ithaca.
Six panels of faculty from across various disciplines in Arts and Sciences will share glimpses of their latest research on topics as diverse as technology and humanitarianism in a series of “Big Ideas” panel discussions this semester.
The Cornell Center for Materials Research JumpStart program, funded by Empire State Development’s Division of Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR), has helped 71 New York state small businesses develop and improve their products through university collaborations.
Cornell faculty, staff and graduate students from a variety of disciplines will share their research and work on Latin America at the inaugural conference of the Latin American Studies Program (LASP), Feb. 19 at the A.D. White House.
At the jam-packed first installment of Cornell University Library’s Chats in the Stacks series for the spring semester Feb. 4 in Mann Library, World Bank chief economist and Cornell professor Kaushik Basu spoke about his new book, “An Economist in the Real World: The Art of Policymaking in India.”
William D. Adams, chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), will deliver the Society for the Humanities’ annual Future of the Humanities Lecture Wednesday, Feb. 24, at 5 p.m. in Klarman Hall Auditorium. His topic: “The Common Good and the NEH at 50.”
Once, she soared above the heads of Cornell greats like A.A. Ammons and Roald Hoffmann as they debated the great questions of their time in the Cast Gallery of Goldwin Smith, later turned into the Temple of Zeus café. Then for years she lay forgotten, abandoned to dust and mold and neglect.
Director Jeff Guyton can’t remember the first time he heard the saying, but believes it’s the perfect way to describe his upcoming production, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [revised] (Feb. 25-March 5). “If you love Shakespeare, you will love this play. If you hate Shakespeare, you will love this play.”
Professor Saul Teukolsky and senior research scientist Lawrence Kidder in the physics and astronomy departments contributed to the historic discovery about gravitational waves that proved Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity.
by :
Linda B. Glaser
,
Arts & Sciences Communications
For 50 years, the Society for the Humanities has fostered path-breaking scholarship in the humanities. It has sponsored numerous internal grants, workshops and funding opportunities for Cornell faculty and graduate students in the humanities, as well as hosting over 100 annual lectures, workshops, colloquia and conferences organized by Cornell’s distinguished humanities faculty.
After examining hidden density waves from Saturn’s B-ring – the largest of the planet’s awe-inspiring, cosmic bands – astronomers confirm that this circular object is as lightweight as it is opaque. Their findings are published online in the journal Icarus.
Oil shapes human life and affects human values in profoundly connected ways across the planet. Yet rarely is oil – or other forms of energy – considered beyond technology and policy. A Feb. 26 symposium, “Oil and the Human: Views From the East and South,” will consider the relationship of oil with everyday life, human choices, politics and art across Africa, Latin America, Russia and East Asia. The event will be held in the A.D. White House from 1-4 p.m.
After two years of planning and lots of help from alumni, 96 members of the Glee Club and Chorus spent three weeks singing and teaching in Guatemala and Mexico.
Stephanie Czech Rader '37, a chemistry graduate who became a U.S. spy in Europe at the end of World War II, died Jan. 21 at the age of 100 at her home in Alexandria, Virginia.
Tony Brown's deep understanding of the scientific method has served him well as he's pursued careers in chemistry, consulting and cooking.Brown '86, executive chef and proprietor of Macon Bistro and Larder in northwest Washington, D.C., said he's used the following method in everything from recipe creation to parenting.
Six panelists, including Cornell faculty members, who attended the 21st United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris last fall recalled the historic proceedings for a spirited audience that spilled into the hallway of the Tompkins County Public Library’s BorgWarner Room Feb. 3.
Stephanie Wisner ’16 presented her research at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting and exposition last week in Washington, D.C.
Students and scholars can now freely search a new database of Latin and Greek authors that provides links to online versions of their works.The database, the Classical Works Knowledge Base (CWKB), contains metadata about 5,200 works by 1,500 ancient authors, allowing users with a limited knowledge of the classics’ canonical citation system to simply link to passages of digital texts.
Thanks to nearly 300 solar panels installed on both buildings in mid-December, the sun’s rays hitting the roof on Cornell’s Human Ecology Building and Klarman Hall now produce energy.
