Historian Joel H. Silbey, the President White Professor of History Emeritus and a member of the Cornell faculty since 1966, died Aug. 7. He was 84.Silbey was a prolific scholar of American history and political behavior, with a particular focus on the 19th century, and his teaching and scholarly interests included the Jacksonian era, sectional controversy, the Civil War and Reconstruction, and quantitative methods in history.
To root out the scientific complexities between nitrogen-fixing soil bacteria and its close alliance with plants, the National Science Foundation has awarded a $1.1 million Dimensions of Biodiversity grant to the Cornell-affiliated Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI). Unlocking the genetic and ecological detail behind this symbiotic relationship may help reduce agricultural dependence on synthetic fertilizer.
When the United Nations and other international players rebuild war-torn countries, they frequently require that women have greater representation in the country’s security forces. The idea is integrating women helps improve peace and security for everyone.But critics of these gender-equity reforms often suggest that women harm the cohesion of the police force.
A new technique that combines electricity and chemistry offers a way for pharmaceuticals – including many of the top prescribed medications – to be manufactured in a scalable and sustainable way. The procedure for this technique is outlined in a new paper published Aug. 2 in Nature Protocols.
High-temperature superconductors have remained a scientific mystery for more than 30 years. Their electrical resistance, which increases linearly with temperature, has been particularly puzzling, spawning hundreds of theories.
Image: Conceptual installation by Colombian-born sculptor Doris Salcedo at the 2007 exhibition at the Tate Modern in London. Photo credit: Gilberto Dobón, Wikimedia Commons
Some of the 14 participants in this year’s Warrior-Scholar Project (WSP) at Cornell said their week of intensive study, July 21-29, taught them how to read critically, paying attention to the perspectives of the authors, their intended audiences and the historical contexts that informed their writings. Others noted the relevance of ancient works to present times.
A National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NAS) committee has endorsed the idea of building an electron-ion collider (EIC) in the United States, for the purpose of expanding understanding of the fundamental building blocks of matter.
Andrej Singer, assistant professor of materials science and engineering and David Croll Sesquicentennial Faculty Fellow, will lead a three-year project funded by the Department of Energy’s Office of Science that will attempt to create new quantum states of matter.
In a recent research paper published in Nature, a group led by physics professors David Muller and Sol Gruner claimed a world record for electron microscope resolution using a high-powered detector and a technique called ptychography. Their technique was shown to measure down to 0.39 ångströms or 0.039 nanometers (one-billionth of a meter).
A project to develop topical therapies for skin diseases associated with DNA damage and another to investigate bone-binding polymers to relieve bone-on-bone pain for those with severe osteoarthritis are two of nine projects awarded 2018-19 Center for Advanced Technology (CAT) grants.CAT is housed in Cornell’s Institute of Biotechnology.
Fuel cells could someday power numerous devices – automobiles and mass transit systems, buildings, and virtually any type of portable electronic device.Unlike batteries, which eventually run out of power (and thus need to be recharged), a fuel cell will continue to generate electrical energy as long as it has a fuel – usually hydrogen – and oxygen or some other oxidant necessary for the complete electrochemical reaction.
A new book by Sarah Kreps, associate professor of government, argues that part of the reason for America's current long-running wars is the lack of a war tax – a special levy historically paid by the American people during times of war.
On July 26, astronomer Steve Squyres will explain the exciting science behind the proposed Comet Astrobiology Exploration Sample Return (CAESAR) mission. His talk, at 7 pm in Klarman Hall’s Rhodes-Rawling Auditiorium on the Cornell campus, is free and the public is invited.
“Carol was a bright light in our department and our college. Her brilliance and expertise was only matched by her kindness and generosity,” said Ella Diaz, associate professor of English and Latina/o studies. Gretchen Ritter, the Harold Tanner Dean of Arts and Sciences, called Warrior “one of the rising stars of our faculty.”
The Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future’s Academic Venture Fund (AVF) supports collaborations that cut across disciplines to address today’s greatest sustainability challenges. In 2018, the fund awarded $1.5 million to a range of projects that will provide sustainable solutions around the world, from the Finger Lakes to the Pamir Mountains in Central Asia.
In new research, psychologists found that study participants, on average, were more than twice as likely to call male professionals – even fictional ones – by their last name only, compared to equivalent female professionals. This example of gender bias, say researchers, may be contributing to gender inequality.
Thirteen students participating in the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program at Cornell traveled to Washington, D.C., June 28 to advocate for federal programs assisting first-generation and low-income college students.
Why would five Cornell professors decide to teach a class when there was no budget to pay them to do it? If you’re the directors of Cornell’s Behavioral Economics and Decision Research Center (BEDR), you rely on research showing the importance of the class topic: Better Decisions for Life, Love and Money.
Frontispiece of “Quasi Labor Intus: Ambiguity in Latin Literature,” created by Lucy Plowe B.F.A. '20 Legal capriciousness, or hog soup? The Latin “ius verrinum” could mean either, as the new volume “Quasi Labor Intus: Ambiguity in Latin Literature” explains.
According to a radical new model of emotion in the brain, a current treatment for the most common mental health problems could be ineffective or even detrimental to about 50 percent of the population.
The wrap-up session for the inaugural meeting of the Ecological Learning Collaboratory was not your typical academic exercise.In a sunlit room at Carl Becker House, 16 people danced to songs in Swahili (from Tanzania), Tumbuka (from Malawi), and Tamil (from southern India). As each song ended, the group erupted in shouts and raucous laughter.
For Reunion 2018, Cornell alumni came back to campus in various ways. Some arrived by bus from New York City, and some came by plane from overseas. Some caught shared rides from other states, and some attended virtually, thanks to live stream. One young alumnus came back by bicycle – and he came a very long way.
Cornell researchers have discovered there is a division of labor among immune cells that fight invading pathogens in the body.The study, published June 14 in the journal Cell, finds for the first time that fetal immune cells are present in adults and have specialized roles during infection. In fact, the first immune cells made in early life are fast-acting first responders to microbes in adulthood.
Reunion drew more than 7,500 alumni, family members and friends back to the Ithaca campus June 7-10. And with more than 5,400 alumni in attendance, 2018 was the most highly attended Reunion in Cornell’s history.“Cornellians are coming home in record-breaking numbers,” Paul Cashman ’73, president of the Cornell Association of Class Officers, said at Cornelliana Night, the raucous, song-filled culmination of the weekend.
In an era that swirls with government distrust, national political cynicism and questions of character among authorities, public service can rescue us, said New York State Supreme Court Justice Debra James ’75, J.D. ’78, at the June 8 Olin Lecture in Bailey Hall during Reunion Weekend.
At its May 26 meeting, the Cornell Board of Trustees elected three new trustees to four-year terms: Ooi Lee (William) Lim ’80, MAR ’82; Aryan Shayegani ’88, M.D. ’92; and Bradley H. Stone ’77.
Four Cornell faculty members have received Kendall S. Carpenter Memorial Advising Awards, which recognize sustained and distinguished contributions of professorial faculty and senior lecturers to undergraduate advising. The awards were established by Stephen Ashley ’62, MBA ’64, in honor of his adviser, Kendall S. Carpenter, a professor of business management at Cornell from 1954 until his death at the age of 50 in 1967.
The first graduating class of Five Points Correctional Facility inmates in the Cornell Prison Education Program (CPEP) received their degrees to congratulations and cheers at a recent ceremony.
The 2008 financial crisis was a watershed moment for the world’s central banks and their central bankers. Long seen as old boys’ clubs of bland technocrats, they suddenly found themselves in newspaper headlines and the speeches of populist politicians. The debates were not about standard central banking fare – tweaking interest rates to manage inflation – but equality, fairness and democracy.
The campus community has expressed strong interest in and engagement with a report from a faculty committee tasked with identifying organizational structures that might position Cornell’s social sciences for excellence in the next 10 to 15 years, say key administrators after holding 23 listening sessions with stakeholders.
As a Fulbright scholar at Cornell this year, Rebecca Macklin deepened her research through engagement with Native American communities, including joining Cornell students in educational outreach to indigenous high school students.
When Carisa (Triola) Steinberg ’97 was growing up, no one in her family had attended college. They didn’t expect her to, either. Her grandfather had college funds only for the boys in the family.She applied to Cornell anyway and was accepted – with full funding.
A newly arrived collection of Jewish books containing fables, with around 400 volumes spanning six centuries, will enrich Jewish studies at Cornell and cast light on the depth and breadth of Jewish civilization.The collection, which includes a 15th-century Torah scroll and six volumes from the first complete printing of the Babylonian Talmud, was delivered to the Cornell University Library’s Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections (RMC) earlier this month by Jon Lindseth ’56.
Cornell faculty members and academic staff participating in the Knowledge Matters Fellowship presented their projects, including comics, videos and websites, at a showcase wrapping up the yearlong transmedia training program May 10 at A.D. White House.
A hike in a spectacular Utah canyon got Shimon Edelman thinking: Humans crave novelty; boredom creates unhappiness. But if happiness is only possible through the pursuit of new experiences, what role does memory have?
Internationally known artists Carrie Mae Weems and Xu Bing will join participants from across the university this fall in the Cornell Council for the Arts (CCA) 2018 Biennial.
