News

Neurobiology and Behavior

Neuroscientist Azahara Oliva receives Packard Fellowship

10/15/2025 A&S Communications

The unrestricted fellowship funds enables Oliva and the 19 other fellows named this year to “test novel ideas and lead research that drives real-world impact,”

Government

Gaza ceasefire shouldn’t be considered a “peace deal”

10/15/2025 A&S Communications

Uriel Abulof, a visiting professor in Cornell University’s government department, calls it “a survival pact for leaders who thrive on conflict and enmity."

Event poster featuring the face of a scary person, in blue — Provided

Cornell Cinema

The Phantom of the Opera: Live score by Invincible Czars

10/14/2025 A&S Communications

This October, Cornell Cinema will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the silent movie “The Phantom of the Opera,” with live musical accompaniment by The Invincible Czars.

Physics

Fuchs, Hartman elected to American Physical Society

10/14/2025 Cornell Chronicle

Thomas Hartman, professor in the Department of Physics in the College of Arts and Sciences, is one of two Cornell faculty members elected this year as fellows of the American Physical Society (APS).

Person in black jump suit poses in front of a crowd of excited children — Provided Heather Alexander during a school visit

Alumni

Prolific children’s author offers some halloween-season chills

10/14/2025 Cornellians

The latest book from Heather Alexander ’89 is Haunted USA, which compiles spooky tales from all 50 states.

Microphone up close — Kane Reinholdtsen/Unsplash

International politics

Hot-mic moment with President window into ‘transactional foreign policy’

10/14/2025 A&S Communications

Trump has turned U.S. foreign policy into a tool for petty corruption and insider deal-making instead of supporting U.S. national interests, says a Cornell government faculty member.

Ryan Young/Cornell University Claudia Goldin '67

Economics

Nobelist explores women’s role in the workplace—and lives it

10/14/2025 Cornellians

Economist and Harvard professor Claudia Goldin ’67 studied under eminent Big Red faculty members Alfred Kahn and Walter LaFeber

Two people sitting in arm chairs, conversing in front of an audience — Kate Blackwood/College of Arts and Sciences Tanenhaus conversing with Dean Peter John Loewen during “The Man Who Built a Movement: How William F. Buckley Invented Modern Conservativism" on Oct. 9

Distinguished Visiting Journalist

Master storyteller shares secrets

10/14/2025 A&S Communications

During a week on campus, author and editor Sam Tanenhaus, told stories every step of the way and reminded his listeners that politically complex and even morally ambiguous material makes for great storytelling.

City under a sky with clouds — Brent Ninaber/Unsplash Antananarivo, Madagascar

International politics

African Union must condemn Madagascar coup, says Cornell expert

10/14/2025 A&S Communications

Olúfémi Táíwò, professor of Africana studies at Cornell University, said the move is another coup d’etat that Madagascar, and the African continent, does not need.

Music

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra to perform with violinist James Ehnes Oct. 26

10/13/2025 A&S Communications

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra with violin soloist James Ehnes will perform a program entitled “Postcards from Paris” in the next Dallas Morse Coors Concert Series (DMCCS) production of the 2025-26 season.

Ancient stone building near modern buildings in Athens, Greece — David Fucsku/Unsplash The ancient Agora of Athens, Greece

Government

Public speeches challenged assumptions in ancient Greece

10/13/2025 Cornell Chronicle

In a new paper, Klarman Postdoctoral Fellow Davide Napoli argues that public speeches in ancient Greece aimed not to express personal views, but to undermine entrenched ideas and challenge common-sense conclusions.

In Memoriam

Remembering Prof. Debra Castillo, champion of Latinx students, community

10/13/2025 A&S Communications

Professor Debra Castillo, Stephen H. Weiss presidential fellow and Emerson Hinchliff professor of Hispanic Studies in the College of Arts & Sciences, died Oct. 5 at the age of 72.

mosque spire rises in fog over a war-damaged street — Tomer Texler/Unsplash

History

Gaza ceasefire is a resounding policy victory for Trump

10/9/2025 A&S Communications

The president's leadership was a key factor in getting the deal done, says professor emeritus Barry Strauss.

An artist's rendition of an atom in the sky next to McGraw Tower on Cornell's campus.

Physics

Brad Ramshaw named Experimental Physics Investigator

10/9/2025 Cornell Chronicle

Cornell physicist Brad Ramshaw has been named a 2025 Experimental Physics Investigator – national recognition awarded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to a select group of researchers pushing the boundaries of experimental physics.

Economics

Gold surge does not pose a threat to the US dollar

10/9/2025 A&S Communications

“It would be virtually impossible for Gold to take on the multifaceted role of the USD in international trade and finance."

two black holes approach each other with a dark background of space — SXS Lensing/Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes Collaboration A visualization from a computer simulation of two black holes

Astrophysics

Cornell physicists update catalog of binary black holes

10/8/2025 A&S Communications

These simulations, developed with significant input from Cornell researchers using code written at Cornell, help scientists analyze gravitational waves observed by the LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA detectors located in the U.S., Italy and Japan.

Comparative literature

Writers, translators consider ‘Ukraine in Translation’ Oct. 18

10/7/2025 A&S Communications

The symposium responds to a new urgency to Ukrainian culture of the past, present and future both inside and outside the country.

Chemistry and Chemical Biology

Héctor Abruña to be honored at Dreyfus Prize ceremony Oct. 23

10/6/2025 A&S Communications

The president of the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation will present Abruña with the award in a 4 p.m. ceremony in the Meshri Family Auditorium, Baker Laboratory Room 200 and also livestreamed.

Economics and psychology

Behavioral economics: Born at Cornell, embraced by policymakers

10/3/2025 A&S Communications

Economists and psychologists work together to understand how human behavior impacts people's decision-making in the marketplace.

Economics and psychology

Nobel-winning behavioral economist Richard Thaler to speak Oct. 17

10/2/2025 A&S Communications

Thaler won the Nobel Prize in 2017 for work done in the 1980s at Cornell. He is now the Charles R. Walgreen Distinguished Service Professor of Behavioral Science and Economics at the University of Chicago.

professor and students in a classroom — University Photo Professor Michelle Smith, standing, works with students involved in an active learning project.

Innovation in the classroom

Faculty respond to request to share progressive teaching ideas, study shows

10/2/2025 A&S Communications

The team found a significant uptick in the number of articles published after 2013 that focused on core concepts and competencies suggested in a seminal report.

Colorful clouds and stars in deep space — Arnaud Mariat/Unsplash

Physics

Physicist: After 33 billon years, universe ‘will end in a big crunch’

10/2/2025 Cornell Chronicle

After expanding to its peak size about 11 billion years from now, the universe will begin to contract – snapping back like a rubber band to a single point at the end, according to a Cornell physicist.

Physics

‘Bottling’ human intuition for AI-led materials discovery

10/2/2025 Cornell Chronicle

A Cornell researcher and collaborators have developed a machine-learning model that encapsulates and quantifies the valuable intuition of human experts in the quest to discover new quantum materials.

Two people chatting outdoors — Devin Flores/Cornell University Swift Club Vice President Agustina Garcia ’27 (right) and Taylor Swift fan Leyla Rivera '27 prepare for the club's "The Life of a Showgirl" album release party starting at 10 p.m. Oct. 2 in Willard Straight Hall Memorial Room.

Student life

Cornell ‘Swifties’ bond over musical superstar

10/2/2025 Cornell Chronicle

The Cornell Swift Club will ring in a new Taylor Swift era with a late-night album release party for “The Life of a Showgirl.”

Shelves of children's books — Jenny Kalahar/Unsplash

Sociology

Political views, not sex and violence, now drive literary censorship

10/2/2025 Cornell Chronicle

Liberals and conservatives both oppose censorship of children’s literature – unless the writing offends their own political ideology, showing how a once-bipartisan issue has become polarized.

artificial intelligence graphic with brain, lights and circuits

Research centers

NIH grant to fund autism research center

10/2/2025 Cornell Chronicle

AR² is one of 13 projects funded by the $50 million ADSI research effort to assess the roles of genetics, environmental interactions and other factors in autism.

people watching someone do work — Kathy Hovis From left, Zakk Dannemann, a microfabricator at MiTeGen, works on a project, while talking with Benjamin Apker, MiTeGen’s chief executive officer, and company founder and Cornell physics professor Robert Thorne.

Faculty innovation

Creating customized tools for scientists around the world

10/1/2025 A&S Communications

Physics Professor Robert Thorne's company just celebrated 20 years in business and its 25th patent.

Distinguished Visiting Journalist

Journalist offers master class on op-eds, narrative storytelling

9/30/2025 Cornell Chronicle

Journalist and biographer Sam Tanenhaus will share his writing expertise with the Cornell community in a master class, “Op-Eds and Narrative Storytelling, on Oct. 8 in Lewis Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall.

People giving a presentation with a poster — Serge Petchenyi/Cornell University Students in Rhonda Gilmore's studio course present their plans of a redesigned Cornell classroom. Gilmore will present this project as an example of engaged learning at "What Works" on Oct. 1.

Engaged learning

Celebrating “What Works” in creating engaging learning experiences

9/30/2025 Cornell Chronicle

The Center for Teaching Innovation will host “What Works,” on Oct. 1, featuring presentations, the Canvas Course Spotlight awardees, and a poster showcase that will demonstrate engaged learning approaches from Cornell faculty teaching in a diverse range of courses and fields.

Jane Wang's face, with short dark hair and a smile.

Physics

Wang receives 2025 Stanley Corrsin Award from American Physical Society

9/30/2025 Cornell Engineering Magazine

Wang was honored for “original and innovative work on insect flight that provided fundamental insights into unsteady aerodynamics, flight efficiency, flight stability, and neural control, and for opening new dimensions of research in biological fluid dynamics.”

Historic photo of two men in suits at a desk, conferring: Richard Nixon and William F. Buckley — Levan Ramishvili/Public Domain William F. Buckley (right) with then-President Richard Nixon at the White House in 1969.

Distinguished Visiting Journalist

William F. Buckley’s secrets revealed in Oct. 9 talk

9/29/2025 Cornell Chronicle

Journalist Sam Tanenhaus will share insights gained from 20 years of investigation in “The Man Who Built a Movement: How William F. Buckley Invented Modern Conservatism,” a conversation with A&S Dean Peter John Loewen, on Oct. 9.

Blue sky, stone spire with a cross on top, people holding red, yellow and blue flags — Sasha Pleshco/ Unsplash Chișinău, Moldova

History

Moldovans showed “clarity about what is at stake” in pro-EU party vote

9/29/2025 A&S Communications

The Moldovan people still have a very clear memory of what life was like as a Soviet republic, says professor Cristina Florea after the pro-EU party decisively won a parliamentary election there.

A stage bathed in green light: several people play on keyboard instruments, including standing sythesizers, pianos, and an organ — Simon Wheeler for Cornell University Keyboard Energies concert, spring 2025

Music

‘The Keyboards Strike Back’: concert sequel set for Oct. 9

9/29/2025 A&S Communications

Cornell faculty and graduate students unleash a genre-bending program across seventeen keyboard instruments, from the delicate whisper of the clavichord to the analog punch of the Roland Juno-60.

Person speaking in front of an audience in a packed auditorium — Ryan Young/Cornell University Nobel-winning economist Claudia Goldin '67 delivered the 2025 George Staller Lecture to a packed audience in Rockefeller Hall’s Schwartz Auditorium on Sept. 25.

Economics

Nobel winner says US women won on rights, but benefits lag

9/29/2025 Cornell Chronicle

Claudia Goldin '67 used data to paint a picture of the "tremendous" progress of the U.S. women’s movement, as well as the forces that have prevented women from reaping the benefits of their rights.

Alumni

Alum spotlight: Ibrahim Gemeah, Ph.D. ’23

9/26/2025 Cornell University Graduate School

Ibrahim Gemeah, Ph.D. ’23, is an alumnus of the Near Eastern studies doctoral program with a focus on the history of the modern Middle East. He is now an assistant professor of modern Middle East and North African history in the department of Middle Eastern languages and cultures at Indiana University.

Autumn orange tree with a person lying under it, reading — Lindsay France/Cornell University

Alumni authors

Your September 2025 reads

9/26/2025 Cornellians

This month’s featured titles include the latest by a National Book Award winner and a classical history of Jewish resistance to Rome.

Two people stand with a colorful mural between them — Jason Koski/Cornell University Monti Wilkins, left, director of Morrison Hall, and Jesse Wright, an artist and Ithaca High School teacher, talk after a section of tableaux dedicated to Toni Morrison was installed in Morrison Hall. Hanging near an image of Morrison, this painting on wood panels features Ithaca High senior London Smith, whose blue sunglasses reference Morrison’s novel, “The Bluest Eye.”

Community engagement

Teens’ portraits celebrate Toni Morrison as community-builder

9/25/2025 Cornell Chronicle

High schoolers from Ithaca and Brooklyn produced the artworks depicting Morrison and a local student, a collaboration that promises to introduce Morrison's work to new generations of New Yorkers.

Sun beams shoot through heavy clouds over a bay — Adrian Diaz-Sieckel/ Unsplash

Religion

#RaptureTok and the history of end-times beliefs: Cornell religion expert

9/25/2025 A&S Communications

Apocalyptic predictions are "far from new, but social media has whipped up a frenzy," says Cornell religion expert Kim Haines-Eitzen.

Molecular biology and genetics

Nobel-winning biochemist to speak on the origins of life

9/25/2025 Cornell Chronicle

Jack Szostak, Ph.D. ’77, will return to campus to give the 2025 Ef Racker Lecture on Oct. 9.

Two people sit at a desk on the set of a late night TV chat show — Pete Souza/White House Jimmy Kimmel Live! video taping in 2015

Philosophy

Satire under siege: Cornell humor expert on ‘Kimmel’ comeback

9/25/2025 A&S Communications

“Political leaders – of all stripes – hate two things: unfettered speech and being mocked. With Jimmy Kimmel, the administration got a chance to squelch both."

Public policy

Brooks and A&S partner on new option for public policy major

9/25/2025 A&S Communications

Students in the major will be admitted into the College of Arts & Sciences and take courses in both Brooks and A&S.

Freedom and Free Societies

Talk explores medicine and social justice activism Oct. 6

9/24/2025 A&S Communications

The role social justice advocacy should play in medicine will be examined by Sally Satel, a practicing psychiatrist and lecturer at Yale University School of Medicine, in her talk, “Medicine in the Age of Social Justice Activism.”

Literary scholarship

Culler receives 2026 Wayne C. Booth Lifetime Achievement Award

9/24/2025 A&S Communications

A specialist in literary and cultural theory and French literature of the 19th century, Culler will receive the award in June 2026 during the International Society for the Study of Narrative conference in Denmark.

Person holding a newborn — Hollie Santos/Unsplash

Psychology

Safety first: Babies heighten adults’ perception of threats

9/23/2025 Cornell Chronicle

In a threatening situation, the world looks more dangerous when caring for an infant, finds new research that used a virtual baby to explore parenting dynamics.

Physics

Revitalizing introductory physics labs with NSF support

9/23/2025 Cornell Chronicle

Through The Introductory Physics Lab Institute, professor Natasha Holmes shares best practices in physics labs.

Members of an orchestra playing on a stage — Casey Martin Cornell Symphony Orchestra

Live performance

Music Oct. 2-5: Homecoming concerts and historical keyboards

9/22/2025 A&S Communications

Cornell orchestras, vocal ensembles and the Center for Historical Keyboards plan performances.

Nine people standing in a grassy area — Provided The 2025 Postdoc Achievement Award recipients, left to right: Heather Kim, Jennifer Grauer, Adam Beard, Shawna Cook, Inbal Ravreby, Bryan MacNeill, Lucinda Li, Bailey Flynn, and Bec (Rebecca) Schmitt.

Postgraduate awards

Nine postdocs honored with achievement awards

9/19/2025 Cornell University Graduate School

Inbal Ravreby, Klarman Postdoctoral Fellow in psychology, received an Achievement Award for Excellence in Leadership.

Stylized image featuring a photograph of a person wearing a beaded sash and a headpiece made of leaves — Provided Deskaheh

History of Art and Visual Studies

‘Defending Haudenosaunee Sovereignty’ exhibit opens Sept. 24

9/18/2025 A&S Communications

The outdoor exhibit celebrates the centenary of Deskaheh Levi General’s 1923 intervention on behalf of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy at the League of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.

Book cover: Unfiltered Regard for China — Provided

History

Politics gets personal for China scholar

9/17/2025 Cornell Chronicle

Historian Peidong Sun began her new book “Unfiltered Regard for China: French Perspectives from Mao to Xi” amid profound personal upheaval: An exit ban from China and a move to France.

Two people wearing headphones and recording equipment under a neon sign: Pitch your podcast here — Provided Laura and Shelby Holland at an iHeartRadio pitch event

Alumni

Siblings turn their love for dishing on media into a podcast

9/17/2025 Cornellians

Tune in to the recent grads behind Sisters Who Watch—which covers everything from reality TV to the Super Bowl and beyond: A&S graduate Shelby Holland '18 and her sister Laura Holland ’22.

Molecular biology and genetics

Emr wins the World Laureate Association Prize

9/17/2025 Cornell Chronicle

The award is for breakthrough discoveries in the cellular mechanisms of receptor membrane protein transport and degradation.

Center for Racial Justice and Equitable Futures

Inaugural “Freedom Party” in downtown Ithaca centers on community connection

9/16/2025 A&S Communications

A Sept. 27 event taking inspiration from the foundations of the Harlem Renaissance will highlight collaboration, resource sharing and storytelling.

Two people leading out of windows in a wooden building — Provided As part of her Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship, Phoebe Dailey Wagner, M.P.S. ’24, visited Niraj Bahugunaji, whose family has lived in their home near the temple grounds of Lakha Mandal in India for more than 300 years.

Research at Risk

Research at risk: Cultural fluency and critical language expertise

9/16/2025 Cornell Chronicle

The federal government ended a program that has funded Cornell's Southeast Asia Program and South Asia Program for decades.

Colored rugs make a collage under a blue sky — Provided

International studies

Einaudi welcomes SWANA Program

9/16/2025 Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies

The Einaudi Center welcomes the Southwest Asia and North Africa Program and four new program directors this fall.

Molecular biology and genetics

Surprising find reveals asymmetry in identical-looking fruit fly organs

9/16/2025 Cornell Chronicle

A new study provides an example of asymmetry, a pattern found throughout biology where a pair of organs or appendages that mirror each other have different proportions and may have different functions.

Three people in farm work boots together under palm trees — Provided With support from Cornell Atkinson, students conducted fieldwork at an experimental cattle ranch in Florida, studying how plant structures influence methane transport and how deep soil layers affect methane production.

Biology

Student summer research lays path for future scientists

9/16/2025 Cornell Chronicle

With support from Cornell Atkinson, graduate students mentored undergraduates to conduct summer research on methane mitigation, food security and climate forecasting.

Person posing in a lab — Buzz Barstow Nozomi Ando

Chemistry and Chemical Biology

Nozomi Ando named to Schmidt Polymaths cohort

9/16/2025 Cornell Chronicle

Members of the cohort of eight scientists and engineers will each receive up to $2.5 million over five years.

Person wearing a black vest and white shirt, speaking publically — Courtesy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Morse at a ribbon-cutting event for the publication’s new offices in downtown Atlanta.

Distinguished Visiting Journalist

'I love print, but I love journalism even more': Meet Andrew Morse '96

9/15/2025 Cornellians

A conversation with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution publisher, former Daily Sun editor, and past Distinguish Visiting Journalist in A&S, whose newspaper will soon be digital-only.

Two people laughing together — Lindsay France/Cornell University Dryden (right) and Bradley at their talk, “Lives on the Run: Sports, Service, and Leadership.”

Alumni

'Thoughtful, gracious and humble': Remembering Ken Dryden '69

9/15/2025 Cornellians

The co-author of Forever Faithful reminisces about the star goalie as a player, a writer, a sports-safety activist, and a man.

Houses in a neighborhood, seen from above — Clark Ma/Unsplash

Sociology

Sense of place trumps tax breaks in choosing where to live

9/15/2025 Cornell Chronicle

There’s no place like home — and even when state-by-state income tax disparities make it profitable to move, high-wage earners seem to agree, according to new Cornell-led research.

Grassy hill with a road leading up it: Scene from Taiwan — Sam Chang/Unsplash A road in Taiwan

Alumni

18 Cornellians receive Fulbright awards

9/15/2025 Cornell Chronicle

Cornell's 2025–26 Fulbrighters, including several A&S alumni and students, will conduct research, study and teach English in Canada, France, Honduras, India, Jamaica, the Netherlands, Norway and Taiwan. Most will be on site by October.

hundreds of black and white portrait photos on a wall leading up to a light grey dome — Eelco Böhtlingk/Unsplash Memorial at Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, Israel. December 2018

Jewish Studies Program

Holocaust testimony is AI litmus test, and it fails

9/15/2025 Cornell Chronicle

A Cornell historian argues that human historians are vital to capture the emotional and moral complexity behind world events.

The Nobel Prize as a Gold medal on black background

Events

Three Nobel Laureates to speak on campus this semester

9/12/2025 A&S Communications

This fall, the Cornell community has the chance to hear from three Nobel Laureates in one semester, two of whom are alumni: Claudia Goldin ’67, Jack Szostak, Ph.D. ’77, and Richard Thaler.

Tall display case in a museum room that's full of light — Adam T. Smith/Provided Open through Dec. 31, 'Sacred Ground' highlights findings from a four-year archaeological excavation of Ithaca’s St. James A.M.E. Zion Church conducted by Cornell faculty, students and Ithaca school children from 2021–2024.

Ithaca community engagement

‘Sacred Ground’ exhibit receives Historic Ithaca preservation award

9/11/2025 A&S Communications

Open now through Dec. 31, the exhibit highlights findings from a four-year archaeological excavation of Ithaca’s St. James A.M.E. Zion Church conducted by Cornell faculty, students and Ithaca school children from 2021–2024.

People standing in front of a big brick building with three levels of pagoda-style roofs — binaya_photography on Unsplash Patan Durbar Square, Lalitpur, Nepal

Anthropology

Nepal expert comments on violent protests in Nepal

9/10/2025 A&S Communications

Kathryn March, professor emerita of anthropology, comments on the violent protests in Nepal.

A field of stars surrounding one circular and one oblong area of extreme blackness surrounded by a halo of light — SXS Lensing/Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes Collaboration. A visualization from a computer simulation of two black holes similar to those of GW250124.

Physics

On 10th anniversary, LIGO verifies Hawking’s theorem

9/10/2025 A&S Communications

The LIGO-VIRGO-KAGRA team has announced a black hole merger similar to its first detection; a decade’s worth of technological advances allow unprecedented tests of General Relativity to be performed.

Economics

Nobel-winning economist to speak on ‘why women won’

9/10/2025 Cornell Chronicle

Claudia Goldin ’67, winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Economics, will return to campus to give the 2025 Staller Lecture on Sept. 25.

Book cover: Rural Versus Urban — Provided

Government

How rural vs urban polarization can be repaired

9/10/2025 Cornell Chronicle

The study by Cornell government scholars Suzanne Mettler and Trevor Brown spans five decades and includes every U.S. county.

Chemistry and Chemical Biology

Chemist Song Lin named 2025 Blavatnik National Award finalist

9/9/2025 A&S Communications

Recognized for advancing electrochemical techniques that enable efficient, sustainable synthesis of complex organic molecules, accelerating drug development, and materials innovation, Lin is a finalist in Chemical Sciences.

Glass beakers on a table, one partially filled with liquid — Photo by Hans Reniers on Unsplash

Chemistry & Chemical Biology

‘Three-tailed’ lipid helps cells survive during heart attack, stroke

9/9/2025 Cornell Chronicle

Cornell researchers have uncovered the "three-tailed" fat molecule's surprising role in cellular survival: protecting against damage when oxygen runs out.

Flag with broad red stripe on top and broad white tripe on bottom on flagpole against a blue sky. — Photo by Mufid Majnun on Unsplash Flag of Indonesia

Government

Cornell expert: Indonesia’s Prabowo ignoring ‘needs of the people’ in cabinet shake-up

9/9/2025 A&S Communications

Professor Tom Pepinsky comments on the news that Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto has reshuffled his cabinet, removing top economic and security officials.

Literatures in English

Animals are dashing, stampeding, gliding into contemporary fiction: Book explores how

9/8/2025 A&S Communications

Elisha Cohn's second book, “Milieu: A Creaturely Theory of the Contemporary Novel,” also explores the methods authors are using to give animals a voice.

Seen from the air: Pentagon-shaped building — Touch Of Light/CC BY-SA 4.0 The Pentagon, the Headquarters of the US Department of Defense

Government

DOD rebrand ‘risks being performative’ without subsequent structural changes

9/8/2025 A&S Communications

“The proposal to rename the Department of Defense back to the Department of War carries symbolic weight but raises questions about substance," says Sarah Kreps, government scholar and former active-duty officer in the U.S. Air Force.

Anthropology

Kidney disease and climate change in Nicaragua’s sugarcane zone

9/8/2025 A&S Communications

“What is happening to the kidneys of sugarcane workers is not a result of climate change. It is climate change": Anthropologist Alex Nading documents how environmental justice activists are addressing the epidemic.

Sociology

Macron to blame for instability in French government, says Cornell scholar

9/8/2025 A&S Communications

The writing was on the wall for the no confidence vote says international populism expert Mabel Berezin.

Person holding a piece of paper and speaking into a microphone — Robert Barker/Cornell University file photo Martin Hatch in 2015

Music

Ethnomusicologist Martin Hatch, professor of music emeritus, dies at 83

9/8/2025 Cornell Chronicle

Martin F. Hatch Jr., Ph.D. ’80, professor of music emeritus in the College of Arts and Sciences, died Aug. 23 in Ithaca, New York. He was 83.

An orange-yellow sun with spheres of exoplanets silhouetted against it. — NASA, ESA, CSA, J. Olmsted (STScI) Provided The Earth-size exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 e, depicted at the lower right, is silhouetted as it passes in front of its flaring host star in this artist’s concept of the TRAPPIST-1 system.

Astronomy

Is there water on an Earth-sized exoplanet? Study offers clues

9/8/2025 Cornell Chronicle

TRAPPIST-1 e may have an atmosphere that could support having liquid water on the planet’s surface in the form of a global ocean or icy surface, according to new research.

Ken Dryden, in hockey uniform. — Cornell Athletics Ken Dryden ’69 was one of the greatest goalies in NHL history.

Alumni News

Hockey legend Ken Dryden ’69 dies at 78

9/8/2025 Cornell Chronicle

Ken Dryden ’69, the legendary Cornell men’s hockey goaltender who still holds the program record for career wins (76) and backstopped the Big Red to its first national championship in 1967, died of cancer Sept. 5.

Lots of students standing in a big space with bright lights overhead facing someone with a microphone. — Amanda Hatcher A crowd of students listens to alum Dan Cane '98 talk about the companies he's founded during an entrepreneurship kickoff event Sept. 4.

Economics

Entrepreneurial students flock to kickoff event

9/8/2025 Cornell Chronicle

Niko Tsavekou ’27, an economics major in the College of Arts & Sciences, won the pitch contest for Katha, a creatine-enhanced coconut water recovery drink he created with two friends.

Person in a small boat on a river, turning around and smiling — Naia Andrade/Provided Ethan Duvall, an inaugural Semlitz Family Sustainability Fellow, co-founded a nonprofit in the Ecuadorian Amazon to strengthen green economic opportunities.

Ecology and evolutionary biology

Ph.D. student’s nonprofit seeks to protect Amazonian biodiversity and culture

9/5/2025 Cornell Chronicle

Ethan Duvall, an inaugural Semlitz Family Sustainability Fellow, has launched a nonprofit aimed at protecting biodiversity and culture in the Amazon Rainforest.

Five musicians hold folk instruments in a publicity portrait — Annie Diotte/Provided Le Vent du Nord

Dallas Morse Coors Concert Series

Le Vent du Nord plays Dallas Morse Coors Concert Series Sept. 20

9/5/2025 A&S Communications

A leading force in Quebec’s progressive francophone folk movement, Le Vent du Nord will perform in the first Dallas Morse Coors Concert Series (DMCCS) on Sept. 20 at 7:30 p.m. in Bailey Hall.

Six people in suits walk abreast up a red carpet, conversing — President of Russia//Creative Commons license 4.0 General Secretary Xi Jinping of the Chinese Communist Party and world leaders attending the 2025 China Victory Day Parade in Beijing.

History

China’s parade signals power shift, cold war parallels, says Cornell expert

9/5/2025 A&S Communications

The massive display of new military power by the Chinese this week served several purposes, says military historian David Silbey.

2025 New Faculty

The College welcomes new faculty for 2025-26

9/4/2025 A&S Communications

This year, 27 new faculty have joined the College of Arts & Sciences, enriching 17 departments and programs.

Literatures in English

Jean Blackall, first woman tenured in English at Cornell, dies at 97

9/4/2025 Cornell Chronicle

Jean Frantz Blackall, a Cornell faculty member from 1958-94 who in 1971 became the first woman to receive tenure in what was then the Department of English, in the College of Arts and Sciences, died July 15 in Williamsburg, Virginia. She was 97.

Person speaking and gesturing — Provided Toni Morrison M.A. '55

Legendary alumni

Four-day event celebrates 70 years of Toni Morrison’s Cornell legacy

9/4/2025 Cornell Chronicle

A four-day event featuring films, panels, workshops, the unveiling of a mural and other activities will celebrate the 70th anniversary of her degree, life and work. “Toni Morrison: Literature and Public Life” will take place Sept. 18-21.

2025 New Faculty

New Faculty: Alexei A. Aravin

9/3/2025 A&S Communications

Alexei A. Aravin, Molecular Biology and Genetics

Cornell's central campus with lake beyond

A. D. White Professors at Large

Dual-campus visit highlights A.D. White Professors-at-Large lineup

9/3/2025 Cornell Chronicle

Best-selling writer and technology blogger Cory Doctorow will make the A.D. White Professor-at-Large program’s second dual-campus visit, ending his week at Cornell Tech in New York City. Four other professors will visit Cornell this fall.

Humanities and technology

Doctorow to discuss the digital world as A.D. White professor-at-large

9/3/2025 A&S Communications

Science fiction author, activist and journalist Cory Doctorow will visit Cornell Sept. 11-19 as an A.D. White Professor at Large, taking part in several events on campus and in the community..

American Studies Program

In Kops Lecture, law scholar will explore ‘the Constitution in crisis’

9/2/2025 Cornell Chronicle

Aziz Rana, a professor of law at Boston College, will discuss the relationship between the constitutional system and current democratic backsliding.

Hundreds of white corner-shaped particles on a black background

Physics

Self-assembling magnetic microparticles mimic biological error correction

9/2/2025 Cornell Chronicle

A Cornell-led collaboration developed microscale magnetic particles that can mimic the ability of biomolecules to self-assemble into complex structures, while also reducing the parasitic waste that would otherwise clog up production.