These 16 new A&S faculty members will contribute to the nexus of big ideas, foundational methods, and colliding and intertwining disciplines found at the center of Cornell.
Cornell researchers have used cutting-edge X-ray technology to noninvasively image fruit flies during and after mating. The study, published online ahead of print June 3 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, describes how researchers used the Cornell Biotechnology Resource Center’s high resolution micro-CT (computed tomography) scanner to acquire detailed 3-D datasets of…
For many teenagers, math is just a necessary component of earning a high school diploma. For others, though, math is a passion, a destination in itself.Recognizing this, professors in the Department of Mathematics in Cornell’s College of Arts and Sciences have created the Senior Seminar, a course for Ithaca High School (IHS) students who have completed most or all IHS math classes. The seminar…
Lori Khatchadourian teaches the Exploring Archaeology mini-course at the Elizabeth Anne Clune Montessori School of Ithaca.The week of June 15-19, professors Adam T. Smith, anthropology, and Lori Khatchadourian, Near Eastern studies, led a mini-course on archaeology at the Elizabeth Anne Clune Montessori School of Ithaca. Nine children ages 5-8 spent five mornings exploring aspects of…
To sort out the biological intricacies of Earth-like planets, astronomers have developed computer models that examine how ultraviolet radiation from other planets’ nearby suns may affect those worlds, according to new research published June 10 in Astrophysical Journal.“Depending on the intensity, ultraviolet radiation can be both useful and harmful to the origin of life,” says Lisa Kaltenegger,…
What does it take to reverse a first impression? Cornell researchers were especially interested in implicit impressions – rapidly and uncontrollably activated positive and negative evaluations of others. Implicit impressions are assumed to be very difficult to revise.The answer, according to researchers Melissa Ferguson and Jeremy Cone: Simple countervailing information isn’t always enough. But …
Editors and other language mavens have long recognized that sentences containing subject relative clauses – as in, “The man who called the woman is friendly” – are easier to understand than those containing object relative clauses, such as, “The man who the woman called is friendly.” And indeed, this observation is borne out in laboratory experiments with French, English, German and many other…
Cornell chemists William Dichtel and Jiwoong Park have received Department of Defense Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) awards. The highly competitive program supports research teams working in more than one traditional science or engineering discipline to accelerate breakthroughs in basic research.This year, the DOD awarded 22 MURI grants totaling $149 million over the next…
Next time you’re in a cocktail party discussion about science fiction, you’ll have a lot to brag about. The university has produced more than its share of notables in the field, including several mainstream names.If you want more details, of course, ask a librarian. Fred Muratori, reference and instruction services librarian, reviewed Cornell faculty and student contributions to the field in a…
The hand game “rock-paper-scissors” is a classic way to settle playground disputes, with rock smashing scissors, scissors cutting paper, and paper covering rock. But it turns out that nature plays its own versions of the game, and mathematicians and biologists have used it to study everything from human societies to bacteria in a petri dish. Now, researchers have found that when players change…
When it’s time for a meal of katydids, bats use their ears. When hunting and eating male katydids, different bat species locate their prey by listening for specific signals in male katydids’ mating calls, according to a recent Cornell, Dartmouth, McMaster University in Canada and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute study. Furthermore, the researchers found that each bat species differed in…
Chinelo Onyilofor ’15 has found that her studies in chemistry and art history have taught her the art of looking for small details, whether she’s finding the hidden meaning in a painting or an answer to solve a chemical synthesis.After she graduates this weekend, Onyilofor, a double major in the College of Arts and Sciences from Annapolis, Maryland, plans to travel for a year before going to…
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES TEACHING AND ADVISING AWARDSThe Deanne Gebell Gitner ’66 Family Annual Prize for Teaching Assistants went to graduate students Sarah Maxey, government, Allison Tracy, ecology and evolutionary biology, Danielle Morgan, English, and Laura Manella, neurobiology and behavior.The Dean's Prize for Distinguished Teaching was awarded to graduate students Corinna Matlis,…
When Irene Li ’15 isn’t hunkered down surveying the latest research on the local food movement and social change, she’s in a Boston kitchen, meeting growers or dreaming up new items for her food truck and restaurant.Li, one of three sibling owners of Mei Mei Kitchen in Boston, is a College Scholar in the College of Arts and Sciences, who will return to her family business after graduating.This…
While looking for life on planets beyond our own solar system, a group of international scientists has created a colorful catalog containing reflection signatures of Earth life forms that might be found on planet surfaces throughout the cosmic hinterlands. The new database and research, published in the March 16 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), gives humans a better chance…
The course of Carol Rattray's '78 career has veered from finance to philanthropy to entrepreneurship, so she's a popular person when she volunteers her time for the Arts and Sciences Career Services office."I kind of want to be her," says Roslyn Jin '15, a student who signed up for a March career services "office hours" event with Rattray. "I will be starting a job in finance this summer, but I…
Jandy Nelson '87 decided at a very young age that she wanted to be a poet. "I was probably about 13," she says. "I don't know where it came from -- I still don't. My parents always thought I would grow out of it, and I didn't."Nelson grew up outside New York City and in Boston and San Diego. She studied creative writing and comparative literature as a College Scholar at Cornell. "When I got to…
“We’re down one Democrat. It’s going to be a slaughter,” someone called out.The students in Suzanne Mettler’s Introduction to American Government and Politics class huddled in small groups in eight different classrooms, bargaining, brokering deals and negotiating, trying to overcome gridlock and partisan loyalties to pass a budget.The engaged learning exercise simulates the real U.S. Senate…
If you hear Tim Novikoff, Ph.D. '13, speak and you're of a certain age, you might recognize him as the voice of Jeffy from MTV's "Daria" animated series from the mid-1990s.But if you look at his LinkedIn profile, you'll see that his career has followed a path that marries his love of the technical world with the joy he finds in being creative.Today, Novikoff is the founder and CEO of Fly Labs,…
Hundreds of students have just completed new courses in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Active Learning Initiative (ALI), part of a strategic effort by the college to embrace engaged learning models and emerging technologies. The ALI five-year pilot project is funded by Alex and Laura Hanson, both Class of 1987.ALI uses a “flipped classroom” approach: Knowledge transfer happens before class,…
For the 15 students in a new interdisciplinary class this semester, the murals common throughout East Harlem have deeper meanings than passersby might realize.The students, taught by assistant professors Ananda Cohen Suarez, history of art, and Ella Maria Diaz, English and Latino studies, studied the murals all semester and presented their research at a Dec. 4 event unveiling their exhibition, …
Among the billions and billions of stars in the sky, where should astronomers look for infant Earths where life might develop? New research from Cornell University’s Institute for Pale Blue Dots shows where – and when – infant Earths are most likely to be found. The paper by Blue Dots research associate Ramses M. Ramirez and director Lisa Kaltenegger, “The Habitable Zones of Pre-Main Sequence…
Math, to a mathematician, is an aesthetic, creative endeavor. But for too many high school students, math has become a reviled, boring subject.It doesn’t have to be that way, as Steven Strogatz aims to show the students in his new College of Arts and Sciences course, Mathematical Explorations. The course fulfills the math distribution requirement and has attracted seniors who put off taking a…
Although Katrine Bosley '90 doesn't get a lot of time to talk to patients as CEO of Editas Medicine, she relishes the opportunity."You only have to talk to one patient with one disease that you're working on to know why you go to work every day," says Bosley, whose company is working to translate genome editing technology into new drugs and treatments for poorly treated diseases and patients…
During an inspiring, humorous and highly candid talk to more than 420 people Sept. 18, Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg shared how Cornell shaped her journey to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Cornellians who survived demanding professors and unforgiving winters while developing a strong work ethic could relate. Ginsburg ’54 said that whenever she drafts High Court opinions, “changing the way…
Brian Lukoff '04 loves math.This is not true for many Americans (30 percent according to a recent survey), who say they're just "not good at math."Lukoff thinks there's a way to change that statistic, believing that part of the problem is the way students are learning in math and other disciplines as well. He has developed a tool that helps teachers and professors gauge what their students know…
The fearless honey badger steals lions' prey and gobbles cobras for dinner. Tenacious and determined, it devours honeycombs despite countless bee stings. This is the totem animal of Sally Wen Mao, MFA '13, and an inspiration for her first book of poems, "Mad Honey Symposium," published in May by Alice James Books.The title refers to honey made from rhododendron flowers, which are poisonous; the…
“Welcome to Cornell Ruins National Park,” Adam T. Smith tells his students. “We’re lucky today. We have a cache of objects to examine discovered in the ruins of McGraw Hall.”This “Rise and Fall of ‘Civilization’” class examines traditional archaeological topics, like kingship and the origins of cities, partly by looking at our current civilization through the lens of a single site – the Cornell…
The scene is straight out of a disaster movie: melting glaciers wreaking havoc on the ecosystem, and a tundra-like wasteland where once forest reigned. Thirteen thousand years ago or so the spruces, firs and birches of central New York state vanished; dendrochronology researcher Carol Griggs '77, Ph.D. '06, is using ancient wood to figure out what happened when they finally reappeared.Griggs has…
Dana Bottazzo '03 has done her share of traveling. Raised in London and Kuwait, she attended school in Ithaca, worked for a law firm in Paris and Milan, and then fell in love with South America.But when she began to explore her new continent, she found it tough to get around. She has spent the past two years traveling across South America collecting reliable and accurate carrier information from…
A poor childhood in Guyana spent watching his mother get pushed around gave Frank Douglas, Ph.D. '73, M.D. '77, an early awareness of injustice. At age 12 he was challenging his school principal on fairness, despite the risk to his academic future.Fortunately that principal eventually gave him a wonderful letter of recommendation. And many years later, when Douglas worked for a pharmaceutical…
*/Kids like John Ball -- an eighth-grader at a public charter school in Blytheville, Arkansas -- help Maisie Wright '06 know she has the right job.*/"I remember sitting on the couch with John and his mom, telling them that John should go to college, that he was focused and a hard worker," says Wright, who helped found the school. "John told me that no one had ever said that to him before, that no…
As a recent college graduate, Marisa Boston, Ph.D. '12, was enjoying her new job teaching English to Mexican immigrants in 2001, but she really wanted to go deeper -- to know the science behind language.Why was it easier for some people to learn? What was going on in the brain when people were learning a new language? How could she make it easier for them?Seeking answers to her questions, she…
Captain Lauren Morgens '02 stands on the quarterdeck surveying her ship, red sash around her waist and a tall feather in her pirate hat. It is a cloudy August afternoon in Lewes, Del.; her crew has finished scrubbing the Kalmar Nyckel's deck, and the last sailor has come off the rigging. Once the tall ship clears the shallows, Morgens' command to "set the mizzen" rings across the ship in a sing…
*/James R. Michaels '68, a member of Cornell's 100th graduating class, always knew he wanted to be a rabbi. He dutifully chose a philosophy major when he entered Cornell but found that the department's emphasis then on linguistic evaluation wasn't a good fit.Political studies, on the other hand, fit like a glove: Michaels' father was a New York state assemblyman. An introductory course in…
*/*/Anxious to get their business news before Wall Street opens, early morning investors are greeted each day at 6 a.m. by Scarlet Fu '94, the chief markets correspondent for Bloomberg Television and one of the anchors of "Bloomberg Surveillance."By the time she appears on air, Fu has already been awake for three hours, prepping the latest news, reviewing questions she'll ask her daily guests and…
David O. Brown '83 has filmed orca whales feeding on sharks and underwater lava flows. He traveled to Alaska just a few days after the wreck of the Exxon Valdez to document its impact on wildlife and worked for the Cousteau Society, visiting the most remote and animal-rich places on the planet."I love anything that moves," says the Ithaca native, who's now returned to his hometown to create the…
Cathy Choi '93 entered Cornell with numbers on her mind. But an English class cross-listed with theater turned Choi away from her planned math major. "I had never read a play before in my life, but I got bitten by the bug and really fell in love," says Choi. "I ended up as a theater major."Cornell theater productions proved invaluable training for Choi's current career as president of a company,…
Nine-year-old Valencyah walks down the hallways of Hazlehurst Pre-K-8 School in Mississippi toting a Ziploc bag filled to the seam with six books. She has three more in her backpack, all checked out from her classroom library. Valencyah is a straight-A student of Kathryn Ling '11 and hopes one day to become a doctor.But at the rate she's going, Valencyah will have exhausted all the grade-level…
*/Had it not been for the beauty of Cornell and a memorable weekend back in 1980, this story about Kathy Savitt '85, chief marketing officer for Yahoo, might very well be appearing in a publication for Harvard alumni.As a high school senior who was all set to apply to Harvard early action -- a choice applauded by her parents (her dad is a Harvard graduate) -- Savitt accompanied a friend on a…
Dunedin Strickland '15Major: Comparative LiteratureHometown: Palmer, AKWhy did you choose Cornell?I was fortunate enough to visit Cornell my junior year of high school and really loved the campus. I had too many ideas of what I wanted to study coming in to school, and so really appreciated the variety of possibilities that Cornell offered, as well as the down to earth quality that even people at…
Writing on the theme of "Easing Back into Classes," junior Sheyla tells us about an exciting class on Beyoncé, intersectional identity, and feminism. By Sheyla Finkner '19, Biology and Society majorIt is a typical Tuesday morning. I walk from my ethics class to a lecture hall on the arts quad, sit down, and pull out my laptop. A few minutes later, my professor walks in and begins playing several…
In January of 2016, Marie Underhill Noll Professor of History Emeritus Richard Polenberg will be releasing his book Hear My Sad Story: The True Tales That Inspired "Stagolee," "John Henry," and Other Traditional American Folk Songs.Polenberg’s previous books addressed American political history and legal history; this is his first on folk music. The topic has long been an interest of his, though…
This week, junior Chelsea Sincox writes about the spirit of the Big Red and her experience as a member of the varsity women's volleyball team. Let's Go Red!By: Chelsea Sincox '18 The month of November is a month of transition. The beautiful leaves that have covered Ithaca for the past couple months are falling, littering the ground that might soon be covered in snow. With fall coming to a close,…
By: Emma Bryan '19As I near the end of my first year at Cornell, I can’t help but reflect on why it was that I decided to come here in the first place. Why, as a senior in high school, did I decide to spend the next four years of my life in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere? Why would I subject myself to an atmosphere where I was not guaranteed success? Why was I leaving my parents and my…
By: Solveig van der Vegt '18During my freshman year at Cornell, I lived in Balch Hall, the North Campus dorm for first-year women. It is a beautiful, gothic building that also houses the Carol Tatkon Center for first-year students, Carol’s Cafe and some offices. Usually, when I tell people that I lived in Balch last year, they say some variant of: “Oh, I am so sorry!” But actually, it was great:…
This week, senior Solveig writes about her excitement over being able to produce a physical proof of her two years worth of biochemistry research – an honors thesis.By Solveig van der Vegt '18, Biological Sciences major, Mathematics minor One of the greatest opportunities available to students at Cornell is to do research under a faculty supervisor. For the past two years, I have worked in the…
