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UNDERGRAD RESEARCH

Undergrad researches the desecration of cultures

A&S Communications

Anjum Malik ’16 used her undergraduate research award to explore the reasons for the destruction of museums and heritage sites in Iraq and Syria.

COMMENTARY

Professor Pepinsky on Financial Scandals in Malaysia

New Mandala

Malaysia is once again in the midst of a serious political scandal, with the allegation that the government-run investment company 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) has been used to funnel approximately US$ 700 million to a personal account of Prime Minister Najb Razak, writes Tom Pepinsky, associate professor of government, in this piece.

GRADUATE STUDENTS

Grad student explores 'math culture' in Turkey

A&S Communications

As Ellen Abrams considered math-related topics for her doctoral thesis, she knew the summer after her first year would be a good time to explore the options.So the doctoral student in the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) chose a two-pronged approach. For the latter part of the summer, she plans to hole up in a library studying the history of mathematics. But before that, she headed to Turkey to do an ethnographic study of a class at Nesin Mathematics Village.

Education

Student 'senators' debate U.S. budget in government class

A&S Communications

“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.

Education

El Barrio artwork opens students' eyes to East Harlem stories

A&S Communications

For the 15 students in a new interdisciplinary class this semester, the murals common throughout East Harlem have deeper meanings than passersby might realize.

Archaeology

Class examines Cornell past and future

A&S Communications

“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 campus as it would look 1,000 years from now.

INNOVATION

New teaching model a 'game changer'

A&S Communications

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.

Education

Strogatz helps students find the magic in math

A&S Communications

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 math class as long as they could, as well as freshmen intrigued by the course’s title.

FIRST-YEARS

A&S alumni join in events to welcome new students

A&S Parent

LONDON — Alumni recalled snow-packed days when they transformed cookie trays into sleds and sun-filled days sailing on Cayuga Lake, while high school seniors listened carefully, during a recent admitted students reception hosted by the UK’s Cornell Alumni and Admissions Ambassador Network (CCAAAN) in London’s Soho district.

Internships

And we have lift-off

A&S Communications

Physics major helps space tourism company get off the ground.

STUDENT LIFE

Twenty Suggestions for Incoming College Freshmen

Huffington Post

English Prof. Daniel Schwarz offers his top suggestions for the new class.

RESEARCH

Do "know-it-alls" really know it all?

Time Magazine

People who consider themselves experts in a given topic are more likely to claim knowledge of made-up “facts” about that topic, a new study shows.Researchers conducted a series of experiments to assess how likely people were to believe fictions presented as fact. In one of the experiments, for example, the researchers had 100 people rate their level of knowledge for personal finance by describing their familiarity with 15 different financial terms.

PHYSICS

Like paper, graphene folds into nanoscale machines

Cornell Chronicle

Physicist combines visual arts background with ground-breaking material.

RESEARCH

Astronomers bring a new hope to find 'Tatooine' planets

Cornell Chronicle

Sibling suns – made famous in the “Star Wars” scene where Luke Skywalker gazes toward a double sunset – and the planets around them may be more common than we’ve thought, and Cornell astronomers are presenting new ideas on how to find them.

ADMISSIONS

Finding the right fit at Cornell

A&S Parent

As education reporters note each year, March and April are frenzied months for the parents of high school seniors.“I hear you,” is all I say when I’m with parents waiting out March. With some, I hold back, unsure about adding to the conversation.They are the tightly wound, and their talk is oddly anxious and hubristic: “Of course, they will accept her, how could they not?”