News | A&S Departments

Benjamin Widom, influential physical chemist, dies at 97

Benjamin Widom, Ph.D. ’53, Goldwin Smith Professor Emeritus in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences, died Jan. 23 in Ithaca. He was 97.

Two people wearing fashionable red, white and black winter clothing sit back to back on a large rock, each holding a book. They are surrounded by snow

Your January 2025 reads

This month’s featured titles – most by A&S authors – include a work of nonfiction about honeybees, a kids’ picture book, and a novel set in rural Nova Scotia.

A house and garden in the foreground at night, with a wildfire glowing over a nearby hill

Student spins spreadsheet into online hub for wildfire relief

A doctoral student in the field of information science developed an interactive map that has become an online hub for thousands of people in the greater Los Angeles area who need provisions, are looking to donate supplies or want to get involved.

Durable plastic gets a sustainability makeover

A Cornell chemist has created an alternative to the unrecyclable, plastic-based material used for durable items such as car tires, replacement hip joints and bowling balls.

Bowers student explores privacy, healthcare, satellite imagery

Vipin Gunda ’25 is excited about projects that apply his computer science knowledge to real-world challenges.

New research project investigates U.S./U.K. LGBTQ data

Researchers from Cornell and the University of Edinburgh are investigating how data about LGBTQ communities is used (and misused) by governments, companies and community organizations.

Cornell Cinema preview: Vampires, courtroom drama, animation and more

The spring season of films at Cornell Cinema has begun.

Neuroscientist Antonio Fernandez-Ruiz wins Scialog Award

“This project sits at the cross-roads of neuroscience, ethology and artificial intelligence."

Explore home space in a teenage sitcom during upcoming lecture

"Sanctuary from the Storm: Making (My) Room with The Torkelsons," will explore Sheppard’s fondness for the 1990s television show and what the show’s representation of home spaces can tell us about the way television influences living practices.

Cornell media arts expert: ‘Nickel Boys’ challenges viewers

The film's snub in the Best Cinematography category may be due to the use of an immersive first-person camera style, says film scholar Kristen Warner.

Latina/o Studies offers new way to connect with alumni

“Fridays with Alumni” kicks off Jan. 31 featuring Kim Cardenas '17 & Joseph De Los Santos '19,

audiobook cover with people falling off a mountain

PMA prof’s new audiobook capitalizes on hair-raising adventure

Austin Bunn's twist-laden thriller is set on one of the most extreme environments on earth.

How to craft effective policy messages to advance equity

Expansion of the Child Tax Credit gives researchers a unique example of a universally praised social good that disproportionately benefited some populations.

Concerto Competition announces three winners

This year's Cornell Concerto competition honored three students as winners.

New telescope to set sail for monthlong journey to Chile

”This is a huge milestone for the project and we wish FYST bon voyage,” said Gordon Stacey, the project’s director and professor of astronomy.

Tranparent flasks in a chemistry lab, with amounts of orange liquid

How a pervasive microorganism generates a greenhouse gas

Cornell researchers have discovered a way for ammonia oxidizing archaea, one of the most abundant types of microorganisms on Earth, to produce nitrous oxide, a potent and long-lasting greenhouse gas.

large brick building with smoke stacks reaching into a blue sky studded with clouds

What you need to know about carbon capture, utilization and storage

Cornell researchers Greeshma Gadikota, Phil Milner and Tobias Hanrath discuss their carbon capture research, including a new experimental CAPTURE-Lab at Cornell’s Combined Heat and Power Plant.

Photo illustration of the U.S. Capital Building topped by a Cornell flag

A roundup of the Cornellians on the Hill – Capitol Hill

Seven alumni are currently serving in Congress, including a newly elected senator from Michigan. Two are A&S alumni.

Magazine cover, "Cornell Review," bearing an abstract design in red, blue and yellow

The ‘marvelous, turbulent times’ when a literary magazine was born

A fellow alum’s passing sparked vivid memories of launching the Cornell Review, a cutting-edge journal of ideas, in the late 1970s.

smart phone on a stand on a desk, showing TikTok home page

What’s next for TikTok? Kreps outlines possible paths forward

With the U.S. Supreme Court upholding a federal law that would effectively ban TikTok in the U.S., Sarah Kreps, professor of government and law, discusses possible paths forward for the popular app.

Fulginiti wins book prize

Fulginiti’s novel, “Il dolore degli altri” (“The Pain of Others”), was chosen from among 114 competing manuscripts and will be published soon by Italian publisher ExCogita.

YAMATO The Drummers of Japan featured on Cornell Concert Series February 2

Described as the “epitome of the Japanese spirit,” Yamato will bright their show “Hito no Chikara”, The Power of Human Strength to Baily Hall.

Illustation showing a box labeled "vote" decorated with a light bulb and a trophy. A hand is placing a square into a slot in the box

Good intentions pave incumbents’ road to re-election

Voters care if they’re better off than before the last election — but also about incumbent politicians’ intentions, Cornell research finds.

Black and white historic photo of Ezra Cornell, frowning and holding a pen.

‘Good health, tempered courage, and sound common sense’

Those are the gifts that fate gave Ezra Cornell, per one historian. Here’s a look at his life—from humble beginnings to great wealth.

Student spotlight: Nianpo Su

Nianpo Su, doctoral candidate in linguistics, studies how syntactic principles determine the structure of sentences in human languages.

A microscope image: Dark green background spotted with pink

Diet, microbes: new pathway controlling levels of body fat, cholesterol

Beneficial gut microbes and the body work together to fine-tune fat metabolism and cholesterol levels, according to a new preclinical study by investigators from Weill Cornell Medicine and the Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell’s Ithaca campus.

Wall art showing the faces of Mary Beth Norton, Isabel Hull and Margaret Washington above a drawing of McGraw Hall.

History department honors first women hired

The centerpiece is a wall-size homage to the first three women hired and McGraw itself, drawn by Prof. Paraska Tolan-Szkilnik.

Barry Adams, former vice provost and literature scholar, dies at 89

Barry Banfield Adams, professor of literatures of English emeritus in the College of Arts and Sciences, died Dec. 31 at home in Brooktondale, New York. He was 89.

Light-activated micro device expands ‘green’ electrochemistry

Cornell chemists and nanofabrication experts have joined forces to create a 2 millimeter-wide, wireless, light-activated device to simplify electrochemistry for broad use.

Alums offer mentoring to students exploring career options

Melissa Lewin ’00 and her husband Rob ’99 are active backers of Cornell through their support of Cornell’s Public History Initiative and the archaeology program.

Peter Yarrow with guitar, tan jacket, white hair just at the back of his head, white beard and glasses in front of a microphone with three women and a child standing next to him

Folk icon Peter Yarrow ’59, of Peter, Paul and Mary, dies at 86

Musician Peter Yarrow ’59, who drew early inspiration from his time at Cornell before joining the legendary folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, died Jan. 7 in Manhattan.

Peiwei Chen with glasses in lab, holding up vial to look at

Postdoc Peiwei Chen named HHMI Hanna Gray Fellow

The awardees are “outstanding early career scientists who have demonstrated a commitment to making foundational discoveries while building an inclusive culture in academic science,” said HHMI in a statement.

‘Politics, not policy’: Meta ending fact-check program

Psychology professor Gordon Pennycook, a misinformation expert, says he supports using crowdsourced fact-checking, "but removing third-party (professional) fact-checking strikes me as a major mistake.”

Two mice perched on flowers and facing each other

Mice use their tongues to ‘see’ tactile targets

Cornell scientists have identified the neural pathway mice use to direct the tongue to tactile targets.

Cornell expert on Jean-Marie Le Pen: a ‘driving force’ for French far-right

“Le Pen wasn’t responsible for the political events which moved the right forward across Europe. Yet, the French National Front created the institutional framework necessary to take advantage of crisis events," says Mabel Berezin.

Trudeau resignation surrounded by uncertainty, says Cornell expert

Peter John Loewen, the Harold Tanner Dean of Arts and Sciences and professor of government, says it is unclear how a new Liberal leader will be selected in Canada, and whether the Liberal caucus will agree to Trudeau’s wish to stay on until a new leader is chosen.