News: CBE

As Bitcoin miners flock to the United States, both politicians and environmental advocates warn of the ecological costs of the energy-intensive industry. In September, the White House released a report citing that the U.S. hosts about a third of the world’s crypto mining operations, consuming up to 1.7% of the nation’s electricity, equivalent to all residential lighting. A new study by researchers at Cornell University argues that environmental concerns can be assuaged by more efficiently distributing Bitcoin mining in states that prioritize renewable energy and have lower operational costs... Read more

CBE M.S. student Apoorv Lal and Prof. Fengqi You (Roxanne E. and Michael J. Zak Professor in Energy Systems Engineering) received the Zdenek Burianec Memorial Award for Best Poster Presentation at the 25th International Conference on Process Integration, Modeling and Optimization for Energy Saving and Pollution Reduction (PRES'22), held September 5-8 in Bol, Croatia. The title of their poster presentation is “Comparative Life Cycle Analysis and Optimization of Operating Conditions of Hydrogen Production Methods." Lal’s paper addresses the sustainable design of hydrogen production systems that... Read more

An experiment on the International Space Station has given Cornell researchers fresh insight into the ways that water droplets oscillate and spread across solid surfaces. Read more

The cover of the June 2022 issue of AIChE Journal, the flagship journal of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), features an invited Perspective article by Professor Fengqi You, Systems Ph.D. student Akshay Ajagekar and their collaborators in NASA and ExxonMobil. This AIChE Journal Perspective article, “Perspectives of Quantum Computing for Chemical Engineering” (AIChE J. 2022; 68(6):e17651), discusses how quantum computing can positively impact chemical engineering and related fields. The realization of advantages promised by quantum algorithms for various applications is... Read more

The Smith School is excited to welcome two new hires to Cornell in 2023! We are pleased to announce that Allison Godwin, Ph.D. will be joining as an associate professor in January, and Shuwen Yue Ph.D. will be joining as an Assistant Professor in July! Allison is a leading scholar in engineering education. She is a master of discipline-based education research methods and applies her skills to interesting, important challenges for our field that span human-oriented topics (e.g., effective of advising interventions and curriculum delivery) and technical topics (e.g., data science application... Read more

Cornell is one step closer to determining the feasibility of using deep geothermal energy to heat the Ithaca campus now that drilling has commenced for the Cornell University Borehole Observatory. Read more

Smith School professor Fengqi You comments on Qatar's efforts to host soccer's first carbon-neutral FIFA World Cup. Read more

As he accepted his Distinguished Alumni Award from Cornell Engineering on May 13, Robert F. Smith ’85, founder and CEO of Vista Equity Partners, announced a new gift of $15 million for engineering student aid, with a focus on assisting undergraduate students who come to Cornell from urban high schools, and graduate students who attended historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Read more

Smith School doctoral student Jesus Lopez Baltazar has been awarded the "2022 Exemplary Service Award - Advanced Career Student." Each year, OISE and the Graduate and Professional Diversity Council present several awards to graduate and professional degree students who have demonstrated a strong commitment towards advancing efforts around diversity, inclusion, outreach, and student engagement. Click this link to learn more about the Graduate Diversity and Inclusion Awards. Read more

The Austin Hooey Graduate Research Excellence Recognition Award is the highest award given to a graduate student. It recognizes outstanding contributions to scholarship, service, and research toward a Ph.D. Established in 2005 in honor of the late Austin O. Hooey (1922–2004); her father, William C. Hooey, earned his degree in chemical engineering in 1912. Both, father and daughter, deeply valued higher education and Cornell University. The Spring 2022 winner Alicia Aquino of the DeLisa Group. Read more