The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) has elected 111 new members and 22 international members, announced NAE President John L. Anderson today. This brings the total U.S. membership to 2,388 and the number of international members to 310. Election to the National Academy of Engineering is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Read more
Two faculty members – studying topics ranging from reproductive performance in dairy cows to the introduction of living organisms into material design – are winners of 2022 Schwartz Research Funds for Women and Other Underrepresented Faculty in the Life Sciences.. Rong Yang, assistant professor in the Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in the College of Engineering, and Yi Athena Ren, assistant professor of Animal Science in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, each received a $25,000 award. Read more
Recycling via pyrolysis may be the best approach to resolve the increasing, never-ending waste stream of medical PPE, according to new research led by Fengqi You. Read more
The story of talented minority students struggling to advance in higher education is one that is all too familiar in STEM-related fields, and one that has inspired the launch of Ezra’s Bridge – a transitional M.S. program that addresses challenges faced by students underrepresented in chemical and materials sciences by providing them with a full-tuition scholarship, research opportunities, mentoring, and professional development. Ezra’s Bridge was launched in August 2021 after Cornell was selected as an American Chemical Society Bridge Program site, with the greater goal of addressing the gap... Read more
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, academics and business professionals were shifting away from in-person travel to conference events because of the related carbon costs, especially for air travel. Climate leaders from Sweden’s Greta Thunberg to Dr. Peter Kalmus, the founder of “No Fly Climate Sci,” were calling attention to the environmental impacts of these gatherings. Whether it’s the 118 private planes that took leaders to COP26 in Scotland, or the high-emission foods on the menu at Davos, the public now notices too.But pandemic lockdowns and travel restrictions accelerated the change, and... Read more
The Ezra’s Bridge program aims to address challenges faced by populations underrepresented in chemical and materials sciences by providing students with a full-tuition scholarship, research opportunities and mentoring. Read more
With support from the Quantum Computer User Program (QCUP) at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF), researchers from Cornell University have developed a new quantum computer–based artificial intelligence (AI) system for identifying and diagnosing faults in electrical power grids. The framework promises much faster response times and smarter solutions than current state-of-the-art systems and hints at the impact that quantum computers may have on daily life once the technology matures. Fengqi You, the Roxanne E. and Michael J. Zak Professor in Energy Systems Engineering in Cornell... Read more
Peter Harriott ‘49, an emeritus professor of chemical engineering who taught for 48 years at Cornell and co-authored the defining textbook on unit operations, died Sept. 23 in Ithaca. He was 94. Harriott joined the faculty of what was then the School of Chemical Engineering in 1953 and worked closely with some of the school’s founders, including professors Fred H. “Dusty” Rhodes and Julian Smith. Harriott spent the next 48 years teaching undergraduate and graduate chemical engineering students about process control, chemical reactor design, and membrane and synthetic fuels. He supervised... Read more
