Alumna’s namesake observatory takes a deep dive into the cosmos
The facility, which honors astronomer Vera Cooper Rubin, MS ’51, has released its first images—and they’re mind-blowing
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A&S honors 13 faculty with endowed professorships
The professorships are made possible because of gifts from alumni, parents and friends.
SPROUT Awards cultivate early-stage engineering research
From designing a reversible male contraceptive to detecting life on distant ocean worlds, the latest Cornell Engineering SPROUT Awards are cultivating breakthroughs across medicine, space exploration, robotics and environmental sensing.
Cornell astronomers win time on James Webb Space Telescope
The "premier telescope in space right now" will start a fourth annual cycle of observations on July 1, and three early-career astronomy researchers in A&S are PI or co-PI on observation programs chosen from a very competitive field.
SETI Institute Names First William J. Welch Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Karen I. Perez is the inaugural recipient of the William J. Welch Postdoctoral Fellowship at the SETI Institute.
Changemaker Award goes to SPIF and Zoe Learner Ponterio
The Girl Scouts of NYPENN Pathways say Ponterio’s support “has been invaluable."
'I embraced my love of learning'
Laine Havens is majoring in astronomy and science & technology studies
'I've worked on a code-based project characterizing exoplanets'
Neal Jerome is an astronomy major.
New high-powered telescope reaches Chilean peak
The first major component of the Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST) has arrived at its final home: the Cerro Chajnantor mountaintop, more than 18,000 feet above sea level.
Clearest images yet of 380,000-year-old baby universe released
The new results confirm a simple model of the universe and have ruled out a majority of competing alternatives, says the research team.
Cornell Astronomers Secure Over 350 Hours of JWST Cycle 4 Time for Groundbreaking Cosmic Research
Cornell astronomers have secured over 350 hours of JWST Cycle 4 observing time, contributing to groundbreaking research on exoplanets, planetary systems, and distant galaxies. Graduate student Elijah Mullens and postdoctoral researchers Ryan Challener and Lili Alderson earned key investigator roles, highlighting Cornell’s impact on cutting-edge space science.
Barrier-breaking astronomer graces a U.S. quarter
Immortalized in a series honoring notable women, Vera Cooper Rubin, MS ’51, is the first Cornellian ever featured on a coin.
Joseph Burns, emeritus professor, former dean of faculty, dies at 83
Joseph A. Burns, Ph.D. ’66, emeritus professor of engineering and astronomy, and a former vice provost and dean of the Cornell faculty, died Feb. 26 in Ithaca.
Concert celebrates the wonders of space March 2
In a musical journey through the cosmos, the Cornell Symphony Orchestra will perform the world premiere of “Ex Terra, Ad Astra,” a new work commissioned especially for this year’s Young Person’s Concert.
Gain knowledge from Big Red experts—without leaving home
The University’s online learning platform, eCornell, offers a dizzying variety of content; here’s a sampling, from AI to wines to real estate.
Astronomer Anna Ho and team win Scialog award
Ho’s project will look at supermassive black holes residing in the centers of distant galaxies.
New Klarman Fellows to join the College of Arts and Sciences
Fellows will pursue research in the sciences, social sciences and humanities.
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 the David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical Sciences.
Astronomer granted 600,000 supercomputer hours by DOE
“We are going to run the largest simulations of the magnetized gas that pervades the space between stars, with the aim of understanding a crucial missing piece in our models for how stars and galaxies form."
Employee Excellence Awards honor nearly 250 employees
A&S staff member Lynda Sovocool, interim associate director/department manager for Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science, received the Mission-Possible Award, for supporting the university’s core mission to learning, discovery and engagement.
Scientists compile library for evaluating exoplanet water
Cornell scientists are developing a library of basalt-based spectral signatures that not only will help reveal the composition of planets outside of our solar system, but also could demonstrate evidence of water on those exoplanets.
‘Cosmos,’ a pulitzer, and more: fascinating facts about Carl Sagan
The astronomer’s legacy can be found on Earth and far beyond—from a record-setting exhibit to an iconic portrait of our planet.
Sagan celebrated for scientific mind – and imagination
In person and online Nov. 9, thousands attended an interdisciplinary program of research presentations and music celebrating Carl Sagan’s legacy, on what would have been his 90th birthday.
At Carl Sagan’s gravesite, inspiration endures
On the eve of what would have been Sagan's 90th birthday, well-wishers commune at Lake View Cemetery, leaving notes and trinkets.
Scientists supporting mission to assess Europa’s habitability
Jupiter’s moon Europa may have conditions that could support life. To find out, NASA has launched its next flagship science mission, Europa Clipper, and Cornell scientists will play a role.
Astronomy professor Ho named Packard Fellow
The fellowship from the David and Lucille Packard Foundation includes $875,000 in unrestricted funds to be used for research over five years.
Celebration of Carl Sagan’s 90th birthday being held Nov. 9
On what would have been Carl Sagan's 90th birthday, Cornell’s Carl Sagan Institute will celebrate his legacy in an interdisciplinary day of science, music and more as part of the College of Arts & Sciences’ Arts Unplugged series.
Dr. Lisa Kaltenegger Receives Polar Star Award
"The Austrian Space Forum (OeWF) has awarded Dr. Lisa Kaltenegger the Polar Star Award – the Austrian Space Prize. Gernot Grömer, Director of the Austrian Space Forum awards presented Dr Kaltenegger with the award at a ceremony on Monday 23 September."
Volcanoes may help reveal interior heat on Jupiter moon
By examining Jupiter’s moon Io – the most volcanically active place in the solar system – Cornell astronomers can study a vital process in planetary formation and evolution: tidal heating.
Scientist Britney Schmidt wins Blavatnik Award
Schmidt received the award for “advancing climate science and planetary habitability studies through groundbreaking research on ice-ocean interactions and innovative exploration of Earth’s polar regions and icy planetary bodies.”
New Faculty: Drummond Fielding
Drummond Fielding, Astronomy
New Faculty: Dongwoo Chung
Dongwoo Chung, Astronomy
From portfolios to pizza, fall A&S career events explore diverse fields
"Cornell alumni are generous with their time and efforts to assist students, to answer questions from students, or connect them to people and places."
New A&S dean relishes ‘life in a university’
Peter John Loewen says he's excited to support faculty in their research, meet students and showcase the value of a liberal arts education.
Academic boot camp tackles mission: imposter syndrome
A group of military service members and veterans spent two weeks at Cornell as part of the Warrior-Scholar Project, which helps participants build skills and navigate transitions to higher education.
New analysis of Cassini data yields insights into Titan’s seas
Using data from precision radar experiments, a Cornell-led research team analyzed and estimated the composition and roughness of sea surfaces on Titan.
Surprising ring sheds light on galaxy formation
An international research team discovered that the gas in a Hyper Luminous Infrared Galaxy was rotating in an organized fashion, rather than in the chaotic way expected after a galactic collision –– a surprising result.
A&S honors 10 faculty with endowed professorships
With these new appointments, the number of A&S faculty appointed to endowed professorships since fall 2018 has reached 76.
Simons Observatory begins measurements to probe Big Bang inflation
The new Simons Observatory in Chile’s Atacama Desert may soon answer the great scientific question of what happened in the tiny fraction of a second after the Big Bang.
Simulations dampen excitement about liquid water on Mars
Cornell researchers have provided a simple and comprehensive – if less dramatic – explanation for bright radar reflections initially interpreted as liquid water beneath the ice cap on Mars’ south pole.
Astronomer Lunine appointed chief scientist of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
As chief scientist, Lunine will guide the laboratory’s scientific research and development efforts, drive innovation across JPL’s missions and programs and enhance collaborations with NASA Headquarters, NASA centers, the California Institute of Technology, academia, the science community, government agencies and industry partners.
Peter Loewen named dean of Arts and Sciences
Coming from the University of Toronto, where he was the director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, Loewen began his five-year appointment as the Harold Tanner Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Aug. 1.
Lai receives Brouwer Career Award in astronomy
The award recognizes Dong Lai’s “formidable and broad contributions to astrophysical dynamics, his outstanding mentoring record, and his wide-ranging professional service activities.”
Novel calculations peg age of ‘baby’ asteroid
A Cornell-led research team derived the age of Selam, a “moonlet” orbiting the asteroid Dinkinesh in the main asteroid belt, based only on the pair’s dynamics.
In search for alien life, purple may be the new green
Purple bacteria is one of the primary contenders for life that could dominate a variety of Earth-like planets orbiting different stars, and would produce a distinctive "light fingerprint," Cornell scientists report.
New book gives insider’s view of cosmic search for life
The clues we find on exoplanets could be as strange as a bioluminescent glow or a rainbow hue, as astronomer Lisa Kaltenegger describes in “Alien Earths: The New Science of Planet Hunting in the Cosmos.”
Hubble Fellow chooses Cornell for postdoc
Physicist Keefe Mitman will work with Nils Deppe, assistant professor of physics, on the Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes (SXS) Collaboration on improving gravitational wave models to aid with the LIGO-Virgo-Kagra Collaboration’s detection and characterization of compact binary encounters.
She Dreams of Pink Planets and Alien Dinosaurs
"Have dinosaurs evolved on other worlds? Could we spot a planet of glowing organisms? What nearby star systems are positioned to observe Earth passing in front of the sun? These are just a few of the questions that Lisa Kaltenegger has joyfully tackled. As the founding director of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell University, she has pioneered interdisciplinary work on the origins of life on Earth and the hunt for signs of life, or biosignatures, elsewhere in the universe."
Major new telescope structure completed in Germany
The newly assembled Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST), nearly the size of a five-story building, was unveiled April 4 at an event in Xanten, Germany.
Totality awesome: 400 students travel north for rare eclipse
The April 8 solar eclipse was “definitely life-changing,” said Emma Linscomb ’27, a member of Cornell’s Society of Physics Students.