Radical Collaboration

Cornell faculty are reaching across disciplines to tackle society’s most complex challenges and to make breakthrough discoveries. These radical collaborations—collisions of thoughts and perspectives from vastly different fields—lead to unexpected and unconventional solutions and deepen our thinking.


Student project adds whimsy to downtown parking

An interdisciplinary team of students designed a new signage system for a downtown Ithaca parking garage that employs colors and animal imagery to help drivers.

Microplastics’ shape determines how far they travel in the atmosphere

A Cornell collaboration developed a model to simulate the atmospheric transport of microplastic fibers and found that their shape plays a crucial role in how far they travel.

State of the University highlights innovation, excellence

Cornell advanced its unique mission through a wide range of achievements in 2023, President Martha E. Pollack said in her State of the University address Oct. 20.

Researchers have designs on better women’s hockey protective gear

While pursuing her master’s in apparel design, Tulasi Elangovan, M.A. ’23, researched and designed a prototype for a shoulder pad made especially for female hockey players, with help from members of the Big Red women’s team.

Live plant pathogens can travel on dust across oceans

Plant pathogens can hitch rides on dust and remain viable, with the potential for traveling across the planet to infect areas far afield, a finding with important implications for global food security and for predicting future outbreaks.

Vesna Bacheva named a 2023 Schmidt Science Fellow

Vesna Bacheva, recipient of a 2023 Schmidt Science Fellowship, collaborates with CROPPS to pioneer innovative technologies and models aimed at investigating the signaling and nutrient transport processes within plants.

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The 2030 Project invites proposals for annual research-to-impact grants, first round awarded

The 2023 research-to-impact projects aim to accelerate collaborative approaches needed  to combat the climate crisis through practical science. 

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Global center promises design solutions for warming world

A Cornell-led project team – with Global Hubs partners in India, the U.K, Ghana and Singapore – has received a two-year $250,000 design grant from the National Science Foundation to bring more comfortable days and nights to homes everywhere.

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Cornell-EDF projects to study extreme urban heat, ag sustainability

The Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability launches two new research partnerships with EDF. 

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