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.


New Cornell tech to evaluate anemia to be used across India

Cornell researchers develop affordable test for iron deficiency, which affects 2 billion people, disproportionately impacting women of childbearing age as well as infants and young children.

From tradition to innovation: CROPPS Symposium explores sustainable agriculture for hotter, drier climates

The 2024 CROPPS Annual Meeting and Symposium held in October in the Sonoran Desert region of Arizona provided an ideal stage for discussions on sustainable agriculture in hot, dry environments. 

Around Cornell

Microbe atlas could reveal how to mine critical metals sustainably

A Cornell-led team will use a $2 million National Science Foundation grant to develop a “microbe-mineral atlas,” a catalog of microorganisms and how they interact with minerals, key for mining critical metals used for generating sustainable energy.

Origin of deadly ovarian cancer identified

Researchers have identified the origin of ovarian cancer that develops in the fallopian tube, which opens doors to discovering new methods for diagnosing the disease and potential therapies. 

Climate change brings challenges, and opportunities, to Finger Lakes wineries

In a wetter, hotter, more turbulent weather world, New York state wineries will endure new hardship, but they may be better off than most. 

Building deconstruction, reuse would benefit NYS jobs, climate

Transitioning to a circular construction economy in New York state could unlock economic activity, create green jobs and advance climate goals, according to a Cornell-led white paper that provides policy recommendations.

Mathematician and redistricting expert joins Brooks School as radical collaboration hire

A mathematician and public policy expert who has advised numerous U.S. states on redistricting and whose lab has been at the forefront of an emerging discipline that merges data science and elections has joined Cornell as a member of the  Brooks School faculty, the Department of Mathematics in the College of Arts and Sciences and is affiliated with the Center for Data Science for Enterprise and Society as part of the provost’s Data Science Radical Collaboration initiative.

Around Cornell

Global AI among three projects funded to build better future

A multidisciplinary team aims to build a more inclusive AI shaped by global cultures and knowledge – one of three projects that make up Cornell’s new Global Grand Challenge: The Future.

Brooks School adds 13 new faculty, two hired under the Provost’s radical collaboration initiative

The Brooks School has strengthened its faculty with the addition of 13 new external hires who will bolster its research and instruction portfolios in economics, data science, race and equity, and environmental policy.

Around Cornell