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.


Engaging youth leads to more inclusive public spaces

Outside of the token skate park, the diverse needs of New York state teens are often ignored when planners design public spaces. A new collaboration between a College of Human Ecology professor and Cornell Cooperative Extension seeks to put an end to that.

Global Cornell opens call for proposals to imagine better future

Cornell researchers have the opportunity to take a long stride toward an alternative future full of possibility, with support from Global Cornell’s new Global Grand Challenge: The Future. On Jan. 29 Global Cornell opened what will be the initiative’s only call for proposals.

Gene expression atlas captures where ovulation can go awry

An interdisciplinary collaboration used a cutting-edge form of RNA tagging to map the gene expression that occurs during follicle maturation and ovulation in mice, an approach that could lead to therapeutic treatments for infertility.

Vaping labels challenge: Encouraging adults, dissuading kids

In a recent study published in Social Science and Medicine, a multidisciplinary team sought to deepen regulators’ understanding of how both adults and teens respond to warning labels on e-cigarettes.

New method could help estimate wildlife disease spread

A new method could be used by biologists to estimate the prevalence of disease in free-ranging wildlife and help determine how many samples are needed to detect a disease.

Team designing digital health tools for pregnant refugees wins NAM prize

An intercampus collaboration that aims to provide digital health care tools to pregnant refugee women, who are at elevated risk for pregnancy complications but often afraid to seek medical care, has been awarded a National Academy of Medicine Catalyst Prize.

Under-the-skin implant could treat Type I diabetes

Researchers created a new technique to treat Type 1 diabetes: implanting a device inside a pocket under the skin that can secrete insulin while avoiding the immunosuppression that typically stymies management of the disease.

AI-generated images map visual functions in the brain

Researchers have demonstrated the use of artificial-intelligence-selected natural images and AI-generated synthetic images as neuroscientific tools for probing the visual processing areas of the brain.

600 years of tree rings reveal climate risks in California

An interdisciplinary collaboration used paleo information and reconstructed weather scenarios to better understand California’s flood and drought risks and how they will be compounded by climate change.