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Field Note

Celebrating the memory of sustainability student, artist and activist KAR Robison

“My primary connection with KAR was to help create a meaningful academic plan that would fulfill both major requirements as well as incorporate KAR’s many, many other interests. However, our conversations often diverged from academic planning...

Abstract art by KAR Robison

News

Community remembers undergraduate student, artist and activist KAR Robison
Robison originally attended Baylor University, where they took courses in pre-medicine, philosophy and African studies. They went on to work in the field of sustainable food marketing in both San Diego and New York City for nearly 20 years...
  • School of Integrative Plant Science
  • Soil and Crop Sciences Section
  • Natural Resources and the Environment Section

Field Note

Remembering KAR Robison, student, activist and artist

I was very saddened by the news of KAR’s passing. They had enrolled in two courses with me in the spring of 2020: Underground Railroad Seminar (an Africana course) and the Rural Humanities Seminar (offered through the Rural Humanities Initiative...

A silver Cornell Seal embedded in pavement that reads "Any person, any study"

News

"Summit on Entrepreneurship and Equity" receives Belonging at Cornell innovation grant
As part of its mission to make Cornell a more diverse and inclusive environment for faculty, staff and students, the Presidential Advisors on Diversity and Equity (PADE) have awarded three Belonging at Cornell innovation grants of $15,000 apiece...
  • Behavior
A fish underwater

News

DNA in water used to uncover genes of invasive fish
In a proof-of-principle study, Cornell researchers describe a new technique in which they analyzed environmental DNA – or eDNA – from water samples in Cayuga Lake to gather nuanced information about the presence of invasive fish.
  • Cornell Atkinson
  • Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
  • Natural Resources and the Environment Section
three male researchers look at maize genes on a computer screen

News

Plant biologists reveal genetic patterns in maize development
A Cornell research team led by Michael Scanlon, professor of plant biology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ School of Integrative Plant Science, recently reported new insights into the patterns of gene expression in maize stem...
  • School of Integrative Plant Science
  • Plant Biology Section
  • Agriculture
A pink starfish being held by a black gloved hand

News

Organic matter, bacteria doom sea stars to oxygen depletion
New Cornell-led research suggests that starfish, victims of sea star wasting disease (SSWD), may actually be in respiratory distress – literally “drowning” in their own environment – as elevated microbial activity derived from nearby organic...
  • Microbiology
  • Fish
  • Health + Nutrition
Two men stand on stage at a conference

News

Cornell startup awarded $600K to improve food safety
Halomine, a Cornell-based startup developing cutting-edge technologies for the sanitation of food processing equipment, has been awarded $600,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA)...
  • Biological and Environmental Engineering
  • Health + Nutrition
  • Biology

News

Center’s grants seed diverse research in the social sciences

Researchers posing those questions were among more than 20 awarded grants last fall by the Cornell Center for Social Sciences (CCSS). In total, two dozen projects led by scholars spanning 11 colleges and schools – on diverse topics ranging from...

  • Global Development Section
  • Nutritional Sciences
  • Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management

News

Sex peptide causes female fruit fly’s gut to grow

A new study of the common fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) has identified a protein in the male’s seminal fluid that triggers the female’s midgut to expand after mating. This widening and lengthening of the gut likely prepares the female for...

  • Biology
  • Entomology
  • Nature
A laptop on a wooden table with a notepad and pen and a cup of coffee

Field Note

The 2020 CALS Global Fellows Program: Working around the world from home
For the past five years, the CALS Global Fellows Program (GFP) has worked with international partners to create meaningful, professionally-focused internships and research opportunities for undergraduate students in any major in CALS and Dyson...
  • CALS Global Fellows Program
  • Department of Communication
Evidence of the emerald ash borer on a light brown piece of wood being held by someone

News

Cornell removing ash trees, as replanting effort launches
The university will be sending letters in the coming weeks to notify local municipalities and neighbors of the ash abatements. The latest removals are part of phases 2 and 3 of Cornell’s Emerald Ash Borer Action Plan to manage thousands of on-...
  • Arnot Teaching and Research Forest
  • Cornell Botanic Gardens
Smiling woman holds apple.

News

Cornell apple breeder named National Academy of Inventors fellow
Brown leads the oldest apple breeding program in the United States, located at Cornell AgriTech in Geneva, New York, part of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Her work supports the state’s robust apple industry — valued at $262...
  • Cornell AgriTech
  • School of Integrative Plant Science
  • Horticulture Section
A male stands next to a tractor that is being driven through a field of short crops

News

CALS dean advises on carbon removal strategies
Benjamin Z. Houlton, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, joined a group of experts working with the Energy Futures Initiative (EFI) to identify key pathways for terrestrial carbon dioxide removal that merit...
  • Global Development Section
  • Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
  • Agriculture
A black and white microscope image of soil

News

New imaging method views soil carbon at near-atomic scales
Improving such understanding may help researchers develop strategies for sequestering more carbon in soil, thereby keeping it out of the atmosphere where it combines with oxygen and acts as a greenhouse gas. A new study describes a breakthrough...
  • School of Integrative Plant Science
  • Soil and Crop Sciences Section
  • Soil
Two farmers holding produce in a greenhouse

News

Harvest of generosity
As hunger rose in the face of the global COVID-19 pandemic, Rick and Laura Pedersen responded by sharing the bounty of their farm with their local food bank in upstate New York. “It’s distressing to think about that many people in our community...
  • Cornell AgriTech
  • Global Development Section
  • School of Integrative Plant Science
Two men stand on a construction scaffold flying a purple flag

News

Native ironworkers’ tradition continues on North Campus
Indigenous people began ironworking in the 19th century, when they were hired to build railroad bridges in Canada. They helped craft the New York City skyline, working on projects including the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building and...
  • American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program
  • Communication
  • Land
an artist's interpretation of a powerful, antibiotic resistant gene

Spotlight

John Helmann: Learning the genetic steps in the dance of life
At its most fundamental level, life is a dance between a shifting array of microscopic partners. To unlock the cellular choreography, John D. Helmann, professor of microbiology, has devoted his career to studying a single-celled bacterium known...
  • Microbiology
  • Disease
  • Bacteria
Illustration of the world with icons and lines connecting continents

News

Borlaug Global Rust Initiative story map documents dozen years of impact
An international community of hunger fighters called the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative ( BGRI) joined forces starting in 2005 to confront climate change and diseases that threatened wheat — one of the world’s most important crops. For 15 years...
  • Global Development Section
  • School of Integrative Plant Science
  • Plant Breeding and Genetics Section
a field of malting barley growing

News

Cornell-bred malting barley has a name: Excelsior Gold
Formerly called CU-31, the barley got its name as a result of a contest co-hosted this fall by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) and the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. Richard Ball, commissioner of Ag and...
  • Cornell Cooperative Extension
  • School of Integrative Plant Science
  • Plant Breeding and Genetics Section