Annual funds helped kick-start a new experimental carbon capture facility.

Researchers from Arts and Sciences and Cornell Engineering expanded the footprint of the university’s living laboratory by establishing the CAPTURE-Lab. The new facility, located in Cornell’s Combined Heat and Power Plant, provides access to real-world flue gas emissions, allowing researchers to explore carbon capture, utilization, storage, and industrial decarbonization.

Why it matters: About two-thirds of all greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, come from the combustion of fossil fuels, but we can’t switch to solar, wind, and other renewable sources quickly, according to Professor Phillip Milner, a researcher at the CAPTURE-Lab. This makes carbon capture and new carbon capture technologies necessary.

Impact: In a first, Cornell researchers use sunlight to capture carbon.

Annual funds support faculty innovations that improve lives.

Yadong Wang, the McAdam Family Foundation Professor of Heart Assist Technology, and former Cornell postdoctoral researcher Anthony D’Amato are co-founders of Anova Biomedical. Together, they’ve developed a new biodegradable graft that could help millions of people suffering and dying from end-stage renal disease and cardiovascular disease.

Why it matters: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. The new graft could provide treatment for people with no viable options.

Annual funds fuel discovery in faculty labs.

Cornell CALS’s CAST is developing virtual livestock fences and cow pregnancy devices to improve the efficiency and productivity of 21st-century farms.

The big picture: There are more than 200 interdisciplinary centers, institutes, laboratories, and programs engaged in research at Cornell. Annual funds support their work.

Annual funds bolstered faculty hiring packages, making offers more competitive.

For example, annual fund support made it possible for Arts and Sciences to launch an off-cycle recruitment effort in 2024. Their competitive hiring package brought a leading scholar to Cornell, offering just one example of how annual funds advance faculty excellence, transform departments, and spark innovation.

Meet some of Cornell’s newest faculty:

⚬ Jonathan A. Rottenberg joined the College of Human Ecology as professor. His research is focused on long-term functioning and well-being after depression and related conditions. He is the director of the Better Outcomes Laboratory.

⚬ Hadar Averbuch-Elor joined Cornell Bowers CIS as an assistant professor. Her research is focused on computer vision and graphics. In 2025, Averbuch-Elor and researchers at Tel Aviv University (TAU) developed an approach that uses AI to read ancient tablets. She is based at Cornell Tech in New York City.

⚬ Yaxuan Chen joined the Cornell Nolan School as an assistant professor of accounting. Her research is focused on design choices for management control systems with a specific emphasis on organizational culture.

“In my mind, teaching goes beyond the dissemination of knowledge,” says Professor Chen. “The most profound learning occurs when students can see the tangible implications of theoretical accounting concepts in real-world business scenarios.”

⚬ Toni Alimi joined Arts and Sciences as assistant professor. His academic focus is the history of philosophy, and his research is focused on the philosophical history of slavery, a book-length project inspired by his recent work on Augustine of Hippo. Alimi is a former Klarman Fellow in the college’s department of classics and philosophy.

⚬ Paul A. Ortiz joined the ILR School as professor of labor history. In 2024, he served as an advisor and on-camera expert for the three-part PBS docuseries, “American Historia: The Untold History of Latinos.”

⚬ Laura Melissa Guzman joined Cornell CALS as assistant professor. Her research is focused on biodiversity, big data, and insect conservation. She was hired as part of the Empowering Biodiversity for People and the Planet cohort—part of the college’s Pioneering Life Science Breakthroughs moonshot.

“Cornell CALS offers a unique opportunity to interact with excellent researchers that are studying the entire breadth of biological sciences and beyond,” says Professor Guzman. “It truly is a unique place.

Annual funds supported undergraduate research, allowing students to build knowledge while taking part in uncovering it.

“The wide range of research being done at Cornell also permitted me to dive into many of my interests at once.”—Tobie Bertisch ’25, lab manager and research assistant for the Purpose & Identity Lab in the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research

Meet Tobie: Learn about her Cornell experiences, including her work in faculty labs as an undergraduate research assistant.

Annual funds fueled engaged service learning experiences.

Students in the College of Business helped rural Peruvians grow turmeric business through the Grand Challenges program, which includes projects and a curriculum focused on pressing societal issues. Students in Cornell Law’s Low Income Tax Law and Accounting Practicum served members of the Yup’ik community in remote Alaska.

In their words: “Sometimes things aren’t just about profits. It’s about how you work with the community and how you give back,” says Alexander De Leon ’26, a Dyson School student who traveled to Peru.

“The trip had started with tax filings, but it became something much bigger,” writes Wen Liang JD ’25, reflecting on her time in Alaska. “A glimpse into a resilient community, a lesson in how policies impact real lives, and a reminder of why public interest work matters.”

Annual funds allowed students to pursue new knowledge and skills through undergraduate research experiences in faculty labs across Cornell.

“The main disease that we work on is Xoc. This disease is affecting rice across Africa and Asia. What we want to know is more about the protein that’s facilitating resistance to some strains and how we can possibly make it better,” says Xiaoying Gan ’25, a biometry and statistics and plant science double major who works in Professor Adam Bogdanove’s lab.

Dive deeper: See how Gan is using her Cornell education to improve agriculture and tackle food insecurity.

Annual funds made it possible for many students to pursue unpaid or low-pay summer experiences.

Annual fund donors help ensure students can say “yes” to transformative summer experiences. Lilly Smith ’26, an undergraduate in the College of Human Ecology, was able to pursue a fellowship with the New Roots Institute and an internship with Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Farmers Market Nutrition Program over the summer in 2024.

Why these experiences matter: “This experience empowered me to pursue a dietetics path in preparation for a career in national or global food policy,” writes Lilly.

Annual funds helped students thrive through mentorship programs and by building up immersive residential housing experiences.

Graduate School students benefit from mentorship resources that fuel faculty-student partnerships and career development. Cornell athletes develop essential skills in leadership, motivation, resilience, and character through Cornell Big Red Leaders 2 Leaders, a leadership and team-building program that’s led by Dr. Greg Shelley. Annual funds also enhanced residential program houses like the Language House, which added American Sign Language (ASL) to its immersive offerings last year.

Annual funds inspired outreach by supporting projects and service learning in Ithaca and the local region.

Courtney Braun MPA ’25, a Brooks School master’s degree student studying public administration, helped fundraise and coordinate Cornell’s partnership with Enfield Food Distribution—an effort to help the Ithaca food pantry meet growing needs. Two teams of Dyson School students collaborated with Whirlpool to place refurbished refrigerators in high-need areas around the region. In collaboration with community partners, Cornell students in the Botanic Gardens’ Learning by Leading program worked on a new medicinal garden at the Onondaga Nation School in Nedrow, New York.

Annual funds strengthened a sense of community by supporting student organizations, project teams, competitions, and core space renovations.

Nolan School students adapted Hotel Ezra Cornell for its 100th year, the Development in Games Association (DGA) at Cornell hosted its first in-person game jam, and renovations are revitalizing Sibley Dome as a vibrant hub for the Cornell AAP community.