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Cornellians come together to make positive change

Exploration across majors, academic fields, and acts of service is a defining characteristic of a Cornell education. It allows students, faculty, and researchers to adopt novel perspectives, discover new knowledge, and engage in alternative ways of thinking. 

By working in partnership with each other, experts, and community leaders, Cornellians are developing solutions to problems impacting our world today. See how recent and ongoing collaborations at Cornell are already making a difference:


Student from the contribution project

The good that Cornellians can do


Contribution Project helps students make a difference

The Contribution Project, an engaged learning and research initiative led by Professor Anthony Burrow, solicits and supports ideas that students believe will make a positive change or meaningful difference in the world today. In 2024, the project expanded to include students from Binghamton and Stony Brook universities.


Students Nicholas Yap, left, Maria Tiulchenko and Adita Syam worked in the lab of Prof. April Wei this summer.

An educational beacon

Faculty, students pair up for summer research projects

The Nexus Scholars program in the College of Arts & Sciences allows students to dedicate their summers to work with professors and their research. This work can bring together different majors and academic disciplines—like classics and information science majors who worked to preserve and digitize the lexica of classic Greek authors with the guidance of Jeffrey Rusten, classics professor emeritus.


Lawrence Bonassar, the Daljit S. and Elaine Sarkaria Professor in Biomedical Engineering and in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and doctoral student Alicia Matavosian examine a smart sensor developed with Jared Matthews ’21.

A source of solutions

Student and professor develop ‘breakthrough’ smart syringe

When Jared Matthews ’21 was an undergrad, he was looking for a research project. He approached Professor Lawrence Bonassar and, together, they developed a smart syringe. The invention can measure, in real-time, the concentration and viability of cells that pass through it—a potential breakthrough for biomedical 3D printing and cell therapy.


Cornell Engineers in Action, alongside a team of masons and the local community

A bridge to the world

Student team leads water sanitation, footbridge projects in Eswatini

Six students on the Engineers in Action (EIA) team worked alongside masons and community members in rural Eswatini. Together, they installed water sanitation systems and built a bridge over the Black Mbuluzi River, a project that connected 5,400 people to schools, health care, and markets.