Gift to establish K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s groundbreaking Center for Conservation Bioacoustics will begin a new era of innovation thanks to a major gift from the philanthropist and Lab Advisory Board member K. Lisa Yang ’74.

The $24 million gift, announced June 4 at the Cornell Lab’s spring board meeting, is the largest onetime gift in the lab’s history. The naming was approved May 28 by the Cornell University Board of Trustees.

In addition to naming the K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, the gift endows the John W. Fitzpatrick Directorship for the center, named in honor of the Cornell Lab’s longtime leader to recognize his vision in the need to invest in technology at the Lab.