For 160 years, Cornell University has carried out groundbreaking international work that turns bold ideas into solutions and improves lives abroad and in the United States.
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International Research Powers the U.S. Economy
The Future of Money in the U.S.
Central banks around the world are exploring the promise and pitfalls of creating digital currency. Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) offers the convenience of real-time digital payments, money transfers, and government disbursements—but the public might pay a price in privacy and security.
Collaboration with experts in the UK, Switzerland, and Israel helped James Grimmelmann and Ari Juels (Cornell Tech) and Eswar Prasad (Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences) write an influential paper in 2020 that laid out cutting-edge policy and technical considerations for the U.S. to design a resilient, secure CBDC.
Who uses cryptocurrency—and why?
Doug Kriner, Sarah Kreps, and Gustavo Flores-Macías (A&S, Cornell Brooks School of Public Policy) analyzed use trends across 25 countries to explore the technology’s potential for advancing financial freedom and access to financial services.
Fashion’s Climate Breakdown
Heat is costing lives, livelihoods, and profits for U.S. apparel companies. Jason Judd and Sarosh Kuruvilla (ILR School) and colleagues found extreme heat is lowering productivity in apparel factories, mainly located in the Global South. The effects include lower exports and GDP and poor health outcomes for workers.
Productivity losses due to heat in factories in developing countries affect the profitability of U.S. fashion companies that source from them.
Protecting U.S. Democracy
Kaushik Basu (A&S), chief economist of the World Bank from 2012 to 2016, led the bank to create a shared prosperity index that ranks countries by the well-being of the bottom 40% of the population, instead of relying on per capita or average income.
Comparative research around the globe explains how the concentration of wealth impacts domestic political systems—in the U.S. and abroad.
“Excessive inequality is not just bad—it damages democracy by robbing the masses of their voice.”
Insuring Against Drought
Chris Barrett (Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management) and partners created a satellite-based drought insurance model—index-based livestock insurance (IBLI)—to mitigate catastrophic drought risk in the Horn of Africa. The government of Kenya scaled it nationally, and the UN World Food Programme and others deployed it across Africa.
IBLI research piloted in Africa provided the model for satellite-powered crop insurance now offered to American farms and ranches by the USDA Risk Management Agency.
Smarter Job Search Tools for New York
Jumping off from their collaboration on job search websites in Europe that increased job interviews and stable employment, economists Philipp Kircher (ILR) and Michele Belot (A&S, ILR) developed a next-generation digital platform to help New York State job seekers land interviews with data-driven, personalized guidance.
Cornell’s Rice Bowl
Research at Cornell helps U.S. and global rice farmers feed their communities and reach wider markets.
Climate-smart rice farming is boosting food security and increasing demand for organic and specialty rice varieties—supporting smallholder farmers in West Africa and Black farmers in the American South and New York. Read about Erika Styger (Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences) and her work with Jubilee Justice.
From Japanese Paddies to U.S. Fields
Agroecology student Oscar Leiber ’24 conducted research in Japan on an organic method of rice farming that releases small ducks into rice paddies to control weeds and pests. Highly local, sustainable, and intensive farming practices suggest ways to encourage rural young people to stay in farming in the United States.
Gene Map for Stronger, Healthier Rice
The first molecular genetic map of rice was created at Cornell by Susan McCouch (CALS emeritus) and colleagues. The lab worked with rice breeders around the world to develop hundreds of new rice varieties with enhanced yields, disease resistance, and nutritional value and shared open-access tools with rice breeders everywhere.
Cornell’s collaborative research makes rice grown in the U.S. more productive and resilient.
Jasmine Rice Roots
Learn how Cornell scientists helped turn a local Thai grain into an American staple.
Combining Energy and Farming
The challenge is to enable large-scale solar energy development while preserving prime farmland. Agrivoltaics—combining solar panels, shade-resistant crops, and livestock—is common in East Asia and growing in the United States. CALS researchers are partnering with local farmers to pilot agriculture-friendly energy transformations with $1 million in initial support from New York State.
“Panels are generating energy, rent checks are coming in, and the farmer produced 85% of his normal yield off the first cutting on his hay field this year.”
Based on Cornell’s successes in Upstate New York, Prabhu Pingali (Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management) and colleagues at the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition are testing agrivoltaics to increase agricultural productivity while reducing greenhouse gas emissions in rural Bihar, India.
Protecting U.S. Wheat
Sometimes called the “polio of wheat,” stem rust disease has been responsible for many famines. The food security of billions of people and livestock animals was at stake when a new airborne variant of the disease emerged in Uganda in the late 1990s.
Ronnie Coffman (CALS emeritus) organized and led a global response that grew into a consortium of scientists from hundreds of institutions working together to protect the world’s wheat supply. The team developed resistant wheat varieties and strategically deployed them—and thanks to the international collaboration, the disease’s spread was restricted.
UG99 has not reached the U.S.—and most wheat-producing countries were spared.
Food Safety for All
Cornell's Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Safety strengthened food safety policies and practices in Africa and Asia, focusing on bacterial pathogens like Salmonella and E. coli.
The United States sources food from 200+ countries and territories. Reducing foodborne contamination increases U.S. consumers’ access to safe and nutritious food.
From Waste to Worth
Cornell research reduces U.S. dependence on imported minerals.
Jillian Goldfarb and Jeff Tester (Cornell Engineering) are transforming international partnerships into practical solutions for worldwide energy and agricultural challenges. Groundbreaking work with Italian collaborators pioneered new methods for converting biomass waste into clean-burning fuels, while collaboration with Israel’s Technion University is developing innovative processes to recover essential nutrients from agricultural waste.
These partnerships advance regional energy security and independence, particularly in rural areas—and reduce American farms’ reliance on imported mineral fertilizers.
A powerful tool for improving soil health, biochar is created by heating organic matter—like wood or agricultural waste—in a process called pyrolysis. For over 20 years, research by Johannes Lehmann (Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences) has created biochar soil management technology that helps farmers in the U.S. and abroad naturally fertilize soil and sequester carbon to mitigate climate change.
Today biochar accounts for over 90% of carbon dioxide removals in the voluntary carbon market, including uptake in the United States.
Cornell innovations contributed to the biochar production technique and science that won NetZero a $15 million award in the 2025 XPRIZE Carbon Removal competition.
In 2023, Cornell faculty and students helped launch the Circular Bionutrient Economy Network in East Africa, with a base in Kenya.
Volcanic Insights: From Spain to Yellowstone
When La Palma volcano erupted in Spain’s Canary Islands, Cornell scientists seized the unprecedented opportunity to advance real-time volcanic monitoring methods. Led by Esteban Gazel (Cornell Engineering), the team developed an innovative CO₂ barometer that precisely pinpoints magma storage—vital information for risk assessment. This Cornell-pioneered technique now enhances volcanic monitoring in Hawaii, Yellowstone, and worldwide.
Caribbean Drought Atlas Protects the U.S.
Cornell researchers led by Toby Ault (Cornell Engineering, CALS) created groundbreaking drought forecasting tools with collaborators in the Caribbean. Their work has improved understanding of El Niño’s impact on droughts, benefiting Caribbean communities and helping the southeastern United States prepare for extreme weather events.
Bringing Home Insights From the Arctic
Postdoctoral fellow Ligia Fonseca Coelho (Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences) ventured to Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard—one of Earth’s most remote research outposts—to study “extremophiles,” organisms that live in extreme environments. Through rare international partnerships, she opened new scientific pathways normally out of reach to U.S. researchers, expanding America’s access to essential Arctic data and infrastructure.
Unlocking Antarctic Secrets
Icefin robot developed by Britney Schmidt (A&S, Engineering) explores beneath Antarctic glaciers, uncovering how melting ice sheets threaten global sea levels—crucial knowledge for U.S. coastal cities.
Karim-Aly Kassam (CALS) bridges indigenous wisdom with environmental science and policy. His research has helped the U.S. Department of Interior balance oil development and food security in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea region, and his ecological calendars with Native communities like the Standing Rock Sioux support climate resilience and local livelihoods.
The international collaborations of Robert Raguso (CALS) in sensory ecology led to innovative pest control solutions for New York berry farmers, using targeted traps that combine visual and odor cues.
Geoff Abers (Cornell Engineering) works with colleagues in Chile to study subduction zones where tectonic plates collide, using new offshore instruments to forecast major earthquakes. The scientists’ findings enhanced earthquake hazard forecasting in the Pacific Northwest.
International Research Improves Our Understanding of the World
SE Asia Expertise Strengthens U.S. Policy
Informing U.S. policymakers and the public about this strategically vital world region has been a goal of Cornell’s Southeast Asia Program since 1950. From George Kahin’s pioneering work on Indonesia and Vietnam to Benedict Anderson’s congressional testimony on East Timor, SEAP experts deliver insights into critical policy questions often overlooked by major media.
Indonesian culture, history, and international relations are the focus of SEAP’s paradigm-setting Cornell Modern Indonesia Project—with 70+ years of policy impact. Research on Muslim-majority Indonesia’s democratic transition by Tom Pepinsky (Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences, Cornell Brooks School of Public Policy) steered how the U.S. government engaged with the nation’s emerging political parties and civil society. Initiatives like the American Institute for Indonesian Studies, led by Eric Tagliacozzo (A&S), help U.S. policy actors make rapid, informed decisions.
Part of the Einaudi Center for International Studies, SEAP integrates a range of academic fields, enhancing innovators’ capacity to solve world problems and bringing their insights home to the U.S. public.
Research teams at work on political ecology and bioacoustics at Cornell’s world-famous Lab of Ornithology promote conservation by learning Southeast Asian languages and regional contexts to advance their conservation research.
Borrowing Paradise, a story of environmental hope set in Bali by Kaja McGowan (A&S), makes conservation approachable for young American readers.
Tracking Russian Public Opinion When We Need It Most
Cornell’s Russian Election Study—the world’s longest-running election study of an autocracy—has covered every national election cycle since 1995. Currently led by Bryn Rosenfeld (A&S), this longitudinal research provides unique insights into Russian public attitudes toward Putin’s government and the Ukraine war. It has informed U.S. State Department policy and established new standards for gathering wartime public opinion data—directly advancing U.S. national security interests.
Technology Defends Cultural Heritage
Adam Smith and Lori Khatchadourian (A&S) use satellite monitoring to protect endangered cultural monuments in the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict zone. Caucasus Heritage Watch provides observational data to international organizations and the U.S. Department of State, so they can exert diplomatic pressure to deter attacks on heritage sites and focus attention on Azerbaijan’s human rights record.
International Research Helps Americans Age Better
The world’s population is aging and shrinking at the same time. What will more older adults mean for community planning, economic development, and public services? Mildred Warner (Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning) is working with colleagues in Latin America and Asia to survey different societal responses to aging and develop practical new models to share with AARP and policymakers in the United States.
Speaking Truth When Others Can't
Tamara Loos (A&S) provides critical analysis of the Thai monarchy that citizens of Thailand can’t safely express due to the regime’s severe legal restrictions. Her media interviews and political commentary inform worldwide debates about democratic freedoms in Southeast Asia and help U.S. policymakers and officials understand the abuses Thai political refugees seeking asylum face under the monarchy.
Cornell Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic has freed wrongfully convicted death row inmates in Africa and inspired training programs for U.S. lawyers defending death row cases.
Research by Ray Craib (A&S) on libertarian exit experiments—from Caribbean and Pacific seasteading to charter cities envisioned by Silicon Valley tycoons—warns U.S. policymakers and citizens of the dangers of creating regulation-free zones.
American workers and U.S. trade unions are preparing for AI’s impact on the future of work with global perspectives from Isabel Perera (A&S).
UN peacekeepers’ transactional sex relationships disrupt communities and contribute to increased sexual violence, research from Sabrina Karim (A&S) shows. The study provides important cautions for U.S. policy and peacekeeping operations.
International Research Drives Innovation in the U.S.
Innovation in the Cosmos
Collaboration Drives Research on the Universe
Phil Nicholson (Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences) helped lead the NASA-ESA-ASI Cassini mission to Saturn for nearly three decades. He forged international partnerships, mentored a new generation of U.S. scientists and engineers, and strengthened America’s role in global space exploration.
Jonas Biren (Cornell Engineering) collaborates with labs in Orléans, France, studying the radiative properties of molten rocks to better understand the composition and temperature of “lava worlds.” The research interprets NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope observations and improves models of planetary formation.
Cornell astronomers teamed with international researchers using Europe’s new LUMI-G supercomputer to simulate galaxy formation. Their breakthroughs will help decode data from major U.S.-funded telescopes like the Webb telescope and Vera Rubin Observatory.
Cornell leads the Planetary Origins and Evolution Multispectral Monochromator (POEMM) project, a NASA balloon mission to study how planetary systems form and deliver water to Earthlike worlds. Partners in the U.S., Europe, and Canada join forces to accelerate technological development in space science.
Cornell is building the Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope on Chile’s Atacama Plateau—the world’s highest, clearest site for astronomy. The project brings American leadership to global cosmic discovery, driving innovation across science and engineering.
Innovation at Home
Rocking Baby Care with AI
International PhD student Assaf Glazer (Cornell Tech) developed Nanit, the first-ever smart baby monitor that uses computer vision and machine learning algorithms. Nanit’s success brings cutting-edge innovation to parents and to hospitals tracking patients’ sleep. The company has grown rapidly, reaching over $100 million in sales and employing 140 people.
Nanit was named one of the best inventions of 2018 by Time and one of the best baby monitors by New York Times Wirecutter.
AI Tools for Teachers and Health Workers
Aditya Vashistha (Cornell Bowers Computing and Information Science) codesigned an AI lesson planner for teachers and a chatbot for frontline health workers in India—reaching thousands and scaling fast. Vashistha’s work in low-resource settings pilots new AI solutions for underserved U.S. communities.
Building Resilient Water Systems
Cornell Engineering researchers are partnering with rural Puerto Rican communities to design nature-based drinking water systems. The locally managed project models scalable, sustainable infrastructure solutions for vulnerable communities across the United States and its territories.
Hong Kong–American chemist Ching Wan Tang, PhD ’75, invented the organic light-emitting diode and organic photovoltaic cell—technologies central to modern electronics. His discoveries helped launch multibillion-dollar U.S. industries in displays, solar power, and lighting.
PhD students Igor Labutov (Cornell Tech) and Bishan Yang (Bowers) founded Laer AI to automate the slowest parts of legal discovery. Now acquired by Epiq, their technology is powering a faster, more efficient U.S. legal system.
Lee Humphreys (Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences) collaborated with researchers in Australia to show how U.S.-based platforms like Google Maps serve businesses differently across national contexts.
International Research Saves Lives
Health at the Point of Care
Cornell’s PORTENT develops mobile diagnostics for real-world impact.
One-third of premature deaths in the United States are linked to preventable or manageable health conditions—yet early, accessible diagnostics remain out of reach for many communities. PORTENT is closing that gap with point-of-care tools that bring real-time health screenings to clinics, pharmacies, and homes.
The goal: to decentralize diagnostics and enable timely, personalized interventions, especially in low-resource settings across the U.S. and world.
Diagnostic Power in Your Hand
Two PORTENT-supported innovations highlight this mission. Developed by David Erickson (Cornell Engineering) and team in collaboration with the U.S. Army, FeverPhone rapidly differentiates among deadly viral infections like Ebola, Marburg, and Lassa—offering vital support for military and civilian health responders in outbreak zones.
AnemiaPhone, developed by Saurabh Mehta (Cornell University College of Human Ecology) and colleagues, delivers fast, low-cost iron deficiency screening using just one drop of blood. Now integrated into India’s national health programs, the tool is informing U.S. approaches to precision nutrition and last-mile care.
“We’re not trying to replace traditional labs, but to extend their reach.”
Medical Collaboration Trains Doctors and Saves Lives
In Haiti, Weill Cornell Medicine’s partnership with GHESKIO clinics has supported decades of groundbreaking clinical research on HIV/AIDS, changing treatment protocols and improving the lives of millions.
1.2 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV/AIDS.
In Tanzania, a Cornell-founded medical school trains doctors who deliver care in some of the world’s most underserved areas—and helped contain a deadly Marburg virus outbreak.
In Qatar, a Cornell medical program is shaping future healthcare leaders across the Middle East and facilitating our ability to react to global medical emergencies like COVID-19.
Preventing the Next Pandemic
Research on how viruses move from animals to people is vital to health in the U.S. but needs to start internationally—because most of the diseases that could become pandemics do. With fieldwork and collaborators in Australia and Bangladesh, Raina Plowright (College of Veterinary Medicine) made early predictions of viral spillovers and showed how climate shifts and habitat loss increase zoonotic disease emergence. This research helped shape the WHO Pandemic Agreement and the World Bank Pandemic Fund, supporting prevention as a global priority.
These insights guide how the U.S. and nations everywhere prepare for and prevent future pandemics—starting at the source.
Seeing Eye Care Clearly
Aravind Eye Hospital system in India is the largest nonprofit eye hospital in the world. Award-winning research by Sachin Gupta (Cornell SC Johnson College of Business) uncovered important differences between male and female patients: the women had worse vision and more cataracts—yet spending on male patients was 10% higher because more received implanted lenses.
The data set also informed important findings on resource allocation at healthcare nonprofits. Gupta’s insights have shaped vision care and spending across South Asia. The World Health Organization and U.S. healthcare systems use the results for strategic resource planning to help more patients see clearly.
Tackling Hidden Toxins in Food Systems
In Africa, malnutrition and climate change go hand in hand. Public and ecosystem health research from Laura Smith (Veterinary College), conducted in partnership with Zimbabwe’s government, clarified the link between childhood stunting and exposure during pregnancy and infancy to mycotoxins—poisons produced when molds contaminate crops like corn.
In the United States, over 90% of the population is exposed to mycotoxins at least once, with symptoms ranging from GI distress to cancer.
The USDA reports U.S. economic losses due to mycotoxins in corn, wheat, and peanuts total $930 million annually.
David Russell (Veterinary College) leads a long-running collaboration on tuberculosis and HIV-1 infection with clinician scientists in Malawi. The partnership led to the development of a new anti-TB drug currently in U.S. human clinical trials. TB cases have been on the rise in the U.S. since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Working with colleagues in Israel, Susan Daniel (Cornell Engineering) is using advanced engineering tools and microscopy to identify the first point of contact in the process of coronavirus infection.
Research in Italy by Doug Kriner and Sarah Kreps (Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences, Cornell Brooks School of Public Policy) investigated who remains unvaccinated against COVID-19 and why. Their research suggests that public health messaging about individual benefits may be more effective in the U.S. than appeals emphasizing collective responsibility.
58 Languages
U.S. national security requires strategic language capacity.
Cornell offers 58 languages, including many of the least frequently taught—from Ukrainian to Quechua, Urdu to Burmese. Some of these languages are only taught in one or two other locations around the world.
When the military-backed government of Myanmar (Burma) undertook reforms in 2011, the United States planned the first visit by a secretary of state in over 50 years—leading to an urgent diplomatic need for Burmese speakers.
Cornell’s world-class leadership in international studies means the United States has the language expertise it needs to respond immediately in critical parts of the world when new national interests and diplomatic strategies emerge.
Learning another language brings many benefits, from better analytical agility and multitasking to being able to communicate with friends and coworkers. Cornell’s Language Resource Center prepares students for global leadership through innovative language programs that foster cross-cultural fluency.
Cross-Cultural Education Builds Local Solutions
Students interested in education policy at Cornell and Universidad San Francisco de Quito are finding they learn more by working together.
Curiosity Across Borders
Sule Alan (Cornell Brooks School of Public Policy) tested a classroom intervention in Turkey designed to help teachers spark children’s curiosity about science. The approach, based on universal principles of how curiosity works in the brain, improved engagement and test scores.
The research responds to a concern in American schools that many students lose interest in science by high school. Published in the American Economic Review, the study was featured in New York Times coverage of U.S. education debates.
Field Learning Creates Solutions
The Cornell-Keystone Nilgiris Field Learning Program partners Cornell students with indigenous communities in southern India to create practical solutions for sustainability and conservation in a region known for its biodiversity. This unique collaboration develops leadership skills for both American and Indian participants. Research outcomes highlight community-based strategies for better environmental governance and public health.
Preparing Leaders for U.S.-China Relations
The Brittany and Adam J. Levinson Program in China and Asia-Pacific Studies (CAPS) offers a unique approach to understanding the evolving dynamics between the world’s two largest economies. Building on Cornell’s legacy of educating diplomats, it prepares students for careers shaped by the complexities of U.S.-China relations. CAPS combines intensive language and area studies with real-world experience in Ithaca, Washington, DC, and Beijing—training future leaders to engage across borders in diplomacy, policy, and global relations.
A video archive from the Cornell Contemporary China Initiative shares lectures from world experts on China’s economy, politics, and society.
International summer courses on brain imaging technology taught by Chris Xu (Cornell Engineering) have trained 400 global scientists, attracted talented researchers to American laboratories, and expanded U.S. scientific influence.
A Cornell peace-building course trains future U.S. changemakers through direct engagement with communities in international conflict zones, from Congo to Israel.
Cornell’s three-decade partnership with Spain’s Universidad de Cantabria led by Todd Cowen (Cornell Engineering) gives U.S. researchers access to world-class marine facilities and trains American coastal engineering experts.
As a faculty fellow with the Einhorn Center for Community Engagement, K.E. von Wittelsbach (A&S) developed guidelines helping U.S. students, mentors, and academic programs create effective international service-learning programs.
Pompeii: Life Before the Eruption
How did people in Pompeii live before the eruption that buried their thriving city? U.S. and Italian students working with the Casa della Regina Carolina project are excavating and surveying a large house to understand domestic life in what is today one of the major tourist attractions in the world.
International Research Sparks Imagination
Cornell’s European Art Educates U.S. Audiences
Loaned by the Johnson Museum of Art, Charles François Daubigny’s painting Fields in the Month of June returned to France for the Musée d’Orsay’s 2024 exhibition, Paris 1874: Inventing Impressionism. Cornell’s painting marks a watershed moment in the birth of French Impressionism, according to the exhibit’s curators.
The artwork traveled on to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, for the American leg of the joint exhibit. The transatlantic exhibition advanced the public’s understanding of the influential and beloved Impressionism movement and shared Cornell’s pivotal work of art with one million visitors in Europe and the United States.
“Skin in the Game”
Samatha Sheppard (Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences) draws on transnational theorists and experiences to investigate how Hollywood and U.S. sports media represent Black athletes.
Positions of Public Trust
Paul Ramirez Jonas (Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning) asks: How serious are the pledges we and our civic leaders make? Teaming up with local artists and activists in the United States, United Kingdom, and Mexico, the installation Public Trust is a way for citizens everywhere to examine the integrity and value of our commitments.
Student musicians in Cornell’s Barbara and Richard T. Silver Wind Symphony traveled to Cuba for a community-engaged performance tour with the National Concert Band of Cuba.
"The goal of the tour was to bridge conventional performance tours with purposeful community engagement and service learning."