FROM THE PUBLISHER
From the publisher
Tommy Bruce See larger image
In 2006, Erika Johnson, a young engineer working for a NASA subcontractor in Florida, happened to meet Lance Collins, director of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the time and now the dean of Cornell's engineering college, at a conference. The two struck up a conversation, and Johnson learned about the college and that Collins was an expert on turbulence – one of her primary research interests.
Collins encouraged Johnson to come to Cornell to pursue her Ph.D. in environmental engineering. Today, Johnson is collaborating on vitally important research with Cornell faculty. She also has worked with undergraduates as a teaching assistant and has participated in an outreach program to interest seventh- and eighth-grade girls in mathematics.
This is just one pathway for a Cornell graduate student. But her story is not unusual, as our cover story in this issue describes. Our brilliant graduate students, says Graduate School Dean Barbara Knuth, "are the glue that draws faculty together from across the university, creating opportunities for building relationships and developing research collaborations."
This collaboration, as well as what Knuth rejoices in as graduate students' "passion and energy," will be central to the success of Cornell's creation of an applied sciences campus in New York City, CornellNYC Tech – Home of the Technion-Cornell Innovation Institute. The awarding of the contract to Cornell and its partner, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, last December is truly a major milestone in our 147-year history and one that will challenge graduate students and faculty alike to turn the fruits of their research into commercial startups.
The unique cross-disciplinary way in which Cornell educates its students, the efforts that go into student-faculty collaboration and faculty mentoring, and, most importantly, Cornell's dedication to increasing financial support for these talented young researchers, make the future for our graduate students, both on the Ithaca campus and at the coming New York City tech campus, bright indeed.
Thomas W. Bruce
Vice President, University Communications