Public Engagement

Igniting Positive Change in Our World
Research, scholarship and collaboration underpin Cornell’s excellence in public engagement.
A deep-rooted commitment to outreach, extension and engagement infuses our state, domestic and global mission of developing knowledge that benefits humanity.
Public Engagement Around The University
Maureen Waller receives 2020 Engaged Scholar Prize
Students reflect on engaged experiences, leadership
With help from family, friends, ROTC seniors become officers
Cornell leads effort to provide masks for incarcerated people
CLASP student mentors adjust to learning in place
ILR’s Ithaca Co-Lab to focus on engaged learning, outreach
Ostendarp creates colorful backdrops for German exhibit
Cornell supports local small business COVID-19 fund
Students face pandemic disruption with resilience
Faculty help hospitalized patients stay connected
Learning and Extension
Knowledge, Community and Action
Cornell was founded on the principle that our labs, classrooms and extension programs focus on societal challenges. A robust exchange of ideas with communities and citizens allows us to learn from, and develop and implement solutions to, fundamental public concerns.

Traveling the World for Planetary Health
Cornell’s Expanding Horizons program sends veterinary student researchers to developing countries.

Hard cider production, from fruit to fermentation
Working with small- and large-scale producers, students learn the full cycle of cider in a first-of-its-kind course.

Small business bootcamp for those who have served
At Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities, Cornell offers experiential training for service members focused on the hospitality industry.

A Vietnamese view on global climate change
Meeting with farmers and community leaders in the Mekong Delta, students saw the effects of extreme weather to the nation’s economy and culture firsthand.
Research Examples
Discovery and Outreach
Research with a Public Purpose
Cornell supports a community of scholars known for radical collaboration spanning disciplines, locations and industries and focused on translating ideas into solutions.

- “What makes us human?”
A podcast and essay series showcases Cornell’s newest conclusions about what it means to be human in the 21st century. - Cornell scientists tapped to preserve trees on the National Mall
The National Park Service relies on Cornell scientists to develop a comprehensive plan to preserve elms on the Mall. - A new kind of influenza vaccine
Cornell professors have created a method for a quick-acting, long-lasting single-shot influenza vaccine for pandemic outbreaks. - CollabSpace: A place for makers and builders
A free online resource for all ages, CollabSpace inspires a passion for STEM learning for communities and schools around the globe.
Discovery and Outreach Examples
The Engaged Student Experience
Engaged Cornell
Engaged Cornell advances the university’s mission through community-engaged discovery and learning that contribute to solving many of the world’s biggest challenges.
Engaged Cornell is:
- championing research, curricula and co-curricular activities that are identified, designed and implemented with partner communities
- preparing students to become global citizens leading social change
- inspiring a new generation of teaching and research at Cornell and beyond
Engaged Cornell appears across campus and around the world in work led by students, faculty, staff and their community partners. Cornell’s colleges and schools offer a vast array of engaged programming, which is supported and augmented by many other units on campus, including those in the Engaged Cornell Hub.

Engaged Cornell
At-A-Glance
- Who’s involved
- Open to all Cornellians and their community partners
- What happens
- Work with communities to define needs and create solutions
- Where it happens
- In classrooms, field work and communities in Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York state and around the world
The Cornell Land Grant
A Spirit of Public Engagement
As the land-grant institution in New York state, we have a special responsibility — unique among the Ivy League — for research and public engagement. We are a university community committed to improving the quality of life in New York state, the nation and the world.
Explore Cornell Public Engagement
- Agriculture and Life Sciences International Programs
- AguaClara
- Ask an Astronomer
- Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research
- Center for Global Health
- Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise
- Center for the Study of Inequality
- Center for Transformative Action
- Community and Rural Development Institute
- Community Learning and Service Partnership
- Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability
- Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide
- Cornell Center for Materials Research
- Cornell Center for Women, Justice, Economy & Technology
- Cornell Cooperative Extension
- The Cornell Energy Institute
- Cornell Institute for Climate Smart Solutions
- Cornell Institute for Healthy Futures
- Cornell Institute for Public Affairs