The Technion’s story has been intertwined with Israel’s for more than a century, from laying the foundations for a new nation to shaping its future.
Despite New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s past calls to boycott Cornell Tech because of its partnership with Israel’s Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, city officials and Jewish community leaders on Wednesday announced a $250,000 investment in a Cornell Tech research initiative aimed at expanding New York City’s tree canopy to combat rising temperatures. New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin, the first Jewish woman to hold the post, and other officials unveiled the funding for Cornell Tech’s Urban Tech Hub at the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute on Roosevelt Island. The grant will launch the Generative Tree Canopy Project, which will use…
As robots enter hospitals and care facilities, questions remain about whether they actually make care easier for the people who give and receive it. A new Cornell Tech-led study approaches that challenge by inviting healthcare workers, long-term care residents, and community members to help design the robots themselves. Presented at the 2026 Association for Computing Machinery CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, the research documents a 14‑week “co-design” project in which nurses, doctors, nursing center residents, artists, engineers, computer scientists, and craftsmen worked side by side to imagine and physically build robots that could ease daily burdens in…
In 2011, Cornell entered into an academic partnership with the Technion — Israel Institute of Technology to compete for an ambitious goal: build an innovative New York City campus to educate a new generation of tech leaders, conduct breakthrough research and development, inspire startups and propel the city to becoming a global hub for the tech industry. Beating national competitors in the bidding process, Cornell and the Technion won the opportunity to create Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island. Without the Technion, there would be no Cornell Tech. Nearly 15 years later, Cornell Tech has educated more than 2,700 students and…
As anti-Israel sentiment rises, many are concerned. A pressing question looms: Will the international scientific and business collaborations so vital to Israel’s prosperity withstand this moment? In the heart of NYC, the Joan & Irwin Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, housed at Cornell Tech and one of the first major Israel-U.S. academic collaborations, is a shining example of the innovation and economic output that emerge when brilliant minds from the U.S. and Israel come together through science. This unique partnership tackles some of the world’s toughest challenges while generating measurable growth for New York City and the Startup Nation. Lihi Zelnik-Manor of…
Built to protect pedestrians from falling debris, the ubiquitous sidewalk shed has become an unfortunate defining feature of New York City life. And while we can applaud the new, improved designs for these eyesores, we need to get smarter about how to keep fewer of them up and for shorter periods of time. Simply making sidewalk sheds prettier is merely putting “lipstick on a pig” — no offense to pigs. We can do better. As of last year, the city had more than 8,000 active sidewalk shed permits on file. More than 400 have been up for more than half…
As technology becomes more ingrained in daily life, domestic abusers and perpetrators of human trafficking are using it in insidious new ways that can target their victims even from a distance. That’s why Nicola Dell, a computer and information scientist at Cornell Tech, studies technology-facilitated abuse and how to stop it. Her pioneering work helps survivors of intimate partner violence and human trafficking so they can regain their personal and digital safety. Dell’s research focuses on predicting and warding off the potential actions of attackers who can bypass many types of security precautions simply through their intimate knowledge of their…
If New York City hopes to maintain its international reputation as a technological powerhouse, then it must recognize and accelerate the vital role international collaboration plays in its progress. Cornell Tech and the Joan & Irwin Jacobs Technion–Cornell Institute on Roosevelt Island make clear the undeniable local and global benefit of academic collaboration across borders and how its impact extends far beyond the sum of its parts. In 2010, when the city requested proposals from leading universities to create an academic hub focused on applied sciences, entrepreneurship and job creation, Cornell University and the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology…
At 15, when a neurological condition took Tobias Weinberg’s ability to speak, aspects of his personality became more difficult to express. Typing to communicate, he struggled to keep up in conversations, especially to make the jokes or sarcastic comments that had been his norm. And his first text-to-voice device was monotone, with Mexican or Spanish accents but not his native Argentinian. “The monotone voices, the timing of interjections and conveying my personality through this new way of communication was definitely frustrating,” wrote Weinberg, now a doctoral student and Siegel PiTech Fellow at Cornell Tech. As part of the Matter of…
Every day, millions of people are discharged after extended hospital stays, but matching these patients with appropriate care facilities can be arduous, often reliant on months-old, inaccurate data. Now, a text message-based, hybrid computer-human system that regularly updates both patients’ and care facilities’ availability statuses, developed by a Cornell doctoral student, is smoothing that time-consuming process. The system was tested at a hospital in Hawaii for 14 months, beginning in early 2022, and helped place nearly 50 patients in care facilities. In fact, the system worked so well, the hospital is still using it. “I worked closely with the people…
The most popular programs — electrical and computer engineering, aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, and civil and environmental engineering — are engines of innovation, powering Israel’s recovery and growth. Science faculties like physics and biology have seen remarkable growth, with some programs expanding by 20% or more. The Office of the Dean of Students and the […]
Reddit bills itself as “the most human place on the internet,” but the proliferation of artificial intelligence-generated content is threatening to squeeze some of the humanity out of the news-sharing forum. Content moderators on some of Reddit’s most popular boards see some value in artificial intelligence-generated content, but they’re generally fearful that AI will reduce the utility and social value of a community that prides itself on authenticity. “They were concerned about it on three levels: decreasing content quality, disrupting social dynamics and being difficult to govern,” said Travis Lloyd, doctoral student in the field of information science. “And to…
Cornell Tech has announced that industry leader Joshua Ruch is now co-chair of the Jacobs Steering Committee, alongside Abby Joseph Cohen, current chair of the committee. Joshua has been a dedicated member of the Steering Committee for eight years and chaired the Runway Advisory Committee. In addition, the Steering Committee welcomes three new members: Nafea Bshara, Wendy Jones, and EB Kelly. The Jacobs Institute Steering Committee guides the strategic direction of the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, a cornerstone of Cornell Tech’s mission to fuse academic excellence with real-world impact through programs in health tech, urban tech, and connective media, as well…