Engineering to make a difference.

A purpose-driven, inclusive community committed to developing the knowledge, capabilities, and people needed to forge a better future.

Our Impact Areas

  • Space Technology and Exploration

    Pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the new space ecosystem, strengthened by a legacy of spacecraft innovation, exploration, systems engineering, and entrepreneurship

    hands solder a small spacecraft shaped like a box
  • Climate, Energy, and the Environment

    Combating climate change by developing new materials and energy sources, improving responses to worsening natural hazards, and increasing environmental sustainability

    Scientist holding hardhat points toward windmill
  • AI, Machine Learning, and Data-Driven Decisions

    Leveraging unprecedented volumes of data to make sound decisions, train machines, and decipher broader meaning in the output from artificial intelligence

    A student works with controllers and computer software
  • Robotics and Autonomous Systems

    Transforming industries by using the science of autonomy, enabled by robotics systems, to shape how humans drive cars, pilot spacecraft, design and manufacture products, and more

    robot with wheels and blue LED lights
  • Quantum Information Science and Technology

    Leveraging our expertise in optics, nanofabrication, materials, and information science and technology to create quantum devices, sensors, networks, and systems

    quantum refrigerator
  • Biotechnology and Precision Medicine

    Driving innovation at the interface between engineering and medicine to improve patient outcomes

    Researcher wears face shield in lab
  • Materials and Molecular Design

    Revolutionizing virtually every field by creating new materials, systems, and solutions that address societal needs

    closeup of a microscope
  • Engineering Education

    Devising, reviewing, and applying innovative techniques that empower engineers to solve complex problems and lead in an ever-evolving technological landscape

    students observe specimen dishes around a table

"Great inventions are never, and great discoveries are seldom, the work of any one mind."

-Robert Henry Thurston, who served as dean of Cornell’s Sibley College of the Mechanic Arts from 1885-1903

  • 20.7% First-generation college students in the class of 2028
  • 2018 Year gender parity achieved among undergrads
  • 68,000+ Living alumni of our undergraduate programs
  • 10 National Academy members among the current faculty
Claudia Fischbach smiles with student researcher as they look at equipment Lois Pollack and student work together at equipment Two students in protective clothing work with equipment Dean Lynden Archer speaks to graduates during commencement Bill Nye and Smith Charles discuss mechanical equipment Three students stand together around forklift learning studio equipment Claudia Fischbach smiles while observing two researchers in lab coats Two researchers work together at device Student with notebook and pencil smiles, sitting in classroom with others Student in lab coat and gloves adjust equipment
Student wearing glasses that mirror computer screen Two smiling student work together at metallic device Three students work with electronic devices and computers MEng student in lab Student wearing lab coat smiles standing by machinery in lab Jamol Pender writes equations on glass wall Student in airplane cockpit Student leans over while working at metal device Esak Lee and student each hold 3D organs-on-chip in vitro platforms Students gather around professor in lab
Student works with shear thickening fluid Two researchers work together among lab equipment Two students stand engaged at a whiteboard Five students work together at microscope among electronic equipment Two students smile while working with equipment M.Eng. students in the lab working on a project M.Eng. Students at Commencement M.Eng. student working in lab with instructor Two students in protective clothing work with equipment behind glass case Lynden Archer holds vial and speaks to students

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