Mission, Values and History

• Excellence

  We aim for excellence in everything we do. We produce distinctive results of exceptional quality by approaching our work with rigor, integrity, and the highest ethical standards.

• Purpose

  We strive to make a meaningful impact by leading, supporting, and actively participating in research, education, and outreach that contributes to a healthier, more equitable, and more sustainable world.

• Innovation

  We empower teams and individuals to defy expectations by prizing creativity, agility, and responsible risk-taking.

• Community

  We foster and sustain a diverse, engaged, and caring environment where all members feel like they belong, are heard, and can flourish. We communicate across differences with respect, and we embrace personal and professional growth and development.

• Collaboration

  We encourage and reward inclusive teamwork, in the conviction that solving grand challenges requires a range of perspectives and a collective effort greater than the sum of its parts.

Key Historical Milestones

• 1865 – Cornell University established

  Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White win passage of the bill that charters Cornell University as the land-grant educational institution for New York, establishing the university.

• 1868 – Cornell University opens

  At the official dedication of Cornell University and the inauguration of Andrew Dickson White as its first president, Ezra Cornell says, “I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study.” Mechanical engineering and civil engineering are taught from the university’s start.

• 1870 – Sibley College established

  Hiram Sibley, one of the 10 incorporators of Cornell, provides funds to house and support the Sibley College of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanic Arts, now known as the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

• 1884 – First woman studies engineering at Cornell

  Kate Gleason was the first woman to study engineering at Cornell. Prior to gaining renown as an industrialist, banker, inventor, and land developer — before anyone referred to her as the “First Lady of Gearing” or the “Marie Curie of Machine Tooling” — she was a Cornellian known as “Sibley Kate.”

• 1885 – America’s first electrical engineering graduates

  After launching one of America’s earliest electrical engineering programs in 1883, Cornell produced the nation’s first electrical engineering graduates in 1885, the same year the Department of Electrical Engineering was established in the College of Mechanic Arts.

• 1905 – First woman graduates from Cornell with engineering degree

  Nora Stanton Blatch Barney became the first woman to graduate from Cornell with an engineering degree in 1905. The daughter and granddaughter of suffragists, she studied civil engineering, and her groundbreaking career included working for the New York Public Service Commission as an assistant engineer, and later for the Public Works Administration in Connecticut and Rhode Island as an architect, engineering inspector and structural-steel designer.

• 1906 – Engineering student helps to launch historic fraternity

  Civil engineering student George Biddle Kelley, Class of 1908, joins six friends in forming Alpha Phi Alpha, which continues to prosper and is now the oldest intercollegiate historically African American fraternity. Kelley became New York’s first officially registered African American engineer.

• 1921 – College of Engineering established

  A unified College of Engineering was first ordered by the university trustees in 1917 and effected in 1921.

• 1933 – First Ph.D.s in Industrial Engineering awarded

  Cornell was among the first universities to offer courses in Industrial Engineering, and it was the first award a Ph.D. in the field. The School of Operations Research and Information Engineering traces its roots to the beginnings of industrial engineering.

• 1942 – Olin opens as first engineering building on the Quad

  Olin Hall, the home of what is now the R.F. Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, was opened in 1942. Named after Franklin W. Olin, Class of 1886, it was the first building on what is now the Joseph N. Pew, Jr. Engineering Quad.M

• 1966 – Distance Learning begins

  In 1966, the first Blackboard-by-Wire distance learning class was taught to 14 Cornell engineering students and 10 engineers in Towanda, Pennsylvania. Today, we offer multiple Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) programs via distance learning.

• 1977 – National Society of Black Engineers opens one of first chapters

  The National Society of Black Engineers opens one of its first chapters at Cornell just two years after the organization’s founding. Cornell students also help establish the society’s first national communications network and magazine, laying the groundwork for its growth to more than 600 chapters today.

• 1987 – Cornell Racing founded as one of first student project teams

  Cornell Racing, a student-led Formula SAE team, was founded by Professor Al George, helping to establish the precent for the hands-on student project teams that are now a staple of the college. Project teams now involve 1,800 students on more than 35 teams thanks to support over the years from alumni like John Swanson ’61, M.Eng. ’63, and Jim Cunningham ’71.

• 2001 – Engineering leadership for sustainability

  The first American headquarters and student chapter for Engineers for a Sustainable World was established in 2001 at Cornell. The organization aims to engage engineers in reducing poverty by improving environmental, social and economic sustainability worldwide.

• 2004 – Duffield Hall completed

  Duffield Hall, named for alumnus David A. Duffield ’62, MBA ’64, is one of the country’s most sophisticated research and teaching facilities for nanoscale science and engineering.

• 2011 – Cornell Tech is born

  Cornell University was designated by New York City to build a sustainable campus on Roosevelt Island for graduate tech education. Cornell Tech, created under Dean Lance R. Collins, is an innovative, sustainable academic campus.

• 2015 – Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering established

  In recognition of a $50 million endowment gift from Nancy Meinig ’62 and Peter Meinig ’61, along with daughters Anne ’87, Kathryn, MBA ’93, and Sarah and their own families, the college establishes the Nancy E. and Peter C. Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering.

• 2016 – R.F. Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering established

  In recognition of the support of Robert F. Smith ’85, including a combined $50 million commitment from him and his foundation, the college names the Robert Frederick Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

• 2018 – Undergraduate class achieves gender parity

  Duffield engineering’s undergraduate population reaches gender parity for the first time.

• 2021 – Strategic Plan implemented

  Dean Lynden Archer launches a 10-year strategic plan to establish Duffield Engineering as a center of excellence in innovating impactful solutions to the most difficult problems.

• 2024 – Tang Hall established

  The first new facility to be built on the Pew Engineering Quad in two decades was established as the Martin Y. and Margaret Lee Tang Hall, in honor of a significant gift that aims to measurably enhance faculty excellence through the recruitment, support and retention of exceptional researchers, educators and scholars.

• 2026 – Cornell David A. Duffield College of Engineering established

  More than $520 million in contributions from David A. Duffield ’62, MBA ’64 – including a new pledge of $371.5 million, the largest single gift in Cornell history, and a 2025 gift of $100 million to expand and enhance Duffield Hall – established the Cornell David A. Duffield College of Engineering.