Core Areas of Excellence and Priority Research Directions

The research component of Cornell Engineering’s strategic plan is being organized into five core areas of excellence that will host research themes in a larger set of priority research directions. While the core areas will likely remain fixed for the 10-year period of the plan, the priority research directions can evolve over time. The research directions are not intended to be catchalls, but rather to function as focal points for radical collaborations within the college, as well as between colleges, which could lead to creation of multi-investigator initiatives, centers, consortia and institutes.

Core Areas of Excellence

In support of the College’s mission to pursue research that is impactful in the world and which squarely addresses humanity’s grand challenges, research at Cornell Engineering will be organized around the following five core areas of historical and emergent technical excellence:

  1. Advanced Materials
  2. Bioengineering and Human Health
  3. Climate and Energy Systems
  4. Cyber-Physical and Autonomous Systems
  5. Computer and Data Engineering and Informatics

Priority Research Directions

Cornell Engineering will leverage advances that crosscut its technical core to support priority research directions that break down historical disciplinary silos. The goal is to activate radical collaborations among faculty and students that span departments and colleges through focused research in:

  1. Artificial Intelligence And Machine Learning
  2. Data Driven Decisions
  3. Energy And Environment
  4. Engineering For Sustainable Agriculture
  5. Molecular Design And Manufacturing
  6. Quantum Information Science And Technology
  7. Robotics
  8. Smart And Healthy Communities
  9. Space Technology And Systems
  10. Translational Biotechnology And Precision Medicine