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Why Cornell Engineering?
"Scientists study the world as it is; engineers create the world that never has been."—Theodore von Karman
Cornell engineers challenge the status quo and do great things. Steeped in an environment of questioning, and with a focus on innovation, Cornell Engineering pursues excellence in all areas. Its faculty, students, and alumni design, build, and test products, improve the world of medicine, inform and shape our laws, create and drive businesses, become research luminaries, and overcome real and perceived barriers to achieve scientific breakthroughs that advance the quality of life on our planet.
We invite you to learn more about Cornell Engineering and its programs.
Did you know?
The Electric Wave Form Tracer was created by Harris J. Ryan, (Electrical Engineering, B.S., 1887). His new technology was applied to versatile monitors for modern cathode-ray oscilloscopes, television sets, radar and computers.
Estevan Fuertes, former director and dean of civil engineering at Cornell in the late 1800's, brought the department’s equipment up to modern standard. In 1902, he became astronomy professor and supervised the construction of the A. C. Barnes Observatory. The Fuertes Observatory (completed in 1917) on North Campus is named in his honor.
The objectives of Wilfried H. Brutsaert's activities were mostly to develop physically based methods to calculate regional evaporation from natural land surfaces covered with different types of vegetation. One of these approaches makes use of meteorological data (wind speed, temperature, and humidity) observed in the outer regions of the atmospheric boundary. These techniques have been tested and calibrated in a number of large-scale field experiments in various types of terrain.
Prof. and alum Lester Eastman, contributed to the pioneering advances in communications technology resulting from the development of high-speed and high-frequency gallium arsenide devices. His research now permeates cell phone technology and radar and satellite communication applications.
The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico was designed by Engineering faculty member William E. Gordon. Built beginning in 1960, the observatory is the largest single-dish radar-radio telescope in the world and is home to numerous innovations including the discovery of the first exoplanets, creating a detailed map of the distribution of galaxies in the universe and mapping the surface of Venus.