When I finished Carl Sagan’s The Demon-Haunted World this past fall, reading about the efforts in public science education that he undertook in Ithaca, I knew I had to do my due diligence and cover the topic.
Cornell is a juggernaut of research, and Ithaca College does not shy away from its share either. Thousands of students in the city every year participate in research with faculty and as postgrads.
Even beyond the higher education institutions, work done at organizations outside of the campuses like the Museum of the Earth can’t be overlooked.
However, it often feels like the news outlets of the area could take more steps to highlight these. Cornell faculty often appear in science magazines, but locally you can go many days without seeing an article about science or research on the front page of local news sites – and I think that should change. After all, one of the main theses of Sagan’s book and his involvement in efforts like the building of the Sciencenter is the benefits of making scientific education closer and more accessible.
To start, I thought it would be helpful not only to me, but to all interested in the subject to compile many of the go-to depositories for science updates in the Ithaca area. These are not exhaustive lists by any means, but should give anyone interested in looking into it a good start by exploring their recent developments:
Centers & Places to Go:
- The Sciencenter
- The Museum of the Earth, Cayuga Nature Center, & Paleontological Research Institute
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Publicized Updates from Higher Ed.:
Departmental Research:
- Cornell Dairy Center of Excellence
- Cornell Applied and Engineering Physics
- Cornell Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering
- Cornell Tech
- Cornell Graduate Student Research Hub
- Weill Cornell Medicine
- Cornell Department of Physics
- Ithaca College Gerontology Institute
If there’s one thing I’ve found when reporting on science and research when I have, it’s that those involved definitely want people to know about them and their work. Even as a budding journalist when I wasn’t quite sure what I was doing yet, those at the Gerontology Institute, Museum of the Earth, and others were very willing to chat after I had sent an email or went to an event.
Keep an eye on this blog as I diver further into the topic to see what we can learn and find! If you know of any group that should be on this list, feel free to send me an email.
Featured Image Source: Pixabay
