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New initiative engages communities in neuroscience
February 11, 2021 — The Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research is launching a new project – the Community Neuroscience Initiative, or CNI – that will build connections between neuroscience, the social sciences and communities.
The project is headed up by Marlen Z. Gonzalez, assistant professor of human development, whose research focuses on how developmental context shapes the brain. “This is something I’ve been thinking about for a long time,” she said. “I believe it’s important for communities to feel a sense of ownership for the science that gets created and for neuroscience to be part of serving the community.”
Cornell awards $192K in grants to Ithaca-based research projects touching on race, COVID-19
February 10, 2021 — Cornell University has awarded four grants to local research projects in hopes to “address opioid use, increase food security, build a greener construction industry and share stories of Ithaca’s Black pioneers.”
The money for the projects, more than $192,000 according to the school, is being provided by the Office of Engagement Initiative and is distributed through the Engaged Research Grants program.
New research grants support Ithaca-area communities
Brianna Johnson ’21, a student researcher on a Cornell team working to increase food security for local residents.
February 10, 2021 — Cornell faculty and students are teaming up with community partners in Tompkins County to address opioid use, increase food security, build a greener construction industry and share stories of Ithaca’s Black history pioneers.
The four teams received Engaged Research Grants, totaling more than $192,000, from the Office of Engagement Initiatives (OEI) to involve undergraduate students in the community-engaged learning projects.
Engaged learning spotlight: connecting students to communities
February 2, 2021 — For most people, 2020 led to less connection with others as people stayed apart to prevent the spread of COVID-19. For Tamar Kushnir, associate professor of human development in the College of Human Ecology, the pandemic provided inspiration to develop a safe way to connect undergraduate students with the Ithaca-area community.
For the first time this fall, she created a community engagement component to her introduction class, “Human Development: Infancy and Childhood,” that required students to connect with a local organization serving children and families. (Previously, the course was a standard lecture class.)
Read the full article on the College of Human Ecology website.
Students petition for refugee’s release from detention center
Artwork and a letter from Salvadoran refugee Ingrid Hernandez-Franco to a Cornell class
December 23, 2020 — A group of Cornell students have launched a campaign to free a Salvadoran woman in a detention center whom they befriended through a class focused on refugees and immigration.
The class, “Refugees and the Politics of Vulnerability: Intersections of Feminist Theory and Practice,” is taught by Jane Juffer, professor of English and feminist, gender and sexuality studies. Juffer met Ingrid Hernandez-Franco in 2019 when she and a group of students traveled to the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia, N.Y. to work in-person with a number of asylum seekers there. This year, the class was only able to meet with detainees through video calls.
Read the full article on the College of Arts and Sciences website.