Visit

The 2024 XR Access Symposium, held at Cornell Tech in New York City, brought together industry leaders, researchers, and advocates to discuss the role of extended reality (XR) in fostering digital accessibility.

Under the theme “Insights from XR Assistive Technology,” the sixth annual event explored new developments in XR that hope to enhance inclusivity for people with disabilities. From compelling personal stories to innovative technological advancements, the symposium provided a powerful platform for addressing the potential and the challenges of accessible XR.

Storytelling as a Driver for Accessibility

A central theme of the symposium was the importance of storytelling in promoting accessibility. In the panel titled “XR Access Stories: Why Access Matters,” moderated by Dylan Fox — director of operations for XR Access at Cornell Tech — experts, including Meryl Evans and Jesse Anderson, shared personal experiences that underscored the real-world impact of accessible technology.

Evans, a deaf advocate who highlighted the need for closed captioning in XR applications, and Anderson, who discussed his struggles as a blind user activating a Meta Quest headset, illustrated the challenges individuals with disabilities face in the XR space.

“I’m so glad we got the opportunity to spotlight some of the disabled members of our community at the symposium,” said Fox. “No discussion of accessibility is worth its salt without the buy-in of those with lived experience, and sharing stories is a vital part of turning the discussion from requirements and box-checking to the real, emotional impact that accessibility has on people’s lives.”

The XR Access Stories project, which collects and shares these personal stories, serves as a potent reminder that accessibility must go beyond technical checklists — it’s about creating meaningful and inclusive experiences for all users. By sharing their perspectives, these advocates help shift the focus of XR design toward human-centered solutions that can transform individual lives and product development.

Exploring AI and XR Innovations for Blind and Low-Vision Accessibility

The symposium highlighted various artistic and technological innovations aimed at transforming accessibility for blind and low-vision (BLV) communities. In their talk, “Designing Interactive AI Visual Guides for Blind and Low Vision People,” Ricardo Gonzalez and Jazmin Collins — Ph.D. candidates at Cornell University — discussed AI’s potential in helping BLV individuals navigate visual information.

The researchers are now working on AI-powered guides in VR, using OpenAI’s GPT-4, a large-language AI model, to provide enhanced navigational support and scene descriptions. They believe these new tools will increase autonomy and engagement in complex environments.

Complementing these advancements, another panel on the XR project Unseen Sound presented a distinct approach to accessibility through spatial audio. The project, by blind artist Andy Slater and collaborator Sammie Veeler, integrates sonic way-finding and poetic captions to create a virtual world that BLV users can navigate independently using an arcade joystick. By embracing audio-based interaction, Unseen Sound offers an alternative approach to conventional visual interfaces.

Breakthroughs in Human-Computer Interaction

The symposium also highlighted cutting-edge developments in human-computer interaction. Kati London of Meta Reality Labs presented a noninvasive neuromotor interface that translates electrical signals into device commands, offering new accessibility options for users with motor disabilities.

Similarly, Gallaudet University’s ASL Champ platform uses VR and deep learning to teach American Sign Language (ASL) through immersive, gamified experiences, bridging communication gaps for deaf children and their families.

Rethinking Accessibility in Virtual Spaces

The symposium also emphasized the importance of reimagining accessibility within virtual spaces, particularly concerning mobility and hearing impairments. Justin Berry from Yale’s Center for Immersive Technologies in Pediatrics shared research showing that wheelchair interfaces can be as effective as traditional walking interfaces in VR, challenging assumptions about VR locomotion.

In addition, Stefania Serafin from Aalborg University introduced VR games designed to help children with cochlear implants improve sound localization skills, demonstrating XR’s potential for therapeutic and educational benefits.

Addressing challenges in virtual environments, Peter Galbraith of Owlchemy Labs also presented solutions for VR-specific subtitling, emphasizing design principles to integrate subtitles effectively and reduce motion sickness for new users.

The Future of Accessible XR

The 2024 XR Access Symposium demonstrated that the future of accessible XR is filled with potential. From breakthroughs in human-computer interaction to perfecting subtitles in virtual reality, the XR community is making strides toward creating more inclusive and empowering experiences for all users.

However, the path forward requires continued collaboration between technologists, artists, and advocates to ensure accessibility remains at the heart of XR development. By prioritizing the diverse needs of all users, the XR field can unlock new possibilities that not only enhance the experiences of individuals with disabilities but also enrich the broader XR landscape.

The 2025 XR Access Symposium

Tickets for the 2025 XR Access Symposium are now available here.


From 3D printing to digital manufacturing, design and technology are converging and elevating each other in new ways. Advances in design technologies carry the potential to open new possibilities in how we develop everything from nanoscale biology to exploration beyond our planet.

To foster the next generation of designers in the technological world, Cornell University’s multi-college Department of Design Tech, chaired by architect and designer Jenny Sabin, is exploring the most effective ways to design and apply emerging technologies that answer the greatest needs and challenges of both today and the future.

We spoke with Sabin to learn about what drove her to co-develop Design Tech, the unique interdisciplinary approach of the Department, how its collaboration with Cornell Tech promotes design entrepreneurship, and how the work of Design Tech students will shape the future of the things we are able to create and issues we are able to address.

Can you give us an overview of what the Design Tech Department is?

The Department of Design Tech at Cornell University is a transdisciplinary and multi-college endeavor, led and administered by the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning in partnership with the College of Human Ecology (CHE), Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science, Cornell Engineering, and Cornell Tech in New York City.

At Design Tech, we work at the forefront of Design education and transform and reimagine traditional methods, especially as they can be connected to emerging technologies and new ways to see and experience the world. For example, we ask what the role of design is in the context of generative AI and work toward developing cutting edge answers through generative approaches, digital and robotic fabrication, and emerging technologies across disciplines including design arts, design science, design engineering and design professions.

By integrating and enhancing design and technology departments and disciplines across the university, we are training broader cross disciplinary leaders that engage and develop hybrid, creative, and synthetic thinking and design.

Shuhan Liang (M.S. DT ’26) presenting his work

What is your work and background and how did it contribute to the development and formation of Design Tech?

For the past 20 years I’ve been innovating and developing a new model for teaching and conducting research across disciplinary boundaries. This started with my formation of the Sabin and Jones LabStudioin 2006 at the University of Pennsylvania with my long-time collaborator, molecular biologist Peter Lloyd Jones, before I started at Cornell in 2011. This provided a transdisciplinary foundation at the intersection of science, technology, and design that continues to thrive in the context of my lab, JSLab, at Cornell.

In the JSLab we specialize in computational design, data visualization and digital fabrication, where we investigate the intersections of architecture and science and apply insights and theories from biology, robotics, computer science, mathematics, materials science, fiber science and beyond. We use our study of these intersections to design for critical topics such as sustainability through work that is bottom-up, generative and informed by biology as a way of thinking, programming materials, and collaborating with working living systems. An example of a question we pose is, how might buildings behave like organisms responding and adapting to their local contexts?

In addition to the JSLabat Cornell, I also run an experimental architecture practice called Jenny Sabin Studio where we apply fundamental research and innovative approaches to responsive and adaptive architecture in urban settings. So Design Tech’s generative and transdisciplinary design pedagogy is one that I’ve been pioneering and leading together with my collaborators for 20 years.

Detail of work by Shuhan Liang (M.S. DT ’26)

Why was Design Tech created and where did you see a need for the Department?

The challenges of our time demand that design and technology compound on top of each other to cultivate new collaborative models and applications to comprehend key social, environmental and technological issues.

It’s likely we are in the midst of what some call the fourth industrial revolution, a paradigm shift that some historians are saying is the biggest to impact design since the medieval period. We can see these new intersections between the physical, the digital, and the biological in examples from designing and engineering 3D printed body parts to reducing carbon emissions in construction. They are radically altering the world from the nano to the macro scales.

Adjacent to this paradigm shift, technology development is gaining research prominence with the NSF launching the Technology, Innovations and Partnerships directorate in 2019. With the federal government prioritizing and committing to technology application, design has gained a new value, and there is more of an appetite and ability to explore the intersection between design and technology through sponsored research.

What does the educational process look like for students in the M.S. in Design Technology?

The core curriculum of our M.S. in Design Technology includes a suite of courses and studios that take place over the course of two years. All of the students spend their first year in Ithaca.  They take Design and Making Across Disciplines, Design for Physical Interaction, and Coding for Design, as well as electives in support of their unique interests.

In the second year students split into their two tracks. The first, is a thesis research track where students form a faculty committee and work on a year-long thesis project. The second track is the studio professional track where students spend their second year taking courses at Cornell Tech, including the studio curriculum.

Yuji Kitamura (M.S. DT ’26) preparing his work for review

How does the Cornell Tech track of the M.S. in Design Technology differ from other tracks offered at Ithaca?

The students who spend their second year at Cornell Tech in the studio professional track are completely immersed in the Cornell Tech studio curriculum, the cornerstone of all graduate programs at Cornell Tech. Studio allows Design Tech students to translate and instrumentalize the methods, thinking and the fundamentals they have learned in their first year and apply and expand them to real-world problems and opportunities.

Part of the Cornell Tech Studio that students in this track engage in is Product Studio, where leading companies in the tech industry and beyond pose a challenge question to students that they are tasked with solving through design solutions. Given the opportunity and expansion of this field and collaborative discipline, we are planning for the studio professional track at Cornell Tech within the Design Tech program to grow substantially over the next decade.

What types of real world problems are Design Tech students exploring and working to address?

The areas of demand for innovative Design in the tech industry are endless. For example, in the architecture, engineering, and construction industry, where old school concrete and construction are big culprits of carbon emissions, robotics, new materials, and 3D printing open new sustainable solutions. Design Tech offers a new approach through their Design + Materials hub where students engage with cutting edge digital and robotic fabrication technologies alongside advancement in responsive and adaptive materials to explore automation in construction.

Or we can look on an even grander scale. If deep space exploration is to become a reality, humans will need to be as self-sufficient as possible. Since ordering supplies from earth won’t be practical, astronauts would have to fabricate their own components for equipment and other products through additive manufacturing, and those challenges can be overcome thanks to design solutions we are working on at Cornell such as modeling software and 3D printing in space.

Detail of work by Bo Li (M.S. DT ’26)

How does a student’s time in the M.S. program prepare them to enter the technology workforce? Where have you seen Design Tech students take their work following graduation? 

Design Tech co-mentors students in project-based design learning to expand opportunities in emerging tech. It has inspired new collaborations, such as one with the XR Collaboratory where students work together to integrate cutting edge XR technologies with design and explore simulated reality and alternative forms of communication. Our students are even publishing their theses in competitive peer reviewed journals.

Because of Design Tech’s unique transdisciplinary pedagogy at the intersection of design, as well as technology that is framed with a focus on engagement on long-term societal impact, our students are set up for success in the tech sector. Our studio professional track graduates will end up in industry, alternative forms of practice, big tech and beyond, with companies such as Google, Facebook and Apple to name a few, while thesis track students will likely either go on to a PHD or into an academic structure where they may start their own cutting edge labs and teach across disciplines, creating the next generation of leaders for technology design in both industry and academia.

The application deadline for Cornell University’s Master of Science in Design Technology is Friday, January 3, 2025. For more information on application, visit the Design Tech website.


Is sound fundamentally linked to meaning? When you hear “Kiki” what kind of shape comes to mind – one that is hard-pointed or spiky? What about “Bouba” – something more bulbous or round? This phenomenon is called “sound symbolism” and is part of the depths of human language as we process definitions as well as sounds – made famous by what is known as the Kiki-Bouba study.

Now, new Cornell Tech assistant professor of computer science Hadar Averbuch-Elor, is taking things a step further. Part of her research explores whether sound symbolism manifests in the context of artificial intelligence and machine learning. AI, after all, learns from humans.

When an iteration of the study was conducted in 2001—long before ChatGPT—researchers found more than 95% of people associated a rounded shape with Bouba and an angular shape with Kiki. Twenty years later Averbuch-Elor and her PhD student Morris Alper asked the same of machines. They set artificial intelligence models to the task of drawing a “Kiki-shaped object” or “Bouba-shaped object.” In response to the question, the models produced images that matched the human response.

“Machine learning raises many questions, including what these models learn from training on large amounts of data, such as images and associated text captions. It’s clear that these vision and language models have learned the Kiki-Bouba effect as part of their learning processes,” said Averbuch-Elor, who works at Cornell Tech through an appointment by Cornell’s Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science. “But why do people, and as a result, machine learning have these preferences?”

Although there is still debate regarding sound symbolism, Averbuch-Elor and Alper’s work supports their hypothesis that there is a connection between a sound and its meaning beyond the definition of a word, affecting the way people – and machines – construct language. These intrinsic rules about human vernacular then carry over to artificial language models as they are built and “learn” from human patterns. In the future, more research can be done to comprehend the mapping between sound and meaning in human language and computational tools like artificial intelligence.

LEARNING FROM PROFESSOR SNAVELY

During her undergraduate studies at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Averbuch-Elor realized she needed more than an undergraduate degree to advance in the tech sector, which eventually led her to attend Cornell Tech for her postdoctoral education.

At Cornell Tech, Averbuch-Elor conducted postdoctoral research focusing on computer graphics and vision research, working with Professor Noah Snavely’s team. Here, she enhanced her skills and ability to adapt her research to collaborate with and complement other related scholarship disciplines. Her research primarily centers on visual semantic understanding – the ability of machines to process the meaning and context of real-world information – of tasks related to images and vision. With Snavely, Averbuch-Elor was able to combine his expertise in 3D with high-level semantic understanding tasks and projects. As demonstrated with the Doppelganger research team Averbuch-Elor was on, the visual disambiguation work focused on detecting whether a pair of similar images “depict the same or distinct 3D surfaces.”

Doppelgangers are two people or entities who look exactly alike. In this research project, Averbuch-Elor and the team examined two images of the same subject matter that look the same but may observe the image from two different surfaces or perspectives. Take two digital images of Big Ben in London that, at first glance, look the same. The team’s unique approach to the problem was to identify whether the similar images observe the same surface of the Big Ben. Then, Averbuch-Elor and the research team developed a means to remove inaccurate, or doppelganger, image connections from downstream websites and reconstruction models.

“We were able to optimize and create 3D reconstructions that are a lot better and don’t have false structures. Now, future reconstruction frameworks can directly integrate our team’s solution into their pipeline. This can be a core part of what 3D reconstruction methods do to create outputs in the future,” she said.

FROM RESEARCH TO REAL WORLD

As Averbuch-Elor has held intern and research positions at Meta (formerly Facebook) and Amazon, she draws from her experience in academia and industry to advance that integration through her scholarship. Although the sectors can overlap, Averbuch-Elor says, “As a researcher in academia, it’s crucial to be aware of and enjoy what is happening in the industry to understand how it can advance our research and inform projects to meet and compete with the problems in the space.”

In alignment with current needs, real-world application of Averbuch-Elor’s research can help users create their vision through controllable models. Dealing largely with generative modeling, editing real 3D models is time-consuming, costly and requires extensive knowledge. Her research has acted as a replacement for an expert’s work, creating automatic, accessible pipelines to bring a user’s vision to fruition. “Really my 10-year-old daughter could use these pipelines to create her vision with 3D models,” Averbuch-Elor added.

INNOVATING AT CORNELL TECH

Averbuch-Elor’s career journey speaks to the draw of Cornell Tech for individuals looking to fuel a thriving technology industry. After teaching as a faculty member at Tel Aviv University for two years, she is returning to Cornell Tech as a faculty member.

“Even though New York is vast, we have a small, close community that I love on Roosevelt Island. There’s something unique about this experience that I can’t quite put into words,” she shared. “There are brilliant people here with fresh minds doing strong research, and it’s an environment that promotes cross-disciplinary research, comprehension, and innovation.”


By Tom Fleischman

Not all online reviews are created equal.

Someone who’s posted thousands of times on sites such as Yelp or the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) might be seen as more believable than a relative novice reviewer who’s submitted just a handful. However, that veteran also might be harder to please than the average person, and give a more stringent rating to a product others view as high-quality. New research explores this conundrum.

“The idea we wanted to convey is a very simple one,” said Tommaso Bondi, assistant professor of marketing at Cornell Tech and the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management. “Everyone is using online reviews – we’re constantly learning from them. But to the extent that online reviews are subjective opinions, how much can we really learn from them?”

Bondi and colleagues contend that experts’ more stringent reviews have the effect of compressing aggregate ratings by penalizing higher-quality products compared to their lower-quality alternatives. To address this problem, the team developed a method for de-biasing ratings, which led to numerous rankings reversals between the original and the corrected movie rankings.

Their paper, “The Good, the Bad and the Picky: Consumer Heterogeneity and the Reversal of Product Ratings,” published Dec. 4 in Management Science. Co-authors are Michelangelo Rossi, assistant professor in digital economics at Institut Polytechnique de Paris; and Ryan Stevens, director of applied science at financial services firm Ramp.

Online ratings have been around nearly as long as the internet itself and, over time, a handful of people have become “super-experts,” Bondi said.

“We’re talking about consumers who end up leaving 10,000 reviews – you see a few of them on IMDb,” he said. “And these people co-exist with a large group of consumers who leave maybe five reviews. Reviews are aggregated using simple rules (such as their average), but the problem is that the more experienced consumers are, the better they are at choosing.”

That, Bondi said, is precisely why they are pickier in their numerical ratings. “As a result,” he said, “high-quality products are held to a higher standard of proof, and their average ratings suffer.”

For this research, the team built a theoretical model of first-generation users (reviewers, both expert and novice) and those who read them and make choices based on them. The main result of this two-period model: When experienced users are much more stringent than novices, and especially if experienced reviewers’ opinions are overweighted compared to novices’ (as is often the case on prominent online platforms such as Amazon and Yelp), rankings reversal can occur: Higher-quality products obtain lower average ratings than their lower-quality alternatives.

The researchers applied their model to more than 9,000 movie reviews on IMDb, the world’s most popular movie rating platform, as well as University of Minnesota-based MovieLens, which hosts more than 25 million reviews from 32,000 individual users. Importantly, IMDb divides its users by experience: Top 1,000 (the elite among its 200 million registered users) and Non-Top 1,000. The site displays both the number and average of ratings from both groups.

While IMDb does not display individual users’ histories, MovieLens does, which allowed the researchers to track its thousands of users over time and apply their de-biasing algorithm, which combines users’ ratings and stringency levels to normalize movies’ ratings without the bias of experts’ more exacting rankings.

On both platforms, they found that experienced users watch and rate, on average, better movies. For example, more experienced IMDb reviewers were more stringent for a striking 98% of the movies in their sample, across all genres. These reviewers also rate movies much more stringently on average: The difference is about 0.68 on a 0-10 scale. As a result, aggregate ratings fail to properly reward high quality movies.

To solve this problem, the team subtracted, for each movie, the stringent user’s rating from the average rating from both sites, using award nominations and wins as a proxy for quality. They then mechanically compute a new rating, with a user-stringency equation and a movie-rating equation that affect each other until they settle on a fixed point.

“These two things feed into each other,” Bondi said. “It’s like a ping pong ball that keeps going back and forth between aggregate ratings and individual stringencies until the process converges.”

The team’s de-biased ratings are less compressed than the original ones, and led to adjusted rankings for 8% of the 9,426 movies in their sample.

“Everyone liked ‘Oppenheimer,’” he said. “You’d think, ‘Oh, this is the type of movie that experts love.’ And it’s true it was one of the experts’ favorite movies. But they still liked it less than non-experts. That was interesting to us – the story really seems to be one of stringency much more than of relative preferences. Experts are always tough in their ratings, no matter the genre, style or director.”

Bondi and his team think the bias they identify will be even stronger in other product categories – restaurants, hotels or electronics, for example – where the discrepancies in choices, prices and ratings figure to be more pronounced.

Tom Fleischman is a writer for the Cornell Chronicle.


The Uber driver assigned to you. The kitchen knives Amazon suggests you buy. The photos and videos Instagram serves you. Tech companies’ invisible decision-making processes govern nearly every aspect of our online lives.

But how does Uber choose its second-by-second matches between passengers and drivers and price their rides? How does Amazon determine the type and variety of products offered to their customers, how many are needed at a given time and where they are sent and stored? How do Meta and Google decide what kinds of ads are displayed to users who log on to their platforms?

All of these online platforms rely on various forms of algorithmic models to make decisions for pricing, inventory, distribution and beyond. In order to stay up to speed with the growth of our online economy, engineers are focusing their efforts toward designing these algorithms in a way that meets increased demand.

This is precisely the aim of Cornell Tech’s new Data Science and Decision Analytics Engineering program, one of the institute’s four Masters of Engineering programs. Directed by Cornell Tech Howard and Eleanor Morgan Professor Huseyin Topaloglu, it will enroll its first cohort in the fall of 2025 and provide students with the opportunity to develop both a theoretical and practical understanding of the data-to-models-to-decisions pipeline in entrepreneurial environments.

“Classic machine learning approaches can predict what the demand for a product is going to be as a function of its price, but they cannot make pricing decisions for thousands of products, some of which may be serving as substitutes and complements of each other,” said Huseyin Topaloglu. “Prediction is only a part of the puzzle. On top of predictions, we need to be able to build optimization models that decide what prices to charge, where to put the inventory and how much to purchase. Cornell Tech’s Data Science and Decision Analytics program teaches students to turn predictions into actionable decisions.”

The curriculum divides the process of algorithmic decision making into three crucial components for a holistic understanding of the practice: foundations, computation, and implementation. The first semester provides students the background needed to understand the technical details of optimization, statistics, probability, and machine learning.

As students move forward, they explore computation to program these foundations on scales ranging from the individual computers to the large cloud scale. The learning experience culminates with implementation, with students applying their technical and computational skills in a practical way through engineering data science in everything from pricing to logistics to revenue management.

True to Cornell Tech’s entrepreneurial spirit, students in the program participate in Cornell Tech’s Studio program, working in interdisciplinary teams with students from business, law, and other technical programs to solve real world problems and foster the development of tangible products that solve real world problems.

The number of real world problems that require algorithmic decision making based solutions is on the rise, particularly in environments like New York City where everything from, e-retail deliveries and warehouses and urban development to transportation systems stand to benefit from increased efficiency in decision making processes. The curriculum positions students to launch careers in Data Science and Decision Analytics, beginning with industry exposure during their time at Cornell Tech and creating a pipeline to long term positions following their graduation.

“Four of the areas where algorithmic decision making is most prevalent are in Big Tech (the Googles, Amazons, and Metas of the world); entrepreneurial startups looking to increase efficiency and output; consulting companies in need of technical talent, and government agencies and nonprofits responsible for making decisions for their communities,” Topalugu says. “New York City is probably the only place in the country where all four of these things reside at a large scale, and this program provides a pipeline to the natural place to be for pursuing a career in this field.”


Five years ago, while Ron Fisher and Vivek Sudarsan were in the Research and Development department at Nielsen, what they really wanted to do was build something new. Inspired by serving as mentors at Cornell Tech, they left their longtime industry roles to enroll in the Johnson Cornell Tech (JCT) MBA program.

On the first day of classes, Fisher and Sudarsan met Michael Wang, who would become the third co-founder of their startup Bowtie.ai, the first AI receptionist for fitness, beauty, and health businesses, which was developed during their time at Cornell Tech. After securing seed funding, which was followed by exponential growth, Bowtie.ai was acquired in 2019 by Mindbody. In the years since, the team has stuck together, successfully founding multiple tech startups, securing millions of dollars in funding for their companies. The trio just announced that it closed a $3.2 million seed round for its company Avina.

“There is so much unrealized potential in the gap between technical talent and entrepreneurial startups in the current tech ecosystem,” Fisher said. “The JCT MBA fostered both the technical understanding required to develop Bowtie.ai as a quality product and the business frameworks needed to take it from an idea to a real company.”

The journey of these three alumni from meeting to launching is just one of many success stories that have emerged from the trailblazing first-of-its-kind JCT MBA program, which provides students with the opportunity to develop technology-driven solutions to client business leads and to create new tech business ideas that grow from concept to launch. The degree program is a partnership between Cornell Tech and the SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University.

This June, the JCT MBA program welcomed its tenth cohort, including a record 96 students enrolled in the newest class. Participants in this one-year tech MBA program come from diverse sectors including business services (19%), fintech and financial services (16%), and consulting (12%), with other fields from both the tech sector and other industries such as e-commerce, engineering, manufacturing, and healthcare well represented. And though only 30% of New York City’s tech workforce identify as women, they comprise 42% of this year’s class.

Established in 2014 as the first Tech MBA program in the United States, the JCT MBA has become a leader in feeding the tech industry, nearly tripling enrollment from its initial cohort of 39 students and spinning out dozens of successful startups. Since its formation, the program has inspired elite peer institutions in New York City and across the country to develop their own tech-focused MBA programs.

As more major companies have incorporated tech platforms into everyday operations – for instance, shopping at Amazon or eBay instead of at department stores, watching movies on Netflix or Hulu instead of in theaters, and moving in-person meetings to Zoom and Skype – the intersection of business and tech has gone from a niche concern to one of the chief engines of economic growth. The JCT MBA program provides participants with the knowledge, experience, and professional network needed to more fully understand the startup and tech sectors and lead innovative tech companies in the evolving digital age.

The only one-year tech MBA program offered by an Ivy League institution, the JCT MBA program leverages Cornell Tech’s cross-disciplinary focus, and, in partnership with its Studio curriculum, creates a dynamic ecosystem for MBA, engineering, and law students to collaborate in an entrepreneurial environment in the middle of New York City.

JCT MBA students participate in a range of electives – from “Thinking Like a Venture Capitalist” and “Women Leading in Tech” to “NYC as a Case Study for Urban Tech” and “Law for Non-Lawyers.” This coursework focuses on solving the complex challenges that affect many sectors, providing students with the opportunity to harness complementary areas of expertise and develop holistic products and services in response to real-world issues.

“For the past decade, the JCT MBA Program has successfully prepared the next generation of technology leaders and entrepreneurs by equipping them with specialized skills in high-demand areas such as data analytics, product management, digital marketing, and technology management. The program also provides resources and a supportive ecosystem to help entrepreneurial students launch startups,” said Manoj Thomas, Associate Dean of NYC Initiatives. “As our newest students begin their journey, we look forward to seeing them apply their unique perspectives and skills to bridge technology and business, shaping the future of our society.”

Many of this year’s participants credit the entrepreneurial focus of Cornell Tech’s Studio curriculum, the access to New York City’s tech ecosystem, and the cross-functional courses combining tech and business as the primary reasons for choosing Cornell Tech’s JCT MBA program.

In addition to the one year JCT MBA Program, Cornell University also offers a 1+1 MBA Program, through the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business. In that program, students spend their first year in Ithaca focusing on core courses that provide a comprehensive education in business fundamentals, and then transition to the Cornell Tech campus in New York City for their second year. At Cornell Tech, they study the dynamic intersection of business and technology, equipping them with both a strong business foundation and specialized knowledge in tech and innovation.

The future of the global economy is inextricable from tech innovation and the thinkers who are defining what’s next are those in the Johnson Cornell Tech MBA program. As technological advancements and digital transformation rapidly evolve, the program will continue to adapt to meet emerging industry needs and serve as the driving force for fostering leaders who are pioneering tech-driven entrepreneurship.

“My past experience working in industry has equipped me with a data-driven mindset and I hope to advance my career in a role where I have the ownership to make decisions in the context of product development strategy, whether as a VP of Product or as the creator of something new,” said Nicole Su, member of the 2025 class of the JCT MBA program and former software engineer at Cisco and Sift. “The Johnson Cornell Tech MBA program is helping me round out my skill set and provide industry-specific resources to take my career within tech to the next level, putting me in a position where I can make quality decisions to help build good products, drive change, and push boundaries.”

Learn more about the pioneering Johnson Cornell Tech MBA program.


In the fast-paced world of innovation and entrepreneurship, few roles are as pivotal as that of a coach. More than just mentors or advisors for startups, coaches can create connections across an industry, understand when a startup’s products are ready to launch and how to scale a company.

In her second academic year, Caroline Wharton, an Executive-in-Residence in Cornell Tech’s Runway Program, has played a crucial part in guiding startups from early stage ideas to developing business proposals and pitch decks. With a wealth of experience spanning corporate banking and startup leadership, Wharton has a unique perspective on what it takes to build a successful business in today’s challenging market.

We recently spoke with Wharton, who shared her insights on the resilience required for founders, the importance of adaptability, and how her role as a coach has evolved through her involvement with the Runway Program. From helping founders pivot to navigating tough funding landscapes, her wisdom offers invaluable guidance for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Cornell Tech: Can you tell us a bit about your professional background and what led you to coaching startups at Cornell Tech? How did you first get involved with the Runway Program?

Caroline Wharton: My background spans a mix of leadership roles in both corporate and startup environments, including my time at Wells Fargo and my own startup, Corraun Advisors. I’ve always been passionate about innovation, business development, and helping teams realize their full potential. Over time, I found that coaching startups allowed me to combine my experience with my desire to give back, and I truly enjoy guiding founders through the challenges of entrepreneurship.

My journey with Cornell Tech began from a passion for working with startups and emerging technologies. I had been mentoring entrepreneurs for a while, and when I learned about the Runway Program, I was immediately drawn to its unique focus on deep science-based startups. Joining as a coach felt like a natural next step, giving me the chance to work closely with talented, driven individuals who are transforming industries. It’s been incredibly rewarding to be part of this community, where I can stay close to cutting-edge technologies while also mentoring the next generation of innovators.

How do you help founders navigate the challenges of market discovery, and what role does the Runway cohort play in managing these challenges?

Navigating market discovery and pivoting is one of the hardest parts of entrepreneurship. It’s crucial to have peers or advisors, including the Runway team, to help founders stay objective. When feedback shows that their initial market discovery isn’t working, founders need to quickly evaluate other potential avenues. It’s about speed—if option A isn’t viable, they must either substantiate option B quickly or move to option C. This process can be tough, and for many, it feels like a grieving process when an idea doesn’t work out. But that’s where resilience and determination come in. Founders need to ride these waves and keep going.

The Runway cohort plays a vital role in this. As founders talk to their peers, they realize their struggles are not unique. There’s comfort in knowing that what they’re going through is the norm, not the exception. Some founders even find inspiration from one another, learning from shared experiences and building a supportive network that helps them manage these challenges.

What makes the New York City startup culture unique?

I spent some time on the West Coast for business and what I found is that the New York City ecosystem is so different and so healthy when compared to other cities. Everyone is so good at what they do, and I see people trying to help one another with the belief that a rising tide lifts all boats. Something that stands out to me is how willing those who have “been there and done that” are in providing constructive feedback and offering great networking advice. I really feel like New York is a city that is trying to move the needle in a positive direction when it comes to startups.

How has your experience as a coach influenced your own professional life, and what changes have you seen in the founders over time?

I’m naturally curious, and I love hearing about the ideas and businesses our cohort members are working on, especially those with a deep science base. It’s inspiring to see how they solve problems, and I often take those lessons back into my own work. Being a coach is not a one-way street—I learn from these founders’ resilience, dedication, and ability to continuously improve.

Over time, I’ve seen founders undergo significant transformations. The first year can be overwhelming, learning how to build a business, pitch to investors, develop products and manage financials all at once. It’s like drinking from a fire hose. By the second year, they’ve developed a level of resilience and strategic focus. Many are still pivoting, but they’re more grounded in their approach, with a clearer understanding of how to navigate a tough funding environment and target the right investors or grants.

What impact has the current funding environment had on startups in the program, and have there been any particularly inspiring projects?

The current funding environment has been challenging for many founders. Traditional VC funding is tougher to come by, which has pushed startups to explore alternative routes, such as grants or specialized investors who understand their scientific background. It’s about being strategic—founders often feel like investors are waiting with open checkbooks, but that’s rarely the case. The successful ones stay committed and figure out the right pathways for their business, often through more niche funding avenues.

One of the most inspiring projects from the program is Nanit, a baby monitor company that’s even used by the Kardashians. Another standout is Project B, which is developing customized bras using 3D printing technology. They’ve been gaining traction and tackling supply chain challenges, which has been incredible to watch. Seeing startups like these grow has been a real privilege, and I’m excited to see where they go from here.

What excites you most about working with the Cornell Tech Runway cohort?
I’m regularly blown away by the ideas these founders bring to the table. Whether it’s in healthcare or another field, it’s exciting to witness their growth from concept to market. Some of their solutions have the potential to be truly transformative, and watching them progress, knowing that one day they could reach the same level of success as past graduates, is incredibly rewarding.


New Report Quantifies Cornell Tech’s Role in Attracting Talent to New York City and Growing the City’s Tech Sector

Since its founding in 2012, Cornell Tech has played a crucial role in developing New York City’s tech talent, entrepreneurship, job creation, and fiscal prosperity. From launching more than 100 startups and educating thousands of new tech leaders to operating an 850,000-square-foot campus while planning future expansion, the energy coming out of the regional tech hub is undeniable. But what is its overall economic impact? A new analysis from economic development firm HR&A puts it into numbers – and they are massive.

In fiscal year 2022-2023, Cornell Tech, its alumni, and its startups based in New York City achieved $768 million in total economic impact and supported 2,800 jobs. And by 2030, Cornell Tech’s alumni and startups based in New York City are projected to generate $1.5 billion in annual economic impact while supporting 7,000 jobs, living up to its reputation as the single most effective economic development project undertaken by city government in recent decades.

“New York City has been a consistent draw for ambitious and intelligent people from around the world. Cornell Tech has created a novel academic and entrepreneurial environment that brings new tech talent to the city who go on to become industry leaders and builders who are driving our city’s workforce and technology industry,” said Greg Morrisett, the Jack and Rilla Neafsey Dean and Vice Provost of Cornell Tech. “This report not only highlights the significant contributions that Cornell Tech has made to our local economy, but also emphasizes how our growing alumni network will lead innovation in emerging technology and artificial intelligence for years to come.”

HR&A’s analysis quantified the projected spending and economic impact generated by Cornell Tech, its alumni, and the startups they create, finding that “the campus operates educational and entrepreneurial programs that attract world-class talent who remain in New York City after graduation to work in high-paying industries while creating thousands of new jobs for tech workers that contribute to the city’s tech ecosystem.”

Cornell Tech’s startup programs have launched more than 115 companies. These startups have generated a collective valuation of more than $700 million while creating more than 500 new jobs in New York City, boosting the local economy and tech community. Some of the most notable startups include baby sleep monitor Nanit, real estate construction intelligence platform OnsiteIQ, and infectious disease diagnostic Biota. As of 2023, companies founded at Cornell Tech in the health sector generated $97 million for the city, making up almost 50% of the total economic output from Cornell Tech’s startups and helping New York City to surpass Silicon Valley as the leader in digital health startups. The share of Cornell Tech companies founded by women (32%) and the share of funds raised that go to women-founded companies (23.5%) outperforms national and city averages.

In addition to spending activity, the report outlines the revenue and construction jobs generated by the creation of the campus itself, with Cornell Tech’s construction to date and upcoming construction expected to generate $1.1 billion in labor income and $2.4 billion in economic output by 2030.

Cornell Tech was founded in 2012 when Cornell University and the Technion­–Israel Institute of Technology were selected by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to establish a campus after competing in the Applied Sciences NYC Competition, which sought to increase New York City’s capacity for applied sciences and dramatically transform the city’s economy.

Collaborating closely with the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) since its founding, Cornell Tech was first located in Google’s New York City offices on Eighth Avenue before moving to its state-of-the-art Roosevelt Island campus in 2017 and has retained its longstanding productive partnerships with both the city and NYCEDC in the years since.

“Cornell Tech has been a transformative force in growing New York City’s economy by integrating academia with industry and attracting international talent while fostering groundbreaking innovation, generating thousands of high-quality jobs, and contributing millions in economic output,” said New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) President and CEO Andrew Kimball. “NYCEDC and the City of New York recognized early on that the creation of a world-class academic institution would be a cornerstone investment in our city’s future and would further catalyze the growth of the tech ecosystem. We look forward to building on this successful partnership to continue to drive long-term economic benefits and job creation through our shared goals and initiatives.”

The innovation ecosystem created by Cornell Tech has had the effect of not only drawing future tech leaders to New York City but also keeping them here. Carmem Leticia da Maia Silva, who came from Brazil to earn a master’s degree in Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship at Cornell Tech, is just one of those success stories. Now, she negotiates major IT agreements, provides critical legal guidance, and ensures proper alignment with global corporate policies at McKinsey & Company – one of the world’s most esteemed and influential management consulting firms.

“I’ve always been interested in the interplay between law and tech, how statutes and regulations anticipate and respond to innovation. What drew me to Cornell Tech was the opportunity to closely collaborate with executives and decision makers from major companies,” said da Maia Silva. “At Cornell Tech, I was able to work side-by-side with entrepreneurs driving the tech industry forward and apply those learnings to my study of real-world legal issues.”

Da Maia Silva’s New York City success story is one of many connected to Cornell Tech. Her peers include Aish Ravindran, who came to New York City for the Johnson Cornell Tech MBA program from Los Angeles and became a product manager for New York-based Uber Health following graduation. Anirban Poddar, who came to Cornell Tech from India for a master’s in engineering, now works as a product manager at Amazon. Another is Arvin Khodayari, who brought his passion for judicial studies from Canada to pursue his master’s of law from Cornell Tech and now works in New York City as an associate at Ropes & Gray LLP. In all, 75% of the Cornell Tech students who move to New York City from elsewhere stay in the region. These alumni alone generated $390 million in annual economic output in fiscal year 2022-2023, which is projected to grow to $956 million by 2030.

“As a graduate student, it quickly became clear that staying in New York City after graduation was a must,” says da Maia Silva. “The tech and legal networks here are unrivaled when it comes to having an impact on a global scale – and Cornell Tech is at the center of it.”

The full report can be accessed here: https://tech.cornell.edu/impact/cornell-tech-impact-study/.


Cornell Tech today announced that longtime supporter and Cornell alumnus Frederic Rubinstein ’52, LLB ’55 has donated $1 million to the campus’ Public Interest Technology (PiTech) program to support research that helps to mitigate risks posed by artificial intelligence.

In recent years, corporations, governments, and nonprofits have adopted artificial intelligence processing to increase their efficiency. However, with an alarming rise of deepfake photos and videos emerging and algorithmic biases and imbalance, it’s clear that as AI and machine learning are incorporated into aspects of our everyday lives, the tech ecosystem must elevate public need and intentionally shape these new innovations with a focus on ethical implementation.

“Due to the lack of AI regulation, this technology has the potential to be an increasingly dangerous threat to democracy if it continues to be permitted to be misused,” said Frederic Rubinstein. “We need urgent and effective research to ensure that AI benefits society, rather than becoming a danger to it. Cornell Tech is uniquely qualified to address this problem, which is why I wanted to invest in the development of PiTech. Cornell Tech’s outstanding faculty and students are among the brightest and most effective in the world, and have already demonstrated a deep and serious commitment to building a more ethical tech sector. I am privileged to be associated with their efforts.”

The gift will establish the Frederic and Susan Rubinstein Impact Fellowship Fund, which will support the PiTech Initiative’s Ph.D. Impact Fellowship in sustaining up to five additional fellowships per year, and the Frederic and Susan Rubinstein Innovation Fund to support  projects and partnerships with significant long-term potential for serving public good.

Rubinstein’s generous new funding for PiTech comes at a time when New York City’s AI sector is rapidly growing, with the city ranking in terms of total venture capital funding for AI companies and third nationally in job listings for generative AI jobs.

A retired partner at law firm Kelley Drye & Warren, Rubinstein is recognized as a leader in corporate law representing both investors and entrepreneurs in the tech sector, and a noted philanthropist in the field. He has made previous donations to Cornell Tech including a $1 million gift to the campus in 2018 to establish the Frederic and Susan Rubinstein Fund for Social Benefit in Entrepreneurial Programs to provide loan-repayment assistance for graduates serving the public sector, reducing graduate students’ debts by a third. In addition, he has helped facilitate mentorship for new entrepreneurs by developing relationships between Cornell Tech Runway postdocs and legal experts at his firm.

Since its founding in 2021 by Robert V. Tishman Founder’s Chair and Associate Dean for Impact Deborah Estrin, Cornell Tech’s PiTech Initiative has been a leader in integrating hands-on public interest engagement into tech graduate education. The Rubinstein Ph.D. Impact Fellowships support students in tech and AI fields in working with NYC-based nonprofit and public sector organizations, allowing them to gain exposure to the tech challenges facing public interest organizations and contribute their skills and expertise. It is an expansion of the Siegel PiTech Ph.D. Impact Fellowship launched in 2021. The fellows have explored a variety of topics from whether and how specific social services organizations can safely use LLM-based chatbots and how tech-enabled vehicles manage consumers’ data to how custom devices can be developed with 3D printers to improve communication for patients with disabilities.

“We are deeply grateful to Mr. Rubinstein for allowing us to advance our leadership in public interest tech innovation,” said Cornell Tech Jack and Rilla Neafsey Dean and Vice Provost Greg Morrisett. “Public Interest Tech is an essential initiative on our campus for fostering social responsibility in AI worldwide, and is critical to Cornell Tech’s commitment to using research and entrepreneurial excellence to advance lasting economic and social prosperity. Mr. Rubinstein’s gift ensures that we can further examine the intersection of technology and ethical accountability to benefit communities and minimize risks.”

In addition to the Ph.D. Impact Fellowship, Cornell Tech also established The PiTech Impact Studio, which provides master’s students  with the opportunity to help public partners adopt and adapt emerging technologies, and a Visiting Practitioners (ViP) Program, which hosts practitioners from a range of impact-oriented organizations to advise students.

PiTech Initiative leader Estrin, a 2018 MacArthur Fellow, brings her own track record of tech innovation in the public interest to bear on her leadership of the program. Estrin is a pioneer in patient-centered digital health, and co-founded the non-profit startup Open mHealth, which promotes open innovation and standardization in the field.

“Mr. Rubinstein’s generous gift will allow us to meet students’ growing demand for meaningful public engagement, while enabling many more community partners to work with our talented technical students,” said Deborah Estrin, Associate Dean for Impact and Professor of Computer Science at Cornell Tech. “Since our founding, Cornell Tech has fostered collaboration to bring pressing societal needs to the forefront of emerging technology development. PiTech’s new Rubinstein Innovation Fund is a vital advancement of that work.”


Noor El-Hawwat’s journey into the tech industry began with a simple decision to follow in her sister’s footsteps and major in computer science. However, what started as a straightforward choice soon blossomed into a passion for tech, combined with a drive to uplift underrepresented minorities, set her on a path that would lead her to Cornell Tech—first through its Break Through Tech program and now as a master’s student in the Master of Engineering in Computer Science program.

Founded by former Verizon CIO Judith Spitz, Break Through Tech is a Cornell Tech initiative that aims to provide Black, LatinX, Native American, low-income women, and gender non-conforming individuals the technical skills training, professional readiness support, and real-world project experiences to break into influential tech roles.

Currently, women make up only 35% of the tech workforce in the US. Break Through Tech’s programming works to bridge the gap by helping women from underserved backgrounds secure tech internships and launch their careers. They excel on their paths toward the industry through the opportunity to partner with companies in the wider tech industry, with more than 7,000 women from nearly 300 universities across the country participating to date.

Break Through Tech played a pivotal role in El-Hawwat’s decision to pursue her master’s degree at Cornell Tech. Reflecting on her experience, she describes the program as “unlike any other,” emphasizing the unique opportunities it offered. “It really sparked this positivity and optimism in me to get into other extracurriculars and become my best self – as a leader and advocate for marginalized groups,” she shared.

For El-Hawwat, the program was more than just a stepping stone; it was a transformative experience that helped her build confidence and solidify her passion for tech. “When I met the Break Through Tech participants and leadership, I felt like Cornell Tech and the tech industry would be places where I could belong,” she said.

Originally from Cedar Grove, Noor El-Hawwat received her bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Rutgers University-Newark. During her time in the Break Through Tech AI Program – a one-year extracurricular experience that equips undergraduate students with the skills needed to secure a job in the fastest-growing areas of tech, El-Hawwat participated in a machine learning foundations course, where she applied skills like data analysis and machine learning to tackle real-world challenges that pushed her to think creatively and collaborate closely with her peers.

As part of the program, El-Hawwat and her teammates were assigned a challenge project where they worked with industry-relevant tools and data-sets to identify the best location for a new coffee shop opening its first location in New York City. El-Hawwat and her team conducted extensive research on which factors made cafes in New York City successful, ultimately putting together a presentation that explored neighborhood datasets on everything from crime rate to budget and from access to transportation to foot traffic. El-Hawwat shared, “It was a very successful experience that brought out my best optimism to be an entrepreneur in the industry.”

El-Hawwat’s experience with the program also showed her how central the values of diversity, innovation, and entrepreneurship are to Cornell Tech’s mission. “As someone who wants to become an entrepreneur, the Break Through Tech program was something that stood out to me and made me eager to continue my journey with Cornell Tech,” she explained.

Her decision to pursue her master’s at Cornell Tech was inspired by a Zoom meeting she had during her time with Break Through Tech, where she had the opportunity to learn from current Cornell Tech students about their experiences. “I was really inspired by the thought of being in a space that embodied inspiring the next generation of entrepreneurs,” she said. “Cornell Tech is made up of diverse and innovative individuals who want to contribute to the next generation of AI, who mutually inspire each other to create and work toward changing the world, and who can develop new creations through access to Cornell Tech’s resources. It’s a community where what might seem like a crazy ambition elsewhere can actually come to life.”

Now, as a master’s student, El-Hawwat is thrilled about the future. She’s eager to continue learning, growing, and contributing to the AI revolution that the institution champions. She believes that the close-knit environment at Cornell Tech, combined with the mentorship from stellar practitioners, will help her become “a whole other individual… in a good way, someone that I never thought I could be otherwise.”

El-Hawwat’s story is a testament to the power of programs like Break Through Tech in shaping the next generation of leaders. Her journey from a high school student with a budding interest in computer science to a confident, driven master’s student at Cornell Tech illustrates the impact of providing opportunities and support for women and underserved communities in tech. “It’s through all these things in union that I do feel like I belong here and that this is where I should continue my experience and education.”


RELATED STORIES