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Research Labs & Initiatives

Cornell Tech’s labs and initiatives are highly collaborative environments where faculty and students pursue new lines of inquiry across theoretical and applied areas of technology. In addition to generating world-class academic work, our labs and initiatives engage deeply with external communities, organizations, and industry to address real-world problems and contexts that amplify the direct societal and commercial impact of our research. Explore the research projects and partnerships underway right now in our labs and initiatives.

XR Access Initiative
Human-Centered Computing

The XR Access Initiative is a community that engages, connects, and influences the field of XR, in order to build and share knowledge, skills, tools, user experiences, and leading practices to make XR inclusive of all, regardless of abilities. The Initiative aims to modernize, innovate, and expand XR technologies, products, content and assistive technologies by promoting inclusive design in a diverse community that connects stakeholders, catalyzes shared and sustained action, and provides valuable, informative resources.

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XR Collaboratory (XRC)
Artificial Intelligence

The XR Collaboratory (XRC) at Cornell Tech works with faculty, researchers, and students from computer vision, computer graphics, and human-computer interaction, as well as practitioners in application areas such as healthcare, education, and architecture. XRC’s objective is to accelerate research & education in XR (augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality) through cross-campus collaborations, hands-on mentoring, and rapid research explorations.

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People-Aware Computing Lab
Human-Centered Computing

The People-Aware Computing lab develops mobile sensing systems for capturing, learning, and interpreting people's context, activities, and social networks. Led by Dr. Tanzeem Choudhury, the lab focuses on wearable devices, behavior change technologies, and health apps to improve a user’s well-being and quality of life. Funding sources have included NIH, Intel, NSF, Google, Microsoft Research, and Samsung.

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MakerLAB
Human-Centered Computing

The MakerLAB provides easy access to fabrication tools that enable students, faculty, and the campus community to test-build their ideas from initial sketch to refined prototype. The full range of equipment and inclusive atmosphere accommodates everyone from master’s students creating hardware for embedded systems, to Cornell-Weill residents conducting clinical studies in health tech, to K-12 students experimenting with 3D printing for the first time.

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Robotics Lab
Artificial Intelligence

Cornell Tech’s fully equipped robotics lab allows researchers to go beyond theory and conduct empirical testing and field research of the highest quality. Generous space, including a drone cage, and fabrication equipment give researchers all they need to build robots from scratch. The lab’s high-speed motion capture system facilitates advanced visualization and analysis — while our networked VR systems simulate complex human-robot interactions, including multi-person and cross-cultural studies.

Digital Life Initiative (DLI)
Security & Privacy

Inspired by the core values of justice, democracy, privacy, responsibility, security, and freedom, DLI supports collaborative research projects that explore ethics, policy, politics, and quality of life within socio-technical systems. Directed by Helen Nissenbaum, DLI’s research has been covered by The New Yorker, CNN, The Washington Post, The Economist, Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, and other media.

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Clinic to End Tech Abuse (CETA)
Security & Privacy

In collaboration with the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence, CETA volunteers meet with survivors of intimate partner violence in person to uncover — and end — technology-related abuses they are experiencing. The clinic also facilitates cutting-edge research and advocates for laws that provide protection from technology abuse.

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Car Simulator Lab
Human-Centered Computing

Directed by Wendy Ju, the Car Simulator Lab is one of the world’s leading sources of automotive interaction research and empirical on-road research. Highly advanced simulation equipment and on-site autonomous vehicles enable researchers to study driver and passenger behavior at a new level. Partners have included Toyota, Ford, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Renault, Intel, Panasonic, Accenture, Volkswagen, Volvo, and the World Economic Forum’s Global Autonomous and Urban Mobility Council.

Research on Campus

Spaces for research and innovation are embedded throughout the Cornell Tech campus. Learn about the Tata Innovation Center (the campus hub for research and commercialization), the Bloomberg Center (the intellectual nerve center of campus), and several other collaborative spaces designed to nurture new ways of thinking and working.

Facade of the Cornell Tech campus
An evening view of the Emma and Georgina Bloomberg Center, Tata Innovation Center, and The House at Cornell Tech.