Michael I. Kotlikoff

Provost (and, effective July 1, Interim President)

Michael I. Kotlikoff, professor of molecular physiology, became the 16^th provost of Cornell on August 1, 2015. As the university’s chief academic officer, chief budgeting officer, and first deputy officer to the president, he works to enhance the university’s excellence in teaching, scholarship, and outreach.

His signature initiatives have enhanced collaborations throughout the university, focusing on several core institutional strengths. The Radical Collaborations initiative recruits faculty and supports infrastructure in key multidisciplinary areas, including artificial intelligence, genome biology, media studies and digital humanities, sustainability, nanoscale science, and many others. Collaboration between the medical, tech, and Ithaca campuses has been advanced through the Academic Integration initiative, and disciplines have been strengthened through the creation of six multi-college departments and two new schools, the Bowers College of Computing and Information Science and the Brooks School of Public Policy. Kotlikoff has also initiated efforts to invest in academic and student housing facilities, teaching innovation, and expanded educational access through online education, as well as developing policies to facilitate greater faculty diversity and dual-career hiring across the colleges.

Kotlikoff was recruited to Cornell in 2000 as the founding chair of the Department of Biomedical Sciences and chair of the Mammalian Genomics Life Science Initiative. Prior to being selected as provost, Kotlikoff served as the Austin O. Hooey Dean of the Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine. His laboratory is internationally recognized in cell signaling and heart repair and was continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health for over 35 years, including during his tenure as dean and provost. He currently serves on the NIH Council of Councils.

Kotlikoff received his B.A. (literature) and V.M.D. degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and his Ph.D. in physiology from the University of California, Davis.

Lisa Kaltenegger

Carl Sagan Institute Director and Associate Professor of Astronomy

Lisa Kaltenegger is the Founding Director of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell, Associate Professor of Astronomy, and author of Alien Earths: The Science for Planet Hunting in the Cosmos, released in April 2024. An award-winning astrophysicist and astrobiologist who joined Cornell 10 years ago, Kaltenegger is a pioneer and world-leading expert in modeling habitable worlds and their light fingerprint, spending the last decade finding new ways to spot life in the cosmos, working with NASA and the European Space Agency.

Kaltenegger was named one of America’s Young Innovators by Smithsonian Magazine, an Innovator to Watch by TIME Magazine, and was selected as one of the European Commission’s Role Models for Women in Science and Research, among other international recognitions. She is also a popular science communicator who is featured in the IMAX 3D movie, The Search for Life in Space.

Kaltenegger served on the National Science Foundation’s Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee, and on NASA senior review of operating missions, among others. She is a Science Team Member of NASA’s TESS (Transiting Exoplanets Survey Satellite) Mission and the NIRISS (Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph) instrument on the James Webb Space Telescope.

Ryan T. Lombardi

Vice President for Student and Campus Life

Ryan Lombardi serves as the Vice President for Student and Campus Life at Cornell University. The Division of Student and Campus Life provides a broad array of programs and services designed to support students and the campus community, including Athletics and Physical Education, Dean of Students Office, Campus & Community Engagement, Cornell Health, Campus Life Enterprise Services, the Public Service Center and Cornell Career Services. The Division is comprised of over 1,200 full-time staff and has an annual operating budget of over $260 million.

Lombardi received an undergraduate degree in Music Education from West Chester University, a master’s degree in Higher Education Administration from the University of Kansas, and a doctorate in Higher Education Administration from North Carolina State University. Prior to joining Cornell in 2015, Lombardi was the Vice President for Student Affairs and affiliated faculty in the Patton College of Education at Ohio University.

Fred Van Sickle

Vice President for Alumni Affairs and Development

Fred Van Sickle, Vice President for Alumni Affairs and Development, is the university’s chief fundraiser, overseeing the team responsible for building alumni engagement worldwide and securing private support from individuals and institutions for the university through the “To Do the Greatest Good” campaign.

Before joining Cornell in January of 2016, Van Sickle served Columbia University as Executive Vice President for Alumni and Development. During his 12 years there he played a pivotal role in planning, executing, and completing the $6.1 billion Columbia Campaign. Van Sickle also served as Chief Development Officer at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey; Associate Vice President for Development and Assistant Dean for Development for the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts at the University of Michigan; Vice President for Alumni and Development and Secretary of the College at Lake Forest College (his undergraduate alma mater); and Director of Principal Gifts at Princeton University.

Van Sickle holds a Master of Education degree from Harvard University and a Doctor of Education degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He serves as President of the Board of the Finger Lakes Land Trust and as Vice Chair of the Board of the Food Bank of the Southern Tier.

Greg Morrisett

Jack and Rilla Neafsey Dean and Vice Provost of Cornell Tech

Greg Morrisett is the Jack and Rilla Neafsey Dean and Vice Provost of Cornell Tech and a faculty member in the Computer Science Department at Cornell University.

As dean, Morrisett has overall responsibility for the campus, including the academic quality and direction of the Cornell Tech degree programs and research. Working with both internal and external stakeholders, he is developing approaches for working with companies, nonprofits, government agencies and early stage investors, as well as overseeing the faculty recruitment and entrepreneurial initiatives of the campus.

Prior to joining Cornell Tech, Morrisett was Dean of Computing and Information Science (CIS) at Cornell University from 2015-2019. Previously, he held the Allen B. Cutting chair in Computer Science at Harvard University from 2004-2015 where he also served as Associate Dean for Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. Before Harvard, Morrisett spent eight years on the faculty of Cornell’s Computer Science Department.

Morrisett’s research focuses on the application of programming language technology for building secure, reliable, and high-performance software systems. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Richmond and both his Master’s and Doctorate degrees from Carnegie Mellon University. 

Jenny E. Sabin

Chair of the Department of Design Tech and the Arthur L. and Isabel B. Wiesenberger Professor in Architecture

Jenny E. Sabin is an architectural designer whose work is at the forefront of a new direction for 21st-century architectural practice – one that investigates the intersections of architecture and science and applies insights and theories from biology and mathematics to the design of material structures. Sabin is Chair of the Department of Design Tech and the Arthur L. and Isabel B. Wiesenberger Professor in Architecture.

Sabin is principal of Jenny Sabin Studio, an experimental architectural design studio based in Ithaca, and director of the Sabin Lab at Cornell Architecture, Art and Planning. She holds degrees in ceramics and interdisciplinary visual art from the University of Washington and a master of architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. Her book LabStudio: Design Research Between Architecture and Biology, coauthored with Peter Lloyd Jones, was published in 2017. Sabin won MoMA and MoMA PS1’s Young Architects Program in 2017 with her submission, Lumen.

Sabin specializes in adaptive architecture, bioinspired design, material computation, programmable matter, sustainability, responsive materials, digital ceramics, biomimicry, and Kirigami geometry.

Lynden A. Archer

Joseph Silbert Dean of the College of Engineering

Lynden Archer joined the Cornell University faculty in 2000. He received his Ph.D. degree in chemical engineering from Stanford University in 1993 and a B.S. degree in chemical engineering (polymer science) from the University of Southern California in 1989. During the period 1993-94 he was a postdoctoral member of the technical staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories, and from 1994-1999 was a member of the chemical engineering faculty at Texas A&M University. During the period 2010-2016 he served as the Director of the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at Cornell, and in fall of 2017 was appointed Director of the Cornell Energy Systems Institute.

Archer is a fellow of the American Physical Society and a Member of the National Academy of Engineering. His research contributions have been recognized with a variety of awards, including the National Science Foundation award for Special Creativity, the American Institute for Chemical Engineers Centennial Engineer & Nanoscale Science and Engineering Forum awards, and the Thompson-Reuters “World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds” recognition in Materials Science. At Cornell, his contributions to teaching have been recognized with the James and Mary Tien’s award for excellence in teaching and thrice by Merrill Presidential Fellows as the most influential member of the Cornell University faculty.

Frederick F. Burgess

Vice President for Facilities and Campus Services

As Vice President for Facilities and Campus Services, Rick Burgess is responsible for planning, design, construction, and maintenance of facilities and utilities at Cornell University. He oversees the Office of the University Architect, Contract College Facilities, Facilities Management, Energy and Sustainability, Transportation and Delivery Services, Finance and Administration, Engineering and Project Management and the Cornell University Police Department.

Before coming to Cornell, Burgess completed a 30-year career in the U.S. Navy. His final tour and career highlight was as the commanding officer of the Naval Facilities Engineering Command in Washington, D.C. He was the senior executive in charge of planning, building, and maintaining the facilities for eight naval bases in the D.C. area, including the Naval Academy and the Washington Navy Yard.

Burgess has a master’s degree in civil engineering and is a licensed professional engineer and certified energy manager.