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David R. Atkinson Centerfor a Sustainable Future

David R. Atkinson Centerfor a Sustainable Future

About the Center

OUR VIS ION

To create a world in which people can meet their needs and pursue their dreams without compromising the ability of future generations to do the same.

www.acsf.cornell.edu/about

Contents

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Message from the Director

2013 at a Glance

Academic Venture Fund

Global Impact

Rapid Response Fund

Newsmakers

Strategic Plan 2013 –2017

Faculty Engagement

Training Future Leaders

Events

A Sustainable Campus

External Advisory Board

Faculty Fellows

Financial Report

ACSF People

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Message from the Director

Frank DiSalvoDirector

Many of us can remember keen interests from our youth; sometimes those passions stay with us through life. For me, it is fishing of any kind: fly-fishing, spin casting, bait fishing, even netting. The whole world seems to fade away, and I am in the moment. But I have been at it long enough to notice changes occur-ring in the environment—changes that are largely the result of human activity. We ignore these changes at our own peril. When I moved to Ithaca 27 years ago, there were lots of trout in Cascadilla Creek, right in my backyard. They are now completely gone, as near as I can tell, lost after the hot summers of the late ’90s warmed

the water beyond their tolerance. The oceans are also warming, leading to rapid changes in fish pop-ulations and migrations and to the decline of whole ecosystems, such as coral reefs.

There are glimmers of hope as well. Along the East Coast, some fish populations are rebounding, and salmon and striped bass are returning to major river systems. Their return is a result of human strategies and collective actions designed to reverse centuries of laissez-faire attitudes.

The Atkinson Center is moving forward with a new strategic plan for our next five years and a committed focus on meeting world needs for reliable energy, a resilient environment, and robust economic develop-ment. Please look through this report for an overview of our very active 2013, which included a significant expansion of programs to seed innovative discoveries and solutions.

We are the stewards of one planet of living and nonliving riches that must be responsibly—even lovingly—tended. Join us in that lifelong passion!

2 www.acsf.cornell.edu

2013 at a glance

Faculty Fellows

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Faculty Fellows

New Fellows

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Supporting Research Meet Me for Lunch

Brewing Collaborations

New Leaders

Promoting Leadership A $12 million gift from David and Pat Atkinson endowed the director’s chair and offered a 1:2

match on future gifts to endow the three faculty directors’ chairs.

$1.1 Million

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in Research Funding

9 Academic Venture Fund Projects

20Rapid Response Fund Projects

Three student teams mentored by Jeff Tester (CBE) and Lars Angenent (BEE) explored sustainability

options for F. X. Matt Brewing Company of Utica, New York. Nick Matt (above), chairman and CEO, and Jim Kuhr, brewmaster and director of brewing

operations, invited students to investigate alternate uses for spent hops and renewable energy and efficiency options in their Saranac beer plant.

Faculty Fellows

Informing Washington Inserting science into today’s policy debates, five Faculty Fellows met with legislative staff and select media on two timely issues:

Toxic Substances Control Act Protecting humans, animals, and ecosystems

Climate Change ActAn economically effective carbon tax

Over 100 Topical Lunches since 2008

Seeds to TreesFor every dollar ACSF spends,

about $7 in follow-on research

funding comes to Cornell.

Topical Lunchesin 201326

Development Director Chris Miller

Faculty Director of Energy Todd Cowen

Faculty Director of Environment Alex Travis

Executive Director Graham Kerslick

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Academic Venture Fund

www.acsf.cornell.edu/AVF

A Toilet with Biological Pathogen Control The developing world urgently needs proper sanitation to sup-press diseases spread by human waste. Cornell researchers have invented a simple toilet that uses a solar-heated fermentation bag to produce butyric acid—an integrated bioreactor that kills E. coli, parasitic worm eggs, and other pathogens. Treated toilet contents are safe to apply as fertilizer. While continuing to test the technology, the team is surveying three Ethiopian commu-nities to establish that the design is culturally acceptable and construction and operating costs sustainable—the next step toward widespread adoption of this innovative toilet.

An Environmental Flows Framework for the Andes Flowing waters from tropical mountains sustain a substantial part of the world’s population. These resources are poorly understood, despite growing regional demand for water. Cornell researchers are developing a hydrologic database for the tropical Andes to promote environmentally sound water policy for riverine biodiversity and ecosystem services. They are organizing a working group in Ecuador, bringing together water experts from universities, government agencies, and nonprofits to assess coming changes and vulnerabilities in Andean running waters and develop standards for environmental flows in tropical mountain regions.

Small Molecules to Vanquish Parasitic Worms Soil-transmitted worms—including Ascaris, Trichuris, and hookworm—threaten 4.5 billion people worldwide, compro-mising human health and productivity in the world’s poorest regions. Children are at the greatest risk. Parasitic worms also attack young pigs, raising the cost of this popular protein source. Cornell researchers are applying cutting-edge chemical technology to discover novel small molecules, called ascarosides, in Trichuris worms. An ascaroside-based vaccine to protect children and livestock from worm infections is the ultimate goal—boosting economic development, slashing human and animal health care costs, and reducing soil drug contamination.

The Academic Venture Fund is the Atkinson Center’s flagship funding program. We support cross-disciplinary research projects from their earliest stages and promote the projects as they grow and bear fruit, attracting external partners and major grants.

38Researchers

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Sustainable Coffee: A Better Model for Small FarmsSeveral coffee certification schemes are designed to integrate smaller growers in developing countries, yet the certifications’ requirements actually exclude the poorest farmers. The relation-ship coffee model (RCM) provides an alternative. RCM allows smallholder farmers to form long-term trading partnerships with roasters, establishing fair prices and ensuring a consistent product. Reports of RCM’s positive economic and environmental impacts have been anecdotal until now. Partnering with a leading buyer of sustainable coffee, the researchers are engaging Colombian small-holders to develop farm-level sustainability performance indicators and provide the first rigorous analysis of RCM.

What Causes Brown Tides? Harmful algal blooms (HABs)—often brown or red—are increasing worldwide, spurred by global warming, industrial development, and agriculture. HABs pose a dire threat to fish and aquatic plants, depleting drinking water resources and disrupting ecosystem sustainability. The research team is constructing a microfluidic device with more than 80,000 microhabitats to investigate the environmental conditions that cause HABs to form. Identifying the environments that trigger rapid algae growth will allow policymakers and regulatory agencies to predict, control, andeliminate HABs for safer water and sustainable aquatic ecosystems.

Understanding Clouds for Better Climate Prediction More accurate climate change predictions require a better understanding of clouds, which have an important impact on the Earth’s climate. Yet scientists lack basic information about “cloud physics.” Clouds’ growth, evolution, and properties depend on water condensation and freezing mediated by aerosols. The research team is building new experimental instruments to mea-sure the properties of supercooled liquid water and refine kinetic models of condensation and freezing. These fundamental findings about water’s behavior will bring new precision to climate predictions and simulations of the atmosphere.

Biodegradation of Cattle Manure Using Fly Larvae Manure is a major challenge for livestock operations and a threat to groundwater and human health. This team is creating a natural strategy for waste management and developing a profitable animal feed at the same time. The researchers are using dairy manure as a nursery for fly larvae. The larvae biodegrade the manure, reducing mass and excess nutrients so that it can be safely sold as organic compost. The harvested larvae are ground into larva meal—a high-protein food source for animals that sub-stitutes for fishmeal and human food grains.

Cornell NutriPhone: Personalized Micronutrient Analysis A team of Cornell engineers, health experts, and social scientists are developing a smartphone-based system for personalized micronutrient monitoring called the NutriPhone. Inadequate nu-trition is responsible for a variety of health and social problems. Many micronutrient deficiencies are reversible, but lack of a simple system for diagnosing deficiencies and tracking an indi-vidual’s diet means that most sufferers are unaware they aren’t getting the nutrients they need. This new technology promises a reliable, cheap, and convenient way to monitor nutrition levels with an interactive phone app.

Monarchs: Conservation and Controversy The monarch butterfly is a conservation icon. Environmental groups warn of increasing threats to the charismatic butterflies; an influential 2013 report documented populations at a 20-year low. But earlier studies showed no decline in monarch populations. The researchers are resolving these contradictory findings by verifying the trend of monarch populations and conducting extensive inter-views to tackle some broader questions: How do scientists, NGOs, and other conservation actors respond to scientific ambiguity? And how do contradictory findings about icons like the monarch shape public, organizational, and scientific messages about envi-ronmental change?

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Global Impact

www.acsf.cornell.edu/AVF

Sustainable coffee schemes have proliferated in recent decades, but many have not lived up to their name. Despite success as a marketing tool for Western consumers, in coffee-growing regions, “fair trade” or “sustainably grown” coffee labels have a thornier history. Some have certification fees that small farmers can’t afford, while others aren’t proven environmen-tally sustainable. In coffee-rich Colombia, home of the famous arabica beans, an ACSF research team is examining the entire supply chain—from the smallest

producers to the coffee drinkers—to determine how land use, economy, and ecology can come together in profitable supply chains that promote biodiversity and sustainable access to resources, particularly for smaller coffee farmers.

“I think we’re the first team to measure the environ-ment and biodiversity in a systematic way,” says Miguel Gómez (AEM). Gómez’s team is assessing the diversity of fauna, measuring energy and water use,

and training farmers to pollute less—all to develop a sustainable, viable coffee system. Harold Van Es (CSS) is focusing on land management, includ-ing soil. “We hope to see a relationship between a farm’s soil characteristics and how the farmers manage their land,” Van Es explains. Amanda Rodewald (NTRES) is examining interdependencies between migratory birds and coffee production systems. Graduate students Colleen Anunu, a buyer for Ithaca-based Gimme! Coffee, and Juan Nicolas Hernandez are gathering socioeconomic data from small farms to evaluate sustainability factors.

The researchers are partnering with Sustainable Harvest, a coffee importer that uses the relationship coffee model (RCM), an alternative to traditional fair trade certification. RCM connects roasters to small farmers in a long-term trading partnership for high-quality, sustainably produced coffee that gives farmers some protection against market swings. “Specialty coffee is becoming more like wine. High quality will get you good prices,” Gómez says.

Supportive pricing for small farmers and high-quality coffee with a strong environmental component would be a new brew, indeed, in your morning cup.

New Brew

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Algae Promise Greener Energy Multidisciplinary Cornell research teams have greatly increased the commercial attractiveness of algal biofuel, overcoming significant hurdles that have delayed private-sector uptake of this promising green fuel.

Charles Greene (EAS) and his research team parlayed a 2011 Rapid Response Fund award into an inter-national algal biofuel partnership, now funded by a $9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. Working with industrial partner Cellana, the consortium has grown algae at the highest productivity values demonstrated at pilot scale in the world. Algae can produce far more biomass and oil per acre annually than even the most productive terrestrial energy crops.

Working with the Sahara Forest Project (SFP) in Qatar, Cornell researchers helped build a facility highlighting new energy and food technologies that attracted international attention at the December 2012 COP18 UN Climate Change Conference in Doha. The demonstration facility was visited by several heads of state.

Back in Ithaca, Ruth Richardson (CEE), Beth Ahner (BEE), Lars Angenent (BEE), David Erickson (MAE), Jeff Tester (CHEME), Roseanna Zia (CBE), and other scientists work on strategies to improve different steps in the extraction process—as well as totally reenvisioning reactor systems. Current methods require too much energy, preventing algal biofuels from achieving their full commercial or environmental potential.

Another promising path is to develop high-value coproducts at the same time as fuel. Animal scientist Xingen Lei (ANSCI) is doing just that. With a new $5.5 million USDA grant to further research launched by ACSF seed funding, he is producing a nutritious animal feed from algae for broiler chickens, laying hens, and weanling pigs.

Driving Hydrogen Power to Ithaca A Tompkins County bus is driving Ithaca to the forefront of a green transportation revolution. Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (TCAT) will get a demonstration hydrogen fuel-cell bus—the first in New York State—in late 2014, thanks to recent funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation. A hydrogen fueling station will open nearby. The facility will be the first public hydrogen station in upstate New York and one of only a dozen in the country. Faculty Fellow Paul Mutolo (EMC2) developed the federal grant proposal with TCAT and BAE Systems, an upstate manufacturer of hybrid propulsion systems. AVF 2012 seed funding to study sustainable hydrogen production was an essential launching pad for this broader effort to build an infrastructure for clean, efficient, carbon-free driving.

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The Atkinson Center’s Rapid Response Fund (RRF) provides timely support for urgent sustainability research. These quarterly small grants offer an immediate infusion of funds at decisive moments that fall outside annual funding cycles. This project and 12 others that RRF supported in 2013 launched new sustainability initiatives around the globe.

Rapid Response Fund

Sustainability Broadcasting for Zambia Across rural Zambia, hand-cranked radios donated by Walmart tuned in to Farm Talk, a twice-weekly radio program by Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO). The program broadcast agriculture, food security, and conservation messages to an estimated 200,000 smallholder farmers. A group led by Faculty Fellow Katherine McComas (COMM) had a brief window to evaluate the effectiveness of COMACO’s sustainability communication. RRF funding sent PhD student Carrie Young (COMM) to Zambia to interview individual farmers and groups of farmers about their listening habits, current conservation knowledge, and the tangible effects of COMACO’s programming on their sustainable farming activities.

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Puppy “Klondike” Born from Frozen Embryo

The Latest on Global Warming

The Bright Side of This Winter’s Big Chill: Fewer Mosquitoes This Summer

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Diving into the Coral Triangle

Faculty director Alex Travis and Klondike, one of the first puppies born from a frozen embryo, in Discovery News.

Drew Harvell (EEB) blogged about saving Indonesia’s coral reefs from an “unholy trio of coastal pollution, climate change, and habitat destruction” in the New York Times.

Chris Barrett (AEM) helped decide the question for NPR.

Bitter winter cold may mean fewer mosqui-toes come summer, Laura Harrington (ENT) told NBC News.

ACSF director Frank DiSalvo, on HuffPost Live: “Climate change is with us now. It’s abundantly clear that that’s the case.”

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Cornell Scientist’s Quest: Perfect BroccoliSuperior broccoli from Thomas Björkman (HORT), in the New York Times.

American Farmers Say They Feed the World, but Do They?

Strengthen existing programs and create

new programs to stimulate more

multidisciplinary, cross-campus collaboration and research on sustainability.

GROWTH

P R I O R I T Y I N I T I AT I V E

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www.acsf.cornell.edu/stratplan

New Strategic Focus Areas

Computational Sustainability

Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems

One Health New Materials Energy Transitions Sustainable Communities

In our first five years, the Atkinson Center amplified Cornell’s vast resources by sponsoring more than 60 multidisciplinary research teams to tackle critical world problems in energy, the environment, and economic development. In 2013 we sought advice from Cornell faculty and administrators, External Advisory Board members, and leaders at The Nature Conservancy, Environmental Defense Fund, Oxfam, and CARE, among others. The result is ACSF’s new strategic plan for our next five years of action and growth.

Build strategic collaborations with

external organizations and corporations that have

common aspirations and complementary capabilities

in one or more of the Center’s new focus areas.

IMPACT

P R I O R I T Y I N I T I AT I V E

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Strategic Plan 2013–2017

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Sustainable agriculture is a complex

web of relationships, from production to consumption, that promotes the well-being of humans, societies, animals, environments, and ecosystems for present and future generations. The challenge is not just feeding an ever-growing world population, but doing so in a way that minimizes harm to environmental resources, while improving nutrition, food security, fuel resources, and rural livelihoods.

Breeding resistance to black rot in sukuma wiki, nutritious leafy greens, improves West African

diets and household income.

Breakthroughs And Breakouts

Healthy Diets, Healthier Planet: ACSF research fed into a landmark United Nations report on land use, agriculture, and consumption.

Rust Not: Researchers identified the major pathogens afflicting shrub willow and switchgrass, a critical finding for the future of biofuels.

Researchers are developing year-round models for 50 crops, boosting

production in Northeast greenhouses.

S U S TA I N A B L E A G R I C U LT U R E A N D F O O D S Y S T E M S

“We live in a world of tremendous potential, with technologies we couldn’t have dreamed of 100 years ago and a global community connected by physical infrastructure, communications, trade, the arts, and political organization—and yet nearly half of that global community lives in poverty. Over the next decade, it is imperative that we—the global community—find ways to improve conditions for the poorest. This means developing local food production, strengthening the accountability of states and markets to the poor, and providing access to affordable services for basic needs such as health care and education.

ACSF marshals the resources at Cornell, linking researchers with communities and organizations on the ground to uncover the right questions and develop technologies and best practices for eco-nomic development. This work requires significant resources; it requires thinking outside the box and working against considerable odds. But why sustain a miserable world?”

Wendy Wolford, Faculty Director of Economic Development

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Faculty Engagement

Cornell’s researchers are the foundation of the Atkinson Center. Their work ripens concepts into discoveries and applications into solutions. With more than 360 Faculty Fellows, ACSF benefits from a deep reservoir of talent and a range of perspectives. Our Faculty Advisory Board and three faculty directors guide ACSF’s sustainability programs and, in 2013, helped develop our strategic plan for the coming five years.

A F U T U R E W E C A N B E L I E V E I N

Faculty directors Alex Travis (environment), Todd Cowen (energy), and Wendy Wolford (economic development)

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“The world is moving toward a renewable-based energy economy. From 2007 to 2012, installed photovoltaic capacity increased by 900 percent and wind capacity more than doubled. While this is encouraging, we need to accelerate the transition, especially since renewables are usually variable power sources located away from urban demand centers. Shifting electric demand to match re-newable energy availability will also require a significant overhaul of our electric grid.”

Todd Cowen, Faculty Director of Energy

Faculty Advisory Board

Leadership Katherine McComas (COMM, chair), Beth Ahner (BEE, vice chair), Alex Travis (VTBIO, past chair)

Energy Todd Cowen (CEE), Lars Angenent (BEE),Johannes Lehmann (CSS), Linda Nozick (CEE), Alan Zehnder (MAE)

Environment Alex Travis (VTBIO), Tim Fahey (NTRES), Mike Hoffmann (ENT), Amanda Rodewald (NTRES), Aaron Sachs (HIST)

Economic Development Wendy Wolford (DSOC), Garrick Blalock (AEM), Nancy Chau (AEM), Glen Dowell (CSGE), Ron Herring (GOVT), Ken Roberts (GOVT)

Ex Officio Anurag Agrawal (EEB), Richard Allmendinger (ENG), Chris Barrett (AEM), Andy Bass (VP-R), Susanne Bruyère (ILR), Howard Chong (HOTEL), Sheila Danko (HE), Nelson Hairston (AS), Drew Harvell (EEB), Barbara Knuth (GRAD), Sidney Leibovich (MAE), Natalie Mahowald (EAS), Mark Milstein (JGSM), Bruce Monger (EAS), Muna Ndulo (LAW), Daryl Nydam (VET), Jonathan Ochshorn (AAP), Max Pfeffer (CALS), Jeff Tester (CHEME), Zellman Warhaft (MAE), David Wolfe (HORT)

F U T U R E E N E R G Y

“Atkinson Center funding for four faculty to attend the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, held in Brazil in June 2012, helped to seed a more local collaboration: the Jamaica Bay Center for Science and Resilience. The new research center is part of a groundbreaking effort by the City of New York, the National Park Service, and a consortium of Cornell and other top universities to revitalize the bay’s urban ecosystem in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.”

Marianne Krasny (NTRES)

F R O M R I O T O J A M A I C A B AY

Training Future Leaders

Undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows are the next generation of sustainability leaders. Many collaborate with Faculty Fellows on research fun-ded by our major grant programs, but 2013 brought increasing opportunities for tomorrow’s leaders to engage independently with the Atkinson Center. Our popular mentorship and funding programs give young researchers a head start on a bright future.

www.acsf.cornell.edu/grants/14

NatureNet Fellow Dan AuerbachEcologist Dan Auerbach is bringing a new economic model to the ongoing effort to clean up and conserve the world’s limited water supply. He special-izes in water funds, a promising approach to managing water at the confluence of biodiversity protection, river basin hydrology, and human demand. Cornell’s first NatureNet Science Fellow, Auerbach is part of an innovative postdoctoral program launched in 2013 by The Nature Conservancy, Cornell, and five other leading universities to train interdisciplinary science talent to carry out the new work of conservation.

Water funds allow downstream water users like utilities and businesses to secure consistent water supplies by funding the conservation of upstream watersheds. “Understanding that our water comes not from the tap but from the hills is critical,” Auerbach said. “Watershed investments that link downstream beneficiaries with upstream land use choices have the potential to strengthen human relationships while improving conditions for diverse land and water organisms.”

As a NatureNet fellow, Auerbach is helping to strike a balance be-tween human and ecological needs through more refined water fund planning and management. “I like the idea that we’re looking for conservation opportunities that don’t necessarily depend on top-down regulation,” he explained, “but instead use a market-based strategy that aligns people’s sense of what’s good for them with what’s good for the world and for the larger ecosystem they inhabit.”

Iscol Internships with the Environmental Defense Fund

Summer Institute on Contested Landscapes

Video Documentary Training with Homeland Productions

NatureNet Fellowships with The Nature Conservancy

Sustainable Biodiversity Fund (SBF) Small Grants

Cross-Scale Biogeochemistry and Climate (CSBC) Small Grants

Events

Climate change and monster storms. Fracking. Endangered species. Genetically modified crops. The Atkinson Center brings influ-ential voices to Cornell to speak on these and other urgent sustainability problems, controversies, and timely questions. The result is an uncom-mon dialogue—national and world thinkers and leaders talking directly with Cornell students, faculty, and staff about our planet’s unprecedented challenges and potential solutions. As a group of diverse researchers, ACSF does not take positions. We promote conversation so we all become better informed.

ACSF’s Outside Voices speaker series and annual Iscol Lecture are Cornell’s premier sustainability events. Speakers we hosted in 2013 included journalists Seamus McGraw and Tom Wilber, authors of recent books about fracking’s impacts; Mark Hertsgaard, famous for his incisive reporting on global warming; Iscol lecturer Peter Kareiva, chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy and a leading voice on the “new conservation”; Mark Lynas, writer and GMO activist; Steve Monfort, director of the Smithsonian Conserva-tion Biology Institute; and Fred Krupp, president of the Environmental Defense Fund and a member of ACSF’s External Advisory Board.

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(Below left) Iscol lecturer Peter Kareiva, The Na-ture Conservancy; (below right) Faculty director Wendy Wolford with jour-nalists Seamus McGraw and Tom Wilber

(Right) Shorna Allred (NTRES) at Climate

Smart & Climate Ready conference

Outside Voices speakers (left) Steve Monfort, Smithsonian Institution, and (right) Fred Krupp, Environmental Defense Fund

Monday, April 22 – Tuesday, April 23, 2013Cornell University

Peter KareivaChief ScientistThe Nature Conservancy

Printed using FSC certified paper, made with renewable power.

Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future 200 Rice HallIthaca, New York 14853

About the Iscol LectureThe Jill and Ken Iscol Distinguished Environmental Lecture brings eminent scholars, scientists, newsmakers, and opinion leaders to Cornell to address environmental issues of paramount importance to our planet. Hosted by the Atkinson Center, the Iscol Lecture recognizes interdisciplinary scholarship on the frontier of scientific inquiry; provides opportunities for Cornell students, faculty, staff, and the public to gain new knowledge about pressing environmental issues; and enriches the university and community. A faculty committee, representing a cross-section of academic disciplines, selects the Iscol lecturer.

2013 Iscol Award Committee Sara Pritchard (chair), Lauren Chambliss, Todd Cowen, Francis DiSalvo, Nelson Hairston, Drew Harvell, Peter Hess, Mark Milstein, Karen Pinkus

For more information: www.acsf.cornell.edu/iscol

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2 0 1 3 J I L L A N D K E N I S C O L D I S T I N G U I S H E D E N V I R O N M E N T A L L E C T U R E

Presented by Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future

ISCOL_Flyer2013.indd 1 3/26/13 12:28 PM

A Sustainable Campus

In 2013 Cornell marched to the top of several important sustainability rankings. The Atkinson Center played a vital role in helping Cornell become one of the nation’s top-rated “green” colleges.

Climate Change Focus Group2013 was a watershed year for climate change. Between extreme weather, droughts, and the newest report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, national attention converged on this greatest challenge to our future.

ACSF’s Climate Change Focus Group, led by David Wolfe (HORT), is an interdisciplinary meeting of the minds, with faculty members from climate science, ecology, agriculture, engineering, economics, history, and architecture. The group advises ACSF on climate change research and initiatives and reaches out to the university at large, and its members perform a vital role communicating climate change to media decision makers and opinion leaders. The group’s Cornell Climate Change website serves as a portal to Cornell’s research, teaching, and outreach and extension programs.

In March, the Climate Change Focus Group brought together 100 Cornell researchers for a fast-paced Interdisciplinary Climate Change Forum. The multi-disciplinary crowd of Cornellians brainstormed collaborative projects and prac-tical solutions for our changing climate. “The creative energy in the room was palpable,” said David Wolfe, one of the event’s organizers.

www.sustainablecampus.cornell.edu16

Cornell earned a rating of 99—the high-est possible score—in the Princeton Review’s 2014 Green Honor Roll, released in 2013. The influential review hailed the Atkinson Center for uniting students, faculty, and staff around sustainability.

The Sierra Club ranked Cornell fifth among America’s greenest colleges, praising Cornell’s new climate change minor, headed by members of ACSF’s Climate Change Focus Group, and courses in sustainability across nearly every department. Cornell was the only New York State school and the only member of the Ivy League in Sierra’s top 10.

A strong commitment to sustainability research helped Cornell earn a gold STARS rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education for the third year in a row in 2013.

www.climatechange.cornell.edu

External Advisory Board

David Atkinson ’60FounderAtkinson and Company

David Croll ’70Founder and Managing PartnerM/C Partners

Daniel Goldman ’87President and CFOGreatPoint Energy

Yossie HollanderDirectorOur Energy Policy Foundation

Fred KruppPresidentEnvironmental Defense Fund

Jill Lerner ’76Architect and Principal Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates

Ray Offenheiser ’76President Oxfam America

Armando Olivera ’72Past President and CEOFlorida Power and Light

William Schlesinger, PhD ’76President Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies

Paul Sellew ’80CEO Harvest Power

Sheryl WuDunn ’81Senior Managing Director Mid-Market Securities

The Atkinson Center’s External Advisory Board is a group of nationally recognized thought leaders, with members representing a wide range of expertise, from leading environmentalists to accomplished entrepreneurs. The EAB helps to guide ACSF’s future and Cornell’s success in the sustainability arena.

Armando Olivera: Cleaner Electricity

The Atkinson Center welcomed a leading authority in energy and an accomplished corporate leader, Armando Olivera, to the External Advisory Board in 2013. Olivera is the former president and chief executive officer of Florida Power and Light (FPL), one of the largest investor-owned electric utilities in the nation. He retired in 2012 after celebrating his 40th anniversary with the company.

Under Olivera’s leadership, FPL’s assets grew 79 per-cent to $31.8 billion, revenues increased 28 percent to $10.6 billion, and net income rose 50 percent to $1.1 billion. At the same time, FPL produced cleaner electricity, with a carbon dioxide emissions rate 36 percent below the industry average. FPL also has one of the nation’s leading energy efficiency programs.

An electrical engineering graduate (BS ‘72) and dedicated Cornellian, Olivera has served on the Cornell Board of Trustees since 2009. He is a member of the College of Engineering Advisory Council and a former member of the Cornell University Council. A resident of Coral Gables, Florida, Olivera enjoys travel and gardening.

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Faculty Fellows

In MemoriamFaculty Fellow Kevin Pratt (1969–2013)

The ACSF community was saddened in 2013 by the sudden loss of one of our most active Faculty Fellows, Kevin Pratt, an associate professor of architecture. Pratt’s impact will long be felt at the Atkinson Center and beyond. He was involved in four Academic Venture Fund projects, more than any other faculty member. His infectious enthusiasm for sustainable building design—and sustainability in general—made him a born leader and unparalleled colleague.

Joining Us in 2013Craig Altier (VTPMD)Judith Appleton (BAKERI)Linda Barrington (ILRHR)Victoria Beard (CRP)Robin Blakely-Armitage (DSOC)Lori Brewer (HORT)Dan Brown (ANSCI)Joshua Cerra (LA)Ralph Christy (AEM) Alexander Colvin (ILRLR)Raymond Craib (HIST)Peter Davies (BIOPL)Ricardo Daziano (CEE)Walter De Jong (PLBR)Jack Elliott (DEA)James Engstrom (CHEME) Julia Finkelstein (NS)

Joe Francis (DSOC)Donald Fredericksen (PMA)Margaret Frey (FSAD)Rick Geddes (PAM)Curt Gooch (BEE)John Guckenheimer (MATH)Kathie Hodge (PLPA)Owen Hoekenga (PLBR)Paula Horrigan (LA)Rachel Bezner Kerr (DSOC)Jane-Marie Law (ASIAN)Neil Mattson (HORT)Saurabh Mehta (NS)Tim Murray (ENGL)

Jan Nyrop (ENT)Caroline O’Donnell (ARCH)Thomas Overton (ANSCI)

Poul Petersen (CHEM)Alison Power (EEB)Marvin Pritts (HORT)Amanda Rodewald (NTRES)Jenny Sabin (ARCH)Frank Schroeder (BTI)Jonathon Schuldt (COMM)Vimal Selvaraj (ANSCI)Suman Seth (STS)John Sipple (DSOC)Dotsevi Sogah (CHEM)Lang Tong (ECE)Robert Turgeon (BIOPL)Jennifer Wilkins (NS)Joshua Woodard (AEM)Mingming Wu (BEE)

Graham KerslickExecutive Director

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Financial Report Fiscal Year 2013 (July 1, 2012–June 30, 2013)

The Atkinson Center completed fiscal year 2013 on a sound financial footing. We con-tinue to benefit from the vibrant support of our founders, Cornell University, and other contributors.

Consistent with our mission, our program expenditures promote research and collab-oration through the Academic Venture Fund, the Rapid Response Fund, and other funding programs that benefit faculty-led research

teams and Cornell’s colleges and schools. In FY13, $1.8 million of our expenses supported sustainability research via direct funding of competitively selected research proposals and through other programs designed to enhance Cornell’s reputation, research, and competitiveness.

ACSF revenues continue to be healthy. FY13 brought increased endowment income from the Atkinsons’ rapid progress in completing their 2010 pledge. As they fulfill their endowment commitment, the source of the Center’s core support is rebalancing, as planned, from current-use gifts to endowment income. We are grateful for continued support from Cornell’s deans. The year also saw an influx of sponsored funding from Oxfam and CARE for collaborative research projects.

As we work to implement our new strategic plan’s priority initiatives—to build comprehensive collaborations with external organizations and to create new pro-grams that stimulate cross-campus sustainability research—we will continue to develop and build our financial resources and manage them efficiently to expand and strengthen sustainability research at Cornell and beyond.

RevenuesSources of $3.9 Millionin Operating Support

Expenses Sources of $3.3 Millionin Operating Expenses

The Atkinson Center is supported by a generous donation from David and Patricia Atkinson, with additional funding from Cornell University, Kathleen Marble, Yossie Hollander, Jill and Ken Iscol, the Towards Sustainability Foundation, and Cornell alumni and friends.

3%

60% 22% 56%

2%

9%

7%

10%

16%

Communications

15%

Gifts

Cornell Support

Endowment Income

Grants

Administration

Strategic Faculty Hiring

Development

Research Support

Research Programs

20

ACSF People

ACSF thanks for their timely and effective in-house support Gladys Brangman, Sheri Englund, Pat Hoyt, Richard Shafer,

David Solomon, and interns Larry Ge ’15, Sarah Orwig ’16, Claire Siegrist ’15, Emilyn Teh ’13, and Jill Axline, PhD ’14.

www.acsf.cornell.edu/people

Faculty Directors

DirectorFrank DiSalvofjd3@cornell.edu(607) 255-8891

Helene Schember, ACSF’s founding executive director, retired in 2013. We welcome her successor, Graham Kerslick, and send our warmest thanks and regards with Helene.

EnergyTodd Cowen eac20@cornell.edu(607) 255-5140

EnvironmentAlex Travis ajt32@cornell.edu(607) 256-5613

Economic DevelopmentWendy Wolford www43@cornell.edu(607) 255-2146

Executive DirectorGraham Kerslickgsk2@cornell.edu(607) 255-0978

Executive in ResidenceDavid Dieterichdd355@cornell.edu(607) 254-1380

Communications DirectorLauren Chamblisselc55@cornell.edu(607) 255-7344

Development DirectorChris Millercm284@cornell.edu(607) 254-6520

Web and Communications ManagerMark Lawrencemal64@cornell.edu(607) 255-2178

Assistant to the DirectorsPaula Euvrardpge3@cornell.edu(607) 255-7535

OUR MISSION

To discover and implement sustainable solutions to world needs for reliable energy, a resilient environment, and robust economic development.

www.acsf.cornell.edu 200 Rice HallCornell UniversityIthaca, New York 14853-5601(607) 255-7535(607) 255-6714 (fax)acsf@cornell.edu

@AtkinsonCenter

Printed with vegetable-based inks and manufactured with 100% renewable energy.

To receive future versions of this report electronically, please contact us at acsf@cornell.edu.

David R. Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future

Report Design: irondesign.com; Project Management: Englund Literary Services; Photography: Cornell UPhoto, Courtney Couch, Mark Lawrence, Jon Reis, John Simpson, Sheryl Sinkow, Gareth Williams; Content and Graphics: Blaine Friedlander (p. 6), Lisa Maione (p. 18).