Cornell Policy Group

Two Black technologists collaborate on a program together. One day, Allison Bland, a media specialist from Princeton University, was driving  through Brooklyn when Google Maps told her to “turn right on Malcolm Ten Boulevard.” It was  a clear error on behalf of the technology, which erroneously interpreted the “X” in the street name as the Roman numeral for ten instead of the street’s actual reference to the African-American revolutionary, Malcolm X. It is a mundane error tha

A healthcare professional fills out medical forms. The 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed  into law, reshapes numerous pieces of legislation, particularly those related to healthcare, education, and the allocation of public funding. While the media has covered the changes to Medicare and Medicaid eligibility as well as the restructuring of loan payments, the implications on college students caught between the intersections of these policy changes are often not di

The Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine & Processing Facility is the only active and scaled rare earth mining and processing facility in the United States. Owned by MP Materials, the facility recently secured an unprecedented deal with the US Department of War to ramp up domestic production of rare earth elements. Rare earth elements refer  to a group of seventeen metals that contribute  to the defining technologies of the 21st century. From electric vehicles to fighter jets, rare

A U.S. banknote. While families gathered outside to watch fireworks at the end of our block every Fourth of July, my family stayed indoors and watched them on TV. The sharp cracks of the fireworks reminded my parents of the bombings they encountered during the Vietnam War. Growing up as a child of Vietnamese refugees, I heard my parents’ stories of bombs dropping at midnight and families rushing into basements to escape the impact. It has been fifty years since April 30, 1975

The McGraw Clocktower at Cornell University . In the dining hall, most Cornellians are not concerned about where their food comes from, let alone if it is safe to eat. However, over the past few years, studies have shown that microplastics, PFAS, heavy metals, and even radioactive compounds have the potential to threaten our food supply. As these contaminants continue to infiltrate American agriculture, it’s clear that federal research funding and policy have not kept pace wi

Newly built accessory dwelling unit (ADU) located behind a single family home, providing additional housing on existing residential property. New Jersey is  the most densely populated state in the US. However, the state is enduring  a crisis of housing affordability and accessibility. From 2023 to 2024, the median home price rose  by 10.8%, compared to just a 4.3% rise in the average salary. There is  a shortage of over 205,000 affordable homes for extremely low-income renter