Portraits honor 8 Cornell school as ‘new heroes’

Eight Cornell school, together with Provost Kavita Bala, are featured as “New Heroes” in a portrait series by Christopher Michel, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s inaugural artist-in-residence. The six be a part of a gallery of Nobel laureates, educational leaders and “people that inspire across science, engineering and medicine,” Michel mentioned.

“Through this series I want to bring the public closer to the real heroes of our time, the scientists and innovators whose work touches every part of our lives,” wrote Michel on his website. “I try to photograph them as they are, surrounded by the tools of their trade, without stripping away the clutter that shows the reality of their work.”

In addition to the photographic portraits, Michel wrote a description of every individual and their analysis that delves deeply into how who they’re is expressed by means of their work. 

The Cornell school photographed have been chosen by Michel from a listing of potential topics from throughout the college. They are:

• Héctor Abruña, the Emile M. Chamot Professor, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, College of Arts and Sciences
• Kavita Bala, provost and professor of pc science, Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science
• Geoffrey Coates, Tisch University Professor, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology (A&S)
• Paul Ginsparg, professor of knowledge science and physics (Cornell Bowers, A&S)
• Roald Hoffmann, the Frank H. T. Rhodes Professor, Emeritus, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology (A&S)
• Lisa Kaltenegger, affiliate professor, director of the Carl Sagan Institute (A&S)
• Steven Strogatz, the Susan and Barton Winokur Distinguished Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and Mathematics, Department of Mathematics (A&S)
• Mariana Wolfner, Distinguished Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics (A&S, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences)

Michel served within the U.S. Navy as a naval flight officer, after which he earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. After a profession as an entrepreneur wherein he began a number of corporations, together with Military.com, Affinity Labs and Nautilus Ventures, he turned a full-time photographer. He is a member of the Explorers Club, the Royal Geographical Society and the Aspen Institute’s Henry Crown Fellowship.

Linda B. Glaser is information and media relations supervisor for the College of Arts and Sciences.