Eight Cornell faculty, including 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 join a gallery of Nobel laureates, academic leaders and “people that inspire across science, engineering and medicine,” Michel said.
“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 each person and their research that delves deeply into how who they are is expressed through their work.
The Cornell faculty photographed were chosen by Michel from a list of possible subjects from across the university. 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 computer 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 information 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, associate 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 in the U.S. Navy as a naval flight officer, after which he earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. After a career as an entrepreneur in which he started several companies, including Military.com, Affinity Labs and Nautilus Ventures, he became a full-time photographer. He is a member of the Explorers Club, the Royal Geographical Society and the Aspen Institute’s Henry Crown Fellowship.
