Big Red Awards
Recognizing the Cornellians who make this community work.
Big Red Helpers
Cornellians who go out of their way to help other Cornellians. This is the heart of the community.
What we look for: Cornellians who help other Cornellians in ways that, compounded over time, would make Cornell #1.
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π»Tessa Lau β95Founder of a Series B construction robotics startup! She is helpful to Cornellian founders who are starting new startups, and she also hosted a Cornell NorCal event at her office, inspiring the next generation of Cornellian founders!
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π»Kathryn Zhao, MBA β06A leader in the finance and technology space, she teaches at Cornell and mentors Cornellians!! She shows students, that the most successful alumni are super-approachable and helpful!!
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π»Seamus Murphy β17Leader in the Cornell Military network, an amazing tight-knit network, with variety of events, from celebratory (CUVA anniversary) to memorial (Arlington National Cemetery), it makes Cornell the best place to study for veterans and those interested in joining the military!!
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π»Abigail Macaluso β21President of the Cornell Womenβs Advocacy Network, organizes amazing events supporting Cornell women, from sports (womenβs basketball) to professional (salary negotiation panel)! CWAN has the most effective governance structure too, a good balance of structure and getting things done!
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π»Ethan Dayani β28Student leader, builds community for Cornell Hillel, welcomes everyone to Friday Shabbat dinners, he tries to get to know everyone who comes, remembers them, and welcomes them again when he sees them again!
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π»Christine Cheung β00Visits Cornell every month, and attends student events like A3C and startup hours, and connects students with alumni!! She also finds intergenerational leaders for the Cornell alumni groups!
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π»Dave Gaffin β99Runs the crossword group every Saturday 3pm ET, where Cornellians get together to solve the Saturday crossword together!! Heβs super-responsible, doing the crossword, even when heβs moving cross-country!
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π»Laurie Berke-Weiss β71The best employment lawyer in NYC, she helps Cornellians figure out career paths in law, as well as Cornellian lawyers starting their own small law firms! She also has a wonderful bench in the ILR courtyard!!
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π»Kristin Hook, PhD β16A scientist running for Congress, has a lot of experience running a campaign, and guides other Cornellians who are looking to run for Congress!!
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π»Lisa Wickham, PhD β99Teaches Classical Mechanics at Cornell Applied and Engineering Physics, she really cares about her students, and helps them connect with job opportunities, and keeps up with them over the years!!
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π»David Moriah β72 (in memoriam)Founding director of Cornell Outdoor Education, taught leadership skills to generations of Cornellians, thereβs so much to learn in the outdoors.
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π»Randall Nixon β78 (in memoriam)Such a proud Cornellian, he always wore something Cornell-related when he leaves the house, and everyone around him feels prouder to be a Cornellian as well.
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π»Derek Ting β98Produced an action film with Chuck Norris, and held an in-person movie showing for Cornellians, as well as a virtual zoom, where any Cornellian interested in film can come and ask questions.
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π»AimΓ©e DeGolyer β98Has a startup that helps oncology researchers with drug safety, and she generously shares her oncology connections with Cornellian cancer patients looking for intros to hospitals, as well as access to resources.
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π»Colleen Taggart β12Organizes so many events in Philadelphia, itβs impressive how she sets up infrastructure in Chicago (amazing Harvest Ball!!), and she does it again after moving to Philadelphia (so many amazing events for CALC!!!).
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π»Pat Reilly β78Helped a Cornellian with her job search, she helped connect her with Cornellians in her industry, and shared her experience as a female technical leader over the decades.
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π»Abhi CVK, MBA β23Helped many Cornellians with their Y Combinator applications, Abhiroop was always ready to help, even when the applications needed review at the last minute.
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π»Heather-Ashley BoyerOrganized so many events in Hollywood, as the young alumni leader, whenever a Cornellian comes to LA looking to get into entertainment, Heather-Ashley connects them to the relevant pathways.
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π»Gary Schueller β03Colorado club president, built an amazing system with events every week, helping so many Cornellians, i.e. a food science Cornellian was looking for work, and attended a potato chip factory tour!
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π»Jan Carbonell, MS β24Organized so many events for the Cornell Tech community, I learned so much at the hackathons, as well as weekly talks with alumni (talking to alumni is the best way to find a job!!).
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π»Nicole Mormilo β12Organizes so many events for the ILR alumni association, in a difficult year for job searches, she organized linkedin headshots and panels on job search!
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π»Daniel Sheinfeld β14Helped several Cornellians with job searches, helped a Cornellian land a summer internship, and when Cornellians visit NYC, he brings them to the Met art museum, where he has a membership.
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π»Nicole Innis β97Alumni leader in Westchester, and when a Cornellian was thinking of moving to Westchester from NYC, Nicole gave her a tour and told her about the neighborhoods of Westchester.
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π»Keith Collier, MBA β08 (in memoriam)Provided helpful discussion questions, for a zoom gathering of Cornellians in equity research, he was always eager to connect.
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π»Hanif Jivraj β94 (in memoriam)President of the Cornell Hotel Society in NYC. He organized many events for the 100th year anniversary, created a most-welcoming environment.
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π»Jan Carbonell, MS β24Student leader at Cornell Tech, connects his classmates to the broader tech community (huge hackathons), as well as inspiring them to pursue entrepreneurship (weekly startup chats with founders).
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π»Colleen Taggart β13Organized Cornell events in Chicago, moved to Philadelphia, and now organizes events in Philadelphia. Thereβs art gallery events, hockey watch parties, and she connects everyone through social media.
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π»Laura Bloch β88President of Cornell NorCal, and when a Cornellian visiting San Francisco needed help, she helped the Cornellian find lawyers and investigators.
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π»Saurabh Saha, MBA β23Helped his classmates at Cornell Tech find jobs, he organized alumni to come speak at Cornell Tech, this was especially important during the downturn early 2023, when the tech companies stopped hiring.
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π»Daniel Sheinfeld β15Helped a Cornellian find a summer internship, and chats with every Cornellian interested in law, providing law school advice and career advice.
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π»Maria Fernandez, JD β92Organizes events connecting Cornellian latino lawyers, Cornellian women lawyers, and Cornellian women! She provides advice to all Cornellians, takes time to chat with many Cornellians just starting their careers.
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π»The CTBN Team (Thomas Dewey β84, Maryanne Morrow β88, Hooman Bolandi, MEng β13, and team)Organizes professional networking zoom calls every month, they really ramped it up this year, with hundreds of Cornellians and creative programming (like book recommendations).
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π»Cornell Thank U Podcast hosts Michelle Katz β90 and Stephanie Gitlin β90Make a weekly podcast, about Cornellians and how Cornell has helped them, they have the most interesting guests (Cornellians!!).
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π»Katherine Flaxman β71Organized the Class of 1971βs 50+1 reunion, after their 50th reunion was canceled in 2021 due to pandemic. She invited the Class of 1970 as well (whose 50th reunion was canceled too), and she organized a fabulous reunion with professor speaking on climate change and dedication of a medicinal garden.
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π»Tamara Jackson, MBA β21Works in patient rehab, and she helps Cornellian healthcare startups understand rehab centers. For one startup, she beta-tested the Cornellianβs software, provided a bunch of feedback, and wrote a blog post to share with her network.
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π»Kai Wang, JSD β24Grew up in Japan and researches anti-money laundering at the Cornell Law School. When a Cornellian law student from Japan visited Ithaca for the first time, Kai took him around campus, and showed him law papers written by Japanese Cornellians from the 1890s.
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π»Matt Freed, MEng β20Building a startup that helps factories manage their processes. He went through the Techstars startup accelerator, and he connects Cornellian startups with the Techstars director, and he helps review Cornelliansβ applications for the accelerator.
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π»Chase Wickenheiser β19Played football at Cornell (defensive tackle), and for homecoming this year, he rented a house in Ithaca, for the football alumni to stay together. He organizes quarterly football alumni events, and goes back to campus to teach personal finance to students.
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π»Jill Marshall Gould β13Owns Butter Meat Co, a small cafe in Perry, NY, specializing in butter meat (the meat from dairy cows). She carries over 10 food brands founded by Cornellians (Jill studied food science at Cornell, which has a lot of entrepreneurship!).
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π»Joshua Park, MPS β23, and James Coll, MPS β23Helping their MPS classmates find jobs, over 50% of them are still looking. The Masters of Professional Studies (MPS) is a new degree, so Joshua and James are reaching out to alumni of all degrees, to build career services funnel.
Big Red Rising
Young alumni and current students whose work is growing fast.
What we look for: Cornellians whose success would make a non-Cornellian think Cornell is #1.
No recipients yet. Nominate the first one below.