Cornell Atkinson awards drive progress in tech, ag, sustainability

Over the last 20 years as the climate has warmed, extreme wildfires have doubled in frequency, carrying air pollution and smog across continents. Now, Cornell researchers are investigating whether wildfire smoke may also be carrying chronic wasting disease - the neurological illness, caused by misfolded proteins called prions, that afflicts members of the deer family.

"We know that live, pathogenic material, such as bacteria and fungi, can be found in smoke samples, and we know that prions are significantly more durable than bacteria or fungi are. So this led us to wonder if it's possible for prions to also become airborne and spread via wildfires," said Alyssa Wetterau Kaganer '13, Ph.D. '21, research associate at the Cornell Wildlife Health Lab in the College of Veterinary Medicine. "Chronic wasting disease transmits largely through direct contact between an infected animal and a susceptible animal, but there are also new infections that pop up across the landscape in places where we don't have a clear source for infected animals or animal products."

Kaganer is leading a team that will explore that question, with support from a 2026 Academic Venture Fund grant from the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability. Five other research teams selected this year will explore strategies to support agroforestry in Uganda, improve charging of electric vehicles and eliminate emissions of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in semiconductor manufacturing, among others.

To understand whether chronic wasting disease (CWD) could become airborne via fire, Kaganer will utilize controlled furnaces maintained by the Cornell Center for Materials Research (CCMR), add samples known to be infected with chronic wasting disease and heat them to a variety of temperatures. While prions must reach temperatures of 1,000 degrees Celsius or higher to be destroyed, wildfires can smolder as low as 300 degrees Celsius. The furnaces are tightly controlled and prevent any venting of materials into the environment, Kaganer said. CCMR is supported by the National Science Foundation.

The team includes seven Cornell researchers with expertise in wildlife disease, spatial ecology, public health impacts of wildfire smoke and risk communication; the lead CWD researcher for the USDA's National Wildlife Research Center; and a founder of the field of pyroaerobiology.

"The potential ramifications of our hypothesis being correct could be quite significant, so we wanted to make sure we had a good team in place so we can do our best by the wildlife and natural resources of the U.S. and abroad," Kaganer said.

The other 2026 Academic Venture Fund awardees are:

Climate-Smart Shea: Carbon Insetting, Biochar Innovation and Climate Finance for Uganda's Nilotica Belt

This project will examine the climate and economic potential of agroforestry in northern Uganda, centered around native African shea trees. Working in Okere City with the Okere Shea Cooperative Society, researchers will quantify carbon sequestration across shea parklands, explore how biochar produced from shea-processing waste could improve soil health while sequestering carbon, and evaluate climate finance mechanisms that could connect regenerative agricultural practices with sustainable shea production.

Investigators: Ed Mabaya, research professor of global development and Chuan Liao, assistant professor of global development in the Cornell CALS Ashley School; Johannes Lehmann, Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor of soil and crop sciences in the School of Integrative Plant Science (SIPS), all in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; and Fridah Mubichi-Kut, professor of practice, and Ralph Christy, professor, both in the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business.

Deployment-Ready Pavement-Embedded Dynamic Wireless Charging for Electrified Vehicles

This project aims to advance a new form of wireless charging for electric vehicles that can be embedded directly into roadways. Unlike conventional inductive charging systems, which rely on bulky magnetic components, the team has developed a smaller, lower-cost, electric-field-based wireless charging system. In collaboration with Cornell Facilities, the system will be deployed and evaluated on campus.

Investigators: Khurram Khan Afridi, professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Sriramya Nair, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, both in the Cornell Duffield College of Engineering.

Optimizing Semiconductor Manufacturing Processes to Eliminate Emissions of PFASs and High Global Warming Potential Gases

Semiconductor manufacturing relies on plasma-etching processes that use fluorinated gases with high global warming potential and may unintentionally generate PFAS. Researchers will investigate how PFAS form during etching, identify process conditions that drive their creation and test alternatives to conventional etch gases that have a lower impact on global warming without compromising nanoscale device fabrication.

Investigators: Damian E. Helbling, professor of civil and environmental engineering, and Judy Cha, the Rick and Betty Tsai Ph.D. 1981 Professor in Materials Science and Engineering, both in Cornell Duffield Engineering.

Engineering Resilience: Synthetic Symbiosis Approaches to Protect Coral Reefs From Thermal Bleaching

Coral reefs worldwide are experiencing unprecedented bleaching and mortality due to warming oceans, threatening marine biodiversity and ecosystem stability. In partnership with Mote Marine Laboratory in Florida, researchers will modify or experimentally evolve bacterial and algal symbionts associated with corals to increase production of antioxidant compounds and enzymes that protect against heat-induced oxidative damage, a key driver of bleaching.

Investigators: Gaurav Moghe, associate professor of plant biology in SIPS, Adam Bogdanove, professor of plant pathology and plant-microbe biology in SIPS, and Beth Ahner, professor of biological and environmental engineering, all in CALS.

Designing Climate-Resilient Greenhouse Agriculture Through Autonomous Biosecurity Infrastructure

Greenhouse production systems face growing threats from emerging plant diseases such as tomato brown rugose fruit virus. Current disease surveillance methods remain labor-intensive and reactive, limiting the resilience of high-value specialty crop production. This project will develop an automated biosecurity infrastructure that integrates robotic leaf sampling, rapid molecular diagnostics and economic adoption modeling to improve early pathogen detection in greenhouse systems.

Investigators: Lirong Xiang, assistant professor of biological and environmental engineering, Dominique Holtappels, the Susan Eckert Lynch Assistant Professor of plant pathology and plant-microbe biology in SIPS, Neil Mattson, professor of horticulture in SIPS, and Allan Pinto, postdoctoral research economist with Cornell Integrated Pest Management, all in CALS.

Descriptions of all AVF-funded projects are available on the Cornell Atkinson website.

Krisy Gashler is a writer for Cornell Atkinson.