Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research

Learn a bit more about New York State 4-H on the latest edition of All Things Local from 607 News Now, featuring NYS 4-H Director Alexa Maille.
https://607newsnow.com/podcasts/all-things-local-8-4-26/

Cornell Cooperative Extension
College of Human Ecology at Cornell

ALL THINGS LOCAL 8-4-26 - 607 News Now Kate Supron is joined this week by Alexa Maille from NYS 4H.

Residential Care Should Be A Thoughtful First Choice For Some Kids, with Martha Holden “Residential care is the last resort” sounds like a policy line, but it lands as a verdict on children and on the people who care for them. In this podcast conversation, Co-Director of the Resident…

What happens when more than 200 New York 4-H youth spend three days at Cornell exploring careers through hands-on experiences? They discover just how many possibilities lie ahead.

During the annual 4-H Career Explorations Conference this month, middle and high school students explored fields ranging from artificial intelligence, climate-smart agriculture and water science to nutrition, plant biology and engineering. Along the way, they learned directly from Cornell faculty, researchers and students while experiencing life on a college campus.

In one session, students discovered how AI is transforming agriculture and forestry. As 11th grader Gabriella Coelho shared, "I learned that AI has uses beyond homework help or writing essays. It's also used in agriculture to track patterns and improve farming."

Other participants studied New York's freshwater ecosystems, investigated how scientists protect water resources, explored cutting-edge plant technologies, and even learned how researchers are helping plants "communicate" using sensors and robotics.

In Cornell's Discovery Kitchen, 4-H'ers got a taste of careers in nutrition and dietetics by preparing healthy granola bars while learning about food safety, recipe development and adapting meals for different dietary needs. The team made a substitution on the fly to accommodate one student’s allergy. As Erin Green, lecturer in the Division of Nutritional Sciences, explained: "That's part of being an R.D. — having to make recipe adjustments and knowing what substitutes are appropriate."

The conference concluded with an inspiring reminder from New York State Agriculture Commissioner Richard Ball about the opportunities ahead: "You are the next generation of people that are going to research and figure out how to do these things better."

By planting the seeds of curiosity today, Cornell and New York State 4-H are helping cultivate tomorrow's scientists, innovators, health professionals and leaders.

Read the full story at https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2026/07/cornell-4-hers-plant-seeds-future-careers

Photo Credit: RJ Anderson, Galib Braschler, Alex Bayer, Juan Vazquez-Leddon

Why Do Our Moral Views Keep Changing? Are our moral views easily overridden by our own interests? Not necessarily. Decades of research offer an evidence-based theory of why moral views shift.

We love seeing what students do when you give them a chance to take part in hands-on science work.

At the Cornell Hydroponics Learning Labs in Manhattan, managed by Cornell University Cooperative Extension New York City, up to two dozen high school students each year grow lettuce, cilantro, bok choy and watercress with no soil or natural light, while learning STEM, nutrition, sustainability, and business skills.

One student took it further. Seeing that many classmates faced food insecurity, she designed her own project to grow produce for them, surveying students in English and Spanish and running eight distributions through her school this year.

It's a great example of what happens when Cornell's expertise meets young people where they are.

College of Human Ecology at Cornell
Cornell Cooperative Extension

Learning labs cultivate knowledge – and produce – for students | Cornell Chronicle The labs produce lettuce, cilantro, bok choy and watercress – and cultivate knowledge among high school students growing the food.

On the final day of our Translational Research Summer Institute, our panel discussion shared an integral part of research work: funding.

We're tremendously thankful to our panel who discussed funding options and the university and college resources researchers should leverage. Thank you Adam Gamoran from the William T. Grant Foundation, Jody Rosentsweig from the Bezos Family Foundation and Jaron Porciello from Cornell University. Some key takeaways:

-Each foundation is different. Do your homework on what they support.
-Leverage your university development office. They may be able to help match your research to funding opportunities. In fact, there may be an office just for this!
-Build your partnerships before you apply for a grant.

We wrapped up with a group discussion around what could be next steps for all, taking into consideration everything that was learned over the past few days. We were thrilled to hear how attendees will be taking the lessons they learned and applying them to projects that have been percolating.

That's a wrap on our Translational Research Summer Institute. Thank you to everyone who came together this week to learn, share, and build the partnerships that make this work possible.

The first full day of our Translational Research Summer Institute gave everyone a lot to think about.

This morning's Translational Research panel brought together researchers doing community-engaged work across nutrition, child welfare, and public policy. Thank you to Angela Odoms-Young, Neil Lewis, Jr., and Martha Holden for being on the panel.

A few things they kept coming back to:
⭐ Show up in person — partnerships grow from presence, not just outreach.
⭐ Stay open to the project changing, because it almost always does.
⭐ Don't wait until the study is finished to share what you know, as decision-makers can't afford to wait.

Then, Adam Gamoran, president of the William T. Grant Foundation, made one thing clear: when communities help shape the research questions, the findings are far more likely to actually get used. In a moment when public confidence in universities is eroding, he stressed that community-engaged research isn't just good science — it's how universities demonstrate their value.

He used an example from Boston, when Mayor Michelle Wu was asked why youth crime dropped: "We have the numbers and we know what works."

That's what it looks like when research and community partnership lead to real change.

We're looking forward to Day 2 on Tuesday.

Our Translational Research Summer Institute is officially underway.

Our opening session tonight at Buffalo Street Books brought together three practitioners who live at the intersection of research, practice, and policy every day: Chris Kai-Jones of Cornell Cooperative Extension Tompkins County, Dan Lamb of Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy, and Lara Parrilla from the Cornell Center for Health Equity and the Cayuga Health Center for Health Equity Transformation. Moderated by Elizabeth Day, the conversation surfaced some lessons for researchers just starting to work with communities.

Among the takeaways:
- Set aside your own agenda and find out what your partners actually need
- Go to the community meetings, even the boring ones
- Write for your audience, not your field
- Reach out to community partners early — weeks before you need them, not hours.

We're off to a great start!

Young people feel a greater sense of purpose than many adults give them credit for. Our PRYDE team is using that insight to help youth educators act on it.

The "Purpose Grows Here" workshop gives educators from 4-H programs, Cornell Cooperative Extension, K-12 schools, and community organizations the tools to foster purpose in the young people they work with. At the heart of it is PRYDE's ARC model: agency, role clarity, and challenge.

"We reject the notion that this is only available to high-achieving young people from privileged backgrounds," said Casey Adrian, PRYDE's assistant director. "All youth can feel that their daily actions are guided by something larger than themselves."
If you're interested in hosting a "Purpose Grows Here" workshop, reach out to PRYDE.

Workshop turns research on youth purpose into action for educators | Cornell Chronicle The Program for Research on Youth Development and Engagement at the Bronfenbrenner Center is helping youth educators understand how to foster a sense of purpose in the young people they serve.

Beyond Crisis Mode: Positive Youth Development Aids Teens Rather than treating problems as they emerge, positive youth development (PYD) focuses on nurturing strengths and creating environments where young people can thrive.