Research in Progress
Living in Ithaca Ithaca. One of my favorite summer events is picking fruit—strawberries, cherries, raspberries. I love fresh fruit, and I also use it to make ice cream. I missed this experience the two summers I was in Pittsburgh. Ithaca is also a wonderful place for taking walks, playing in the parks, and yes—shorter and easier commutes. We were shopping one day, and my wife said, “We did all of this today! In Pittsburgh it would have taken us three days to go to all of those stores.” What a View! My office has a beautiful view to the west, looking out over downtown Ithaca and West Hill. I like to look out while I think, particularly when the whole hillside is red and orange. In the summer when the thunderstorms come, it is fun to watch the thunderheads come in and slowly build, then the rain blows sideways into my window. In the spring, colorful flowers flourish. We were driving through campus one spring day, and my daughter, who is age three, was so excited by all the flowers. It’s True. Ithaca is just a bit isolated. We do not have government agencies or other major research universities within an hour’s driving distance to appeal to some academics and their spouses. When recruiting, we can have a very high caliber candidate who is excited about Cornell and wants to be here, but ultimately cannot come because the spouse has limited opportunities in town.
Ithaca Is Very Easy. Ithaca’s beauty and dayto-day life is easy. We love all the festivals that take place on the downtown Commons and the many mid-range restaurants to enjoy. It’s a fun community.
Robert Barker/CU
My Favorite Walk on Campus—One for Visitors I often take seminar speakers and other visitors on this walk. I come out of Uris Hall and walk across the Arts Quad, which is an impressive place. I walk by the Johnson Art Museum and, if there is enough time, stop and go up to the museum’s fifth floor and loop around to see the full view of Ithaca in all four directions, which is breathtaking. Walking out of the Johnson Museum, I go down the steps opposite it to the suspension bridge. I cross the gorge on the suspension bridge. If time is short, I come back across the car bridge to Uris. If there is enough time, I continue to the other pedestrian bridge just below the dam, up behind Martha van Rensselaer Hall, and back through campus by Mallott Hall to Uris. It is very impressive, especially upon seeing the gorge.
Skiing in Ithaca. I’m a bit of a skiing elitist. I grew up skiing in Colorado and Utah and Lake Tahoe (I was a ski instructor at Squaw Valley in Lake Tahoe). Skiing is just not as enjoyable on the East Coast. Our local ski area, Greek Peak, is far from the excitement I am accustomed to. But I expect that I will take my daughter there in a couple of years, and it will be more fun. Golf and Ice Hockey. My hobbies are golf and ice hockey. Ice hockey is excellent here. For years I have played in the local adult ice hockey leagues. It gives me a chance to interact with non-Cornell people. Golf is also very good here, but since it takes a lot of time, I have not golfed as much as I might like, especially since my daughter arrived. The Last Word A Cap on a Cornell Theme I am excited about the social sciences at Cornell. The breadth of interdisciplinary work is outstanding, and the level of interactions across disciplines is extremely high. In addition, the diversity created by having social scientists spread around campus with their own unique focus enriches everyone. Even within the behavioral community, I interact with people in at least five colleges. To have these different groups around campus who bring their own unique nature is unique to Cornell.
About O’Donoghue Years as Cornell faculty
11 Came to Cornell from
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh Favorite spot on campus
For more information: E-mail: edo1@cornell.edu Website: www.arts.cornell.edu/econ/edo1
A walk around campus Cornell’s research distinction
The unique experience, output, and environment formed by interdisciplinary interactions across Cornell’s schools and colleges Cornell’s trademark
Beautiful campus and extraordinary undergraduate students I am also
An expert skier
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