Cornell Brooks School Tech Policy Institute
Martha Van Rensselaer Hall
Ithaca, NY 14850
About the institute
About
To fully realise the potential of artificial intelligence and Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, it is necessary to create robust policies that drive innovation and ensure secure societies.
Who we are, what we do
Based within the Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy, the Cornell Brooks Tech Policy Institute is the home of technology policy and national security research at Cornell University.
Our multidisciplinary research team works at the highest levels of decision-making, from the White House to the Pentagon, the United Nations to NATO, using academic expertise to advise on critical issues of national and international importance.
Mission
Unlocking potential while mitigating threats
Our mission is to build robust policies that help unlock the potential of AI and Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, while mitigating emerging threats to security. By partnering with industry, government, and international policy leaders, we leverage our research to solve complex national security and technology policy challenges.
Vision
A growing network of research hubs
Generously funded by a $3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense, the institute established the U.S. Semiconductor Research Hub. It was the first of the institute's research hubs, joined by Drones and Robotics, AI Governance and Defense, Cryptocurrencies, Geopolitics and Technology, and Space Security.
Grants
Grants and gifts
Competitive research funding reached $4.5 million in 2024-25, an increase of 246 per cent on the previous year, across nine grants. The awards and gifts below support the institute's research hubs and the fellows who run them.
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U.S. Congress and the Department of Defense
$3,000,000
2025–
Semiconductor supply chain security, over three years.
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Reynolds Foundation and Human Rights Foundation
$1,000,000
2024–
A collective project studying financial freedom in countries with authoritarian governments.
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Fedi
$150,000
2025–
A gift supporting ongoing research into American attitudes regarding privacy.
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Craig Newmark Philanthropies
$140,000
2024–
A gift supporting the Cyber Test Range and related cybersecurity research.
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Jain Family Institute
$100,000
2023–24
Advancing research and policy recommendations on digital ethics, including a post-doctoral researcher.
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General Atomics Aeronautical Systems
$70,000
2023
Studying public opinion on the global trade of drones.
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NATO Science for Peace and Security Programme
$65,000
2024–25
Analysing the development and use of military drone technologies across air, land, and sea.
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National Science Foundation
$50,000
2024–
Creating a microbe-mineral atlas, over three years.
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Microsoft AI
$20,000
2024–25
A gift towards collaborative research on a high-level framework for AI regulation and policy.
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Varða
$20,000
2024–25
A gift supporting ongoing counter-drone research.
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Cornell Center for Social Sciences
$12,000
2023–24
Awarded to Faculty Fellow Ricky Clark, studying how publics and elites in recipient countries view aid conditionality.
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International Academy of Astronautics
$6,000
2023
Studying public opinion on planetary defence.
Join us
Opportunities
The institute recruits Junior Fellows from across Cornell's undergraduate community, and applications are open.
Junior Fellowships
Junior Fellows are recruited from Cornell's highly motivated, academically strong, and talented community of undergraduate scholars. They have shown great initiative, achieved excellence in their academic studies, and apply their skills through research and administrative support within the institute.
Junior Fellows contribute to the institute's research across its six hubs. Recent fellows have spent the summer with the FBI's Cyber Division in New York, joined INTERPOL's Academic Cyber Offender Prevention Network and presented at its headquarters in Lyon, held Laidlaw Scholarships funding international research, and published policy op-eds under their own names on this site.
Fellows are drawn from every school at Cornell, and no single background is expected. What the work rewards is curiosity about how technology and security shape one another, and the persistence to follow a question further than a course would take you.
Fellowships and Senior Fellowships are not advertised through an open call. For enquiries about those, or about visiting appointments, use the contact details below.
Make a Gift
Your support advances research at the intersection of technology and national security.