Singapore
Hubs Partner: National University of Singapore
Founded in 1905, the National University of Singapore is Singapore’s flagship public research university, enrolling more than 40,000 students across disciplines including engineering, computing, public policy, business, law, design, and the humanities. The Cornell–NUS partnership supports collaboration across research and student mobility, with engagement across multiple Cornell colleges and schools.
Fast Facts
68
Outgoing Cornell
exchange students
74
Incoming NUS
exchange students
17
Joint Research
Seed Grants
Trilateral Spring Break Program Expands Partnership
In spring 2025, NUS joined the Cornell–Universidad San Francisco de Quito spring break program, forming a trilateral collaboration across Singapore, Ecuador, and Ithaca focused on sustainability education policy.
Enjoy a student photo essay from the 2025 experience and this video from 2024.
Research Highlights
HEaTR for a Warming World
A climate collaboration with Global Hubs partners in Singapore, India, the UK, and Ghana, the Global Center for Household Energy and Thermal Resilience was launched with a Hubs joint seed grant and received a two-year $250K design grant from the National Science Foundation.
People experience climate change in their homes, the researchers argue, yet the design expertise of those living in climate-vulnerable communities has been overlooked. HEaTR aims to promote climate vulnerability solutions by analyzing and sharing the practical housing adaptation strategies of communities most affected by climate extremes.
Cornell-NUS Joint Research Seed Grant Awards
Through Global Hubs joint seed grants, Cornell and NUS have supported 17 collaborative research projects to date, with new teams launching in 2026.
Seed-funded collaborations have contributed to:
- Development of external grant proposals
- Formation of cross-disciplinary teams
- Long-term research planning with in-country partners
Current Projects:
“Sustaining Paradise: Gender, Sacred Ecology, and Regenerative Development in Bali” | Chiara Formichi (Cornell) and Faizah Zakaria (NUS)
“3D-Integrated Patch-Sparse Vision Transformers through In-Sensor Scene Activity Detection and Sensor–Accelerator Co-Design” | Jae-sun Seo (Cornell) and Massimo Alioto (NUS)
Student Experiences
NUS is a launch partner of the inaugural Cornell Summer Research Academy, sending undergraduate researchers to Ithaca. Also in summer 2025, four Cornell students conducted research at NUS through summer internships.
Global Intern Conducts Medical-Engineering Research in Singapore
Frank Fang '26 spent the summer at the Yamin Zhang lab at NUS lab developing a minimally invasive pacemaker and self-powered wound-healing patch. Along with technical work and weekly meetings, he volunteered in a migrant-worker clinic and built a supportive global network while considering an MD/PhD path.
Read more: Students Learn in Global Communities
“I learned how to pace myself better as a researcher … We had weekly meetings, and I learned how to present progress rather than results … I also discovered that I have a true love and passion for research.”
Six Cornell colleges have sent students to study at NUS: Agriculture and Life Sciences, Arts and Sciences, Cornell Engineering, Human Ecology, ILR School, and SC Johnson.
Global Fellows Intern at NUS
Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) and NUS have been partners for over a decade.
The CALS Global Fellows Program supports Cornell undergraduates pursuing professionally focused summer internships and research placements that enhance their career goals and academic progress while enriching their undergraduate experience with diverse cultural and international immersion.
Sara Hishinuma ’24, was a biological sciences major and CALS Global Fellow, who spent a summer at NUS working alongside faculty in the Neurodevelopment and Cancer Lab to study the effects of gene manipulation on tumors. She is currently the Clinical Research Coordinator at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
“My time in Singapore has influenced my future plans by expanding my world views and widening my career choices. My experience working in a lab and meeting people of varying backgrounds and career paths has allowed me to realize my love for both research and intercultural exchange.”
Faculty Forward
Faculty and leadership engagement between Cornell and NUS has included research networking meetings, proposal development workshops, and coordination around thematic initiatives in AI, health, agriculture, and urban sustainability.
Cornell Faculty Lead: Thomas Pepinsky
Walter F. LaFeber Professor, Department of Government, A&S
Tom Pepinsky studies the interaction of political and economic systems, mostly in emerging market economies. He serves as director of Cornell's International Political Economy Program and associate director of the Cornell Modern Indonesia Project, based in the Einaudi Center's Southeast Asia Program.
Pepinsky Visits Singapore
Pepinsky met with NUS university leadership and faculty, including Cornell alumnus Douglas Kammen '89, PhD '97. They discussed undergraduate student exchanges, including the potential for Cornell students to join short-term study abroad programs NUS offers throughout Southeast Asia. Read about summer 2023 Hubs visits.
Alumni Activity
"Alumni in Singapore are excited about the Global Hub in conjunction with NUS. It is a wonderful way to bring our alma mater to this side of the Pacific! Local alumni look forward to welcoming and supporting Cornell faculty and students who come to Singapore." — Mark Hansen '79, advisor to the Cornell Club of Singapore.
Cornell leaders traveled across China and Asia in early November to connect with alumni, deepen partnerships, celebrate academic milestones, and engage in discussions on a wide range of global challenges. The multistop trip included the sixth annual Cornell-China Forum in Shanghai.
Global Cornell welcomed almost 100 representatives from 18 international Global Hubs partner institutions to London for the second network meeting, co-hosted by King's College London. Participants came together to exchange ideas and pave the way for collaborations and engagement to build a better world.
Source
With the support of Cornell Global Hubs joint seed grants, researchers are building international connections and advancing their research.
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Global Cornell has awarded five International Cornell Curriculum (ICC) grants totaling $114,000 to support faculty developing courses that feature international experiences for students.