Skip to main content
  • Arts & Humanities
  • Science & Technology
  • Health & Medicine
  • Alumni
  • On Campus
  • Books
Issues
  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Arts & Humanities
  • Science & Technology
  • Health & Medicine
  • Alumni
  • On Campus
  • Books
The Obama family with Georgia congressman John Lewis in a walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, on March 7, 2015.

Fall 2019

Fall 2019 cover of Columbia Magazine, featuring an illustration of Barack Obama by Richie Pope
Download this issue

Let’s Talk about Obama

A new oral history project at Columbia sets out to capture the legacy of Barack Obama ’83CC ⁠— and the spirit of the country he led.

Features

Science & Technology

The Machine that Can Read Your Mind

At Columbia's Magnetic Resonance Research Center, scientists are unveiling the neural basis of human thoughts, memories, and emotions

Science & Technology

What Everyone Needs to Know About the Threat of Mass Extinction

A million plant and animal species are at risk of disappearing, many within decades

Arts & Humanities

High Art, High Ideals: Rachel Chavkin Takes on Broadway

The Tony Award-winning director of Hadestown may be theater’s most forward-thinking artist

College Walk

Alumni

The Columbia Startup Lab Throws a Birthday Party

Entrepreneurs help celebrate five years of innovation

On Campus

Kicking off Columbia’s Year of Water

An interactive installation lets you “experience” rising sea levels

On Campus

The Short List: Fall 2019

An opera by Hannah Lash comes to Miller Theatre, and other events

Arts & Humanities

A 500-year-old Artisanal Manuscript Yields Its Secrets

“Try burnt oysters,” and other words of wisdom

Arts & Humanities

A Playing-Card Collector Shows His Hand

An exhibition at Columbia presents highlights from the 6,400 decks of Albert Field ’38CC

On Campus

The Core Curriculum Turns One Hundred

Columbia president Lee C. Bollinger on a century of well-rounded intellect

Arts & Humanities

How Scholars Rescued the Author of Moby-Dick from the Waters of Oblivion

Honoring Melville at 200

Health & Medicine

Touring Brooklyn’s Urban Farms

Students get a fresh look at the issues of food justice and sustainability

Explorations

Science & Technology

Dangerous Radiation Lingers for Decades

Certain areas of the Marshall Islands should remain off-limits, scientists say

Science & Technology

The Mysterious Case of the Alien Rock

Why does an island in the Indian Ocean contain a mountain of crystalline rock that could never have formed there naturally?

Health & Medicine

Making Precision Medicine Work for Every Body

A new study aims to identify ways of diversifying genetic databases

Science & Technology

Do Cell Phones Reduce Violent Crime?

A new study suggests that they may have helped slash US murder rates in the 1990s

Health & Medicine

Now Scientists Can Alert Immune System to Cancer Cells in Hiding

The technique could lay the groundwork for a new type of immunotherapy

Science & Technology

Study Hall: Fall 2019

Seven new research briefs from Columbia

Science & Technology

Cash is Critical in Fight Against Poverty

Fund people over programs, study suggests.

Science & Technology

Columbia Scientists Discover Largest Fresh-Water Aquifer Ever Found

(It’s bigger than Lake Erie and Lake Ontario combined)

Science & Technology

How ISIS Really Recruits its Members

A study looks at what makes the group’s online propaganda successful

Science & Technology

Astrophysicists Strike Gold

0.3 percent of Earth's rare elements come from a single stellar explosion 4.6 billion years ago

Network

Arts & Humanities

9 Vintage Movie Posters Worth a Second Look

Film buff Dwight Cleveland ’82CC gives a tour of his rare collection

Alumni

A Scholar’s Guide to the Camino Way

Olivia Pittet ’79GSAS on the joys of navigating the medieval pilgrimage route

Alumni

A Data Scientist Competes in one of the World’s Toughest Endurance Tests

Meet Eco-Challenge contestant Joshua Forester ’04CC

Alumni

Josh Simpson, Terrence McNally, and Other Alumni in the News

Columbians making headlines. 

Arts & Humanities

Capturing the Life of Toni Morrison

A new film by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders '74CC honors the legacy of the celebrated writer

Alumni

He Loves Italian Soccer So Much He Bought a Team

Rocco B. Commisso ’71SEAS, ’75BUS is the new owner of the Florence-based team ACF Fiorentina

Books

Books

Review: "The Widow Washington"

By Martha Saxton ’89GSAS

Books

Review: "Range"

By David Epstein ’02CC, ’04GSAS, ’04JRN

Books

Review: "The Sweetest Fruits"

By Monique Truong ’95LAW

Books

Fall 2019 Reading List

New and noteworthy releases from alumni and faculty

Books

The Long and Strange History of Celebrity

English and comparative-literature professor Sharon Marcus shines a light on self-promotion and stardom through the ages

Bulletin

On Campus

Big Grant for Big Data

The National Science Foundation has awarded $4 million to the Columbia-led Northeast Big Data Innovation Hub

On Campus

Costis Maglaras Takes the Reins at Business School

The new dean is an authority on operations research, data analytics, and quantitative finance

On Campus

Knight Institute Wins Lawsuit Challenging President’s Twitter Tactics

Blocking critics on the social-media platform violates the First Amendment, court rules

On Campus

Aces Down the Line

Columbia tennis head coach Bid Goswami retired this summer as the winningest coach in program history

On Campus

Taiwanese President Speaks on Campus

Tsai Ing-wen visited Columbia this summer, meeting with students and faculty and participating in a wide-ranging conversation about global politics

On Campus

Top Faculty Honored

Eight faculty members in the Arts and Sciences began this semester as new recipients of Distinguished Columbia Faculty Awards

On Campus

Law-School Donors Endow Fifty New Scholarships

Each of the $100,000 gifts will go to student aid

On Campus

Biotech Incubator Receives $1M Boost from Engineering Alum

The gift will provide financial backing and support services to promising ventures in the organization's pipeline

On Campus

Melissa Begg Named Dean of School of Social Work

The population-health scientist and academic administrator started her new role on September 1

Rare Finds

On Campus

Mad Magazine Folded, But Its History Lives on at Columbia

Looking back at Harvey Kurtzman’s design for the 1952 cover of the first issue

Stay Connected.

Sign up for our newsletter.

General Data Protection Regulation

Columbia University Privacy Notice

  • Latest Issue
  • Past Issues
  • Arts & Humanities
  • Science & Technology
  • Health & Medicine
  • Alumni Newsmakers
  • On Campus
  • Books
  • About the Magazine
  • Staff
  • Advertising
  • Awards
  • Contact Us
  • columbia.edu
  • Alumni Association
  • Update Your Information
  • Give to Columbia Magazine

©2023 Columbia University