Our Values

The K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology aims to be a welcoming environment for all who have an interest in natural sounds. We act to cultivate a learning, teaching, and research ecosystem that supports a variety of personal experiences, skills, and backgrounds, and thereby gives rise to more innovative and impactful work to address global challenges and benefit humanity and nature. Here are some of the steps we take to realize these values for our colleagues, our local neighbors, our global partners, and the planet we call home.

For our colleagues:

We are committed to maintaining a supportive, safe, transparent working environment, taking action at the Center, Lab and University levels. When hiring, we take steps to widely publicize open positions and perform structured quantitative evaluations. Our work culture prioritizes flexibility—accommodating different work hours, time zones, and personal or family obligations—while maintaining a hybrid team structure. To do so, we value open minds and open communication. Please see the Join Us page for further detail.

For our peers:

We are dedicated to providing affordable, high-quality, well-documented hardware and software tools to the global bioacoustics community. In particular, we develop, maintain and support users for Raven Pro 1.6 analysis software, SwiftOne terrestrial recorders, and the BirdNET toolbox. Additionally, we believe that research should be accessible: we strive to publish in open-access journals when possible, and organize the BioacousTalks seminar series to foster international discussion.

For our early-career researchers:

Our research is driven by researchers across undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral levels, and we are committed to supporting their careers through mentorship, education, and funding. For undergraduate research, please see opportunities through the Lab of Ornithology and CALS.  For graduate students, we are grateful to provide the Charlie Walcott Graduate Fellowship alongside other graduate funding opportunities through the Lab of Ornithology. Similarly, for postdocs, we are glad to offer the Chris W. Clark Postdoctoral Fellowship in Conservation Bioacoustics, and frequently sponsor researchers through the Edward W. Rose Fellowship. Finally, we also encourage students to consider the Yang Center’s fall semester course NTRES 3150: Introduction to Conservation Bioacoustics.

For our neighbors:

We strive to give back to our community by holding outreach events to local schools and educators. We also aim to support local non-profit organizations: such as by holding “Day of Service” group volunteering events, and sharing soup in the chilly winter months to fundraise for the Lansing Food Pantry.

For our partners:

We believe that wildlife conservation is a global challenge that necessitates global collaboration. To this end, we routinely host scientific visits for international scholars and students, work closely with local communities at our research sites, and lead training programs in bioacoustic analysis for practitioners around the world. The lab is also actively involved in being part of international exchange programs to provide more opportunities for current or future students or researchers. We additionally are glad to hold the Katherine B. Payne Fellows Program in Conservation Bioacoustics, a 6-month funded on-site program for practitioners aiming to learn bioacoustics. Please see Capacity Sharing for further detail.

For our planet:

We work to minimize our environmental impact, and seek sustainable options across our research operations. In particular, to reduce our carbon footprint, we choose vegetarian and local catering options for our events and offset all travel emissions through Finger Lakes Climate Fund – an organization that supports renewable energy projects in local low-income communities.