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WorkABILITY Incubator

K. Lisa Yang and Hock E. Tan

The incubator fosters collaboration and interdisciplinary research. We provide funding and practical support for initiatives that look to cross over – straying from expectations of department, discipline and institution. Our support includes seed funding for early initiatives to help researchers get started in their work to explore and identify problems to solve in their domains. We also sponsor and support events, conferences, and other network and training activities that help our members and affiliates with their research.

Our home is in the ILR School, and we host projects that collaborate with other parts of Cornell University and other organizations.

Current Initiatives

Restorative Record Project

Enabling better hiring decisions

In partnership with Stanford University Graduate School of Education, ILR's Criminal Justice and Employment Initiative is conducting the Restorative Record Project.

“This new concept emphasizes evidence-based restorative factors that are better predictors of employability as opposed to the current and often biased hiring process and its overreliance on a criminal record and traditional résumé. We view the project as a paradigm shift that also allows employers to make better hiring decisions.” said Timothy McNutt, a former prosecutor and director of ILR’s Criminal Justice and Employment Initiative.

composite image to illustrate records and hope
Find out more about CJEI
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Health Care Worker Collaboration

ILR and Weill Cornell Medicine

ILR Associate Dean of Outreach Ariel Avgar and Dr. Madeline Sterling are examining how working conditions affect low-wage frontline health care workers in New York and the care they deliver to patients.

Ariel Avgar meets with people from Weill Cornell

Incubator Stories

News, events and articles

Empowering Workers is McNutt’s Focus

The director of ILR’s Criminal Justice Employment Initiative teaches job applicants and hiring managers how to get beyond the criminal records that often keep them apart.
portrait of Timothy McNutt
Empowering Workers is McNutt’s Focus

Paid home care workers go well beyond standard duties

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Paid home care workers are helping patients manage chronic conditions and promoting general and mental health – going well beyond the personal care contributions for which they have been historically associated, according to new Cornell research.
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Paid home care workers go well beyond standard duties

Home Health Care Workforce Researched

Senior Associate Dean Ariel Avgar collaborates with Weill Cornell and Cornell Tech colleagues to study working conditions of home health aides, home attendants and nursing assistants.
A group of healthcare workers standing together
Home Health Care Workforce Researched

Seed Funding Opportunities

Seed Funding Opportunities

Get in touch

To find out more about seed-funding opportunities, contact us:

ILR Senior Associate Dean for Outreach and Sponsored Research

Cornell University, ILR School
ILR Research Building, 356A
Ithaca, NY 14853

Tel: (607) 255-4380
Email: rh363@cornell.edu

Photo: Ithaca Campus