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 Projects
The Criminal Justice and Employment Initiative (CJEI) provides criminal records and employment law training to job seekers who have been involved in the criminal legal system, assists employers in rethinking their approach to hiring, engages in research to study reentry practices, and influences policy makers and legislators on criminal justice reform.
In partnership with Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell Tech, we aim to elevate the value of home care workers while improving their working conditions and patient outcomes.
AI and the New Informality examines the AI-driven “informalization” of typical job protections found in professional employment, such as contracts, collective representation and regulatory visibility. It is also developing concrete tools for how labor organizations and government institutions can respond if these protections begin to erode.
