Research Associate

School of Integrative Plant Sciences, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Adjunct Professor of Law

Cornell Law School

Dr. Allison Morrill Chatrchyan is an RTE faculty member in the School of Integrative Plant Sciences at Cornell University, where she serves as the Stakeholder Engagement, Education & Outreach Director for the NSF and NIFA-funded AI-Climate Institute. She is also an Adjunct Professor of Law at Cornell Law School, where she teaches International Environmental Law and Environmental Law and Policy. Trained as an environmental social scientist, Dr. Chatrchyan facilitates interdisciplinary research and extension teams and develops resources, tools, and training programs on climate change science, impacts, adaptation, and mitigation. Her research is focused on assessing stakeholder views and actions on climate change, multi-level climate change governance, and climate change policies and legal institutions. 
   
With grant funding, she led the development of the Cornell Climate Stewards Program, the Cornell Climate Smart Farming program with the Northeast Regional Climate Center, and currently leads Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Programs with the USDA Northeast Climate Hub and Stakeholder Engagement and Training for the AI-Climate Institute, training farmers about how to respond to climate change and use AI-tools. Governor Kathy Hochul appointed her to co-chair the agriculture chapter of the New York State Climate Impacts Assessment, finalized in 2024. Dr. Chatrchyan has led the Cornell delegations to the annual Conferences of Parties to the Paris Agreement, since COP21 in Paris, and has served as a climate change negotiator for Armenia. She previously worked for the Cornell Extension system, the Bard Center for Environmental Policy, University of Maryland, United Nations Environment Programme in Paris, France, and the Environmental Policy Center in Washington, DC. A native of Hamilton, NY, Dr. Chatrchyan received her Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Maryland in College Park, and her B.A. from Colby College in Waterville, ME.

Candidate Statement:

I have been an RTE faculty member at Cornell since 2013 and worked for the Cornell Cooperative Extension system for seven years prior to coming to Ithaca – so I have devoted most of my career and intellectual capacity to Cornell. I would be honored to continue serving on the Cornell Faculty Senate – and have rarely missed a Faculty Senate meeting since I was first appointed in 2022. Although I am the only member of my immediate family that did not want to attend Cornell (both my parents, sister, and my two kids are Cornellians) - nevertheless, Cornell has always been part of my life. One of the most interesting aspects of my job is working with our truly interdisciplinary faculty on a variety of climate change-related research and Extension projects, where we strive to make sure that our research and tools meet the needs of stakeholders. I also value the intellectual interactions with my Law School colleagues, and with the students that I teach about Environmental Law and Policy, and International Environmental Law. I look forward to continuing to represent RTE faculty interests, challenges, and concerns in the Senate. Given the extremely challenging environment facing our university and nation, I will work hard to ensure that the voice of RTE faculty is heard, including the need for protection of academic freedom, fair employment practices that live up to our university standards, and job security.