Rate My Professor Chris Schaffer

Chris B. Schaffer is the Meinig Family Professor of Engineering in the Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering at Cornell University. He received his B.S. in physics from the University of Florida in 1995 and his Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University in 2001, where he worked with Eric Mazur. He completed postdoctoral training in physics and neuroscience at the University of California, San Diego, from 2001 to 2005, working with David Kleinfeld.

Schaffer’s research focuses on the development and application of advanced optical techniques for quantitative imaging and targeted manipulation of individual cells in the central nervous system of rodents. His laboratory investigates cellular-scale interactions underlying neurological diseases, with particular emphasis on the role of disruptions in brain blood flow in the development of Alzheimer’s disease. The lab studies animal models of conditions including microvascular stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, spinal cord injury, and epilepsy. Schaffer has also contributed to novel educational strategies for teaching science as a process of discovery, applied in outreach programs and university courses. He maintains an interest in science policy and completed a sabbatical as a congressional science policy advisor for Senator Edward Markey. Among his honors are election as a Fellow of Optica in 2022, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2022, and a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering in 2019. He received the Kendall S. Carpenter Advising Award from Cornell University in 2023 and the Research Excellence Award from the College of Engineering in 2018.