Cornell counted 245,027 living alumni as of August 2008.
Its alumni constitute 34 Marshall Scholars and 31 Rhodes Scholars, and Cornell is the only university with three female winners (Pearl S. Buck, Barbara McClintock, and Toni Morrison) of unshared Nobel Prizes among its graduates.
Many alumni maintain university ties through Homecoming's reunion weekend, through Cornell Magazine, and through the Cornell Club of New York.
In 2015, Cornell ranked No.
5 nationwide for gifts and bequests from alumni.

Cornell alumni are noted for their accomplishments in public, professional, and corporate life.
Lee Teng-hui was the president of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen was elected to be the first female president of Taiwan, Mario García Menocal was president of Cuba, Jamshid Amuzegar ('50) was prime minister of Iran, Hu Shih (1914) was a Chinese reformer and representative to the United Nations, Janet Reno ('60) was the first female United States Attorney General, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg ('54) serves on the Supreme Court.
Alumnus David Starr Jordan (1872) was the founding president of Stanford University, and M. Carey Thomas (1877) was the second president and first female president of Bryn Mawr College.
Additionally, alumnus Matt Urban ('41), a Medal of Honor recipient, holds the distinction as one of the most decorated soldiers in World War II.

Cornellians in business include: Citigroup CEO Sanford Weill ('55), Goldman Sachs Group Chairman Stephen Friedman ('59), Kraft Foods CEO Irene Rosenfeld ('75, '77, '80), Autodesk CEO Carl Bass ('83), Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini ('84), S.C. Johnson & Son CEO Fisk Johnson ('79, '80, '82, '84, '86), Cargill Chairman Warren Staley ('67), Chevron Chairman Kenneth T. Derr ('59), Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse ('77), Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam ('76), MasterCard CEO Robert Selander ('72), Coors Brewing Company CEO Adolph Coors ('37), Loews Corporation Chairman Andrew Tisch ('71), Burger King founder James McLamore ('47), Hotels.com founder David Litman ('79), PeopleSoft founder David Duffield ('62), Priceline.com founder Jay Walker ('77), Staples founder Myra Hart ('62), Qualcomm founder Irwin M. Jacobs ('56), Tata Group CEO Ratan Tata ('62),Nintendo of America President and COO Reggie Fils-Aimé, and Johnson & Johnson worldwide chairman Sandi Peterson.

In medicine, alumnus Robert Atkins ('55) developed the Atkins Diet, Henry Heimlich ('47) developed the Heimlich maneuver, Wilson Greatbatch ('50) invented the pacemaker, James Maas ('66; also a faculty member) coined the term "power nap", and C. Everett Koop ('41) served as Surgeon General of the United States.

A number of Cornellians have been prominent innovators.
Thomas Midgley, Jr. ('11) invented Freon, Jon Rubinstein ('78) is credited with the development of the iPod, and Robert Tappan Morris developed the first computer worm on the Internet.
Eight Cornellians have served as NASA astronauts, Steve Squyres ('81) is the principal investigator on the Mars Exploration Rover Mission.
In aerospace, also, Otto Glasser ('40) directed the USAF program that developed the SM-65 Atlas, the World's first operational Intercontinental ballistic missile.
Bill Nye ('77) is well known as "The Science Guy".
Clarence W. Spicer invented the 'universal joint' for automobiles, while a student in 1903.

In literature, Toni Morrison ('50; Nobel laureate) is well known for her novel Beloved, Pearl S. Buck ('25; Nobel laureate) authored The Good Earth, Thomas Pynchon ('59) penned such canonical works of postwar American fiction as Gravity's Rainbow and The Crying of Lot 49, Junot Díaz ('95) wrote The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and E. B. White ('21) authored Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little.
Although he did not graduate, Kurt Vonnegut wrote extensively for the Cornell Daily Sun during his time at Cornell.
He went on to pen best sellers such as Slaughterhouse-Five and Cat's Cradle.
Author and folk singer Richard Fariña also dropped out in his final year, but wrote his roman à clef Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me about his Corne
Cornell counted 245,027 living alumni as of August 2008. Its alumni constitute 34 Marshall Scholars and 31 Rhodes Scholars, and Cornell is the only university with three female winners (Pearl S. Buck, Barbara McClintock, and Toni Morrison) of unshared Nobel Prizes among its graduates. Many alumni maintain university ties through Homecoming's reunion weekend, through Cornell Magazine, and through the Cornell Club of New York. In 2015, Cornell ranked No. 5 nationwide for gifts and bequests from alumni.
Cornell alumni are noted for their accomplishments in public, professional, and corporate life. Lee Teng-hui was the president of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen was elected to be the first female president of Taiwan, Mario García Menocal was president of Cuba, Jamshid Amuzegar ('50) was prime minister of Iran, Hu Shih (1914) was a Chinese reformer and representative to the United Nations, Janet Reno ('60) was the first female United States Attorney General, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg ('54) serves on the Supreme Court. Alumnus David Starr Jordan (1872) was the founding president of Stanford University, and M. Carey Thomas (1877) was the second president and first female president of Bryn Mawr College. Additionally, alumnus Matt Urban ('41), a Medal of Honor recipient, holds the distinction as one of the most decorated soldiers in World War II.
Cornellians in business include: Citigroup CEO Sanford Weill ('55), Goldman Sachs Group Chairman Stephen Friedman ('59), Kraft Foods CEO Irene Rosenfeld ('75, '77, '80), Autodesk CEO Carl Bass ('83), Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini ('84), S.C. Johnson & Son CEO Fisk Johnson ('79, '80, '82, '84, '86), Cargill Chairman Warren Staley ('67), Chevron Chairman Kenneth T. Derr ('59), Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse ('77), Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam ('76), MasterCard CEO Robert Selander ('72), Coors Brewing Company CEO Adolph Coors ('37), Loews Corporation Chairman Andrew Tisch ('71), Burger King founder James McLamore ('47), Hotels.com founder David Litman ('79), PeopleSoft founder David Duffield ('62), Priceline.com founder Jay Walker ('77), Staples founder Myra Hart ('62), Qualcomm founder Irwin M. Jacobs ('56), Tata Group CEO Ratan Tata ('62),Nintendo of America President and COO Reggie Fils-Aimé, and Johnson & Johnson worldwide chairman Sandi Peterson.
In medicine, alumnus Robert Atkins ('55) developed the Atkins Diet, Henry Heimlich ('47) developed the Heimlich maneuver, Wilson Greatbatch ('50) invented the pacemaker, James Maas ('66; also a faculty member) coined the term "power nap", and C. Everett Koop ('41) served as Surgeon General of the United States.
A number of Cornellians have been prominent innovators. Thomas Midgley, Jr. ('11) invented Freon, Jon Rubinstein ('78) is credited with the development of the iPod, and Robert Tappan Morris developed the first computer worm on the Internet. Eight Cornellians have served as NASA astronauts, Steve Squyres ('81) is the principal investigator on the Mars Exploration Rover Mission. In aerospace, also, Otto Glasser ('40) directed the USAF program that developed the SM-65 Atlas, the World's first operational Intercontinental ballistic missile. Bill Nye ('77) is well known as "The Science Guy".Clarence W. Spicer invented the 'universal joint' for automobiles, while a student in 1903.
In literature, Toni Morrison ('50; Nobel laureate) is well known for her novel Beloved, Pearl S. Buck ('25; Nobel laureate) authored The Good Earth, Thomas Pynchon ('59) penned such canonical works of postwar American fiction as Gravity's Rainbow and The Crying of Lot 49, Junot Díaz ('95) wrote The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and E. B. White ('21) authored Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little. Although he did not graduate, Kurt Vonnegut wrote extensively for the Cornell Daily Sun during his time at Cornell. He went on to pen best sellers such as Slaughterhouse-Five and Cat's Cradle. Author and folk singer Richard Fariña also dropped out in his final year, but wrote his roman à clef Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me about his Corne
Cornell University