Cornish was named an assistant professor in the chemistry department and began teaching at Columbia in January, 1999. In accepting the award, she stressed to alumnae in the audience the importance of striving to achieve their goals and urged them not to be discouraged by perceived barriers, noting that those barriers are constantly being broken. Dean of Academic Affairs Kathryn Yatrakis delivered the keynote address, citing statistics that show a rise in the proportion of women in faculty positions at Columbia from the time Cornish was a student to the present.