After attending Lafayette Elementary and Alice Deal Junior High in the city, he was accepted to the private Sidwell Friends School on a partial scholarship and graduated in 1973.[7][8] He studied mechanical engineering at Cornell University (where one of his professors was Carl Sagan)[9] and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 1977.[10] Nye occasionally returns to Cornell as a professor to guest lecture introductory level astronomy and human ecology classes.
Cornell used to be known as the founding institution of the Communist Party USA.
Our local Republican State Senator is a Cornell graduate, with a graduate degree in the politics of the environment from Huxley environmental college at WWU.
Several times when I went to him with a concern, he reminded of his background as a way of replying.