A ten-fold increase in hard cider production over the past decade has created a tremendous need for research into the entire supply chain, from growing specialized cider apples to fermentation to marketing. Assistant professor of horticulture Dr. Gregory Peck (’09, PhD) will give an overview of the U.S. cider industry, how his cider research program and teaching are addressing industry needs, and how he is connecting historical texts from the collections at Cornell University Library to genetic fingerprinting in a single research project. This talk was presented as part of Mann Library’s program for Cornell Reunion 2018 in conjunction with the exhibit “Apples to Cider: An Old Industry Takes New Root,” on display in the Mann Library lobby through October 2018. Both the exhibit and Dr. Peck’s talk also mark a new online collection of legacy literature books on apples and cider available to the public at the Biodiversity Heritage Library at biodiversitylibrary.org/collection/apples.