Cornell Institute for China Economic Research (CICER) won a grant from the 2016 Jeffrey S. Lehman Fund for Scholarly Exchange with China. The institute will host regular seminars on Chinese economy, organize annual conferences (on campus and in China) around specific topics, and provide research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. The Lehman Fund will support some of these institute activities.

The Lehman Fund grant is established in honor of former President Lehman's commitment to fostering Cornell's global linkages, and in particular to building partnerships with Chinese universities, the Lehman Fund supports exchanges and/or research collaborations between Cornell faculty and graduate students and their counterparts at China's major research universities. Through an annual competition, the Fund provides a small number of grants to initiate qualifying research projects, sponsor research-related conferences or workshops, host visitors from China, or support faculty travel to China to work with colleagues there on collaborative research projects.