Agricultural Science Education is a part of the Cornell Teacher Education program and is located in the Department of Education, which is a part of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The Department of Education operates primarily at the graduate level, with Agricultural Science Education as the only undergraduate program in the department. Two options are available for Agricultural Science Education undergraduates: “teacher certification” and “non-certification.” In New York State, full professional certification for Agricultural Science Education teachers requires completion of a master’s degree. Most of our graduates who plan to teach in NYS public schools plan to stay for an additional year of graduate school to earn the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degree. The non-certification option is available for undergraduates who desire to enter education-related careers in business, industry, government, or a myriad of other organizations and agencies that require the skills of professional educators.

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Learn more about how you can become a teacher of mathematics or science

The Agricultural Sciences major is designed for students who want a broad education in agriculture to prepare for careers that require knowledge of food systems and natural resources, such as production and marketing of foods and ornamental plants; and careers in agricultural education in secondary schools, cooperative extension, and crop consulting. Students in the program develop a curriculum that best fits their individual needs.

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Animal Sciences encompasses the study of dairy cattle, beef cattle, sheep, pigs, horses, poultry, pets, laboratory animals, and, to a lesser extent, exotic species. Subject matter is focused on physiology, genetics, nutrition, growth, production systems, and management. With this potpourri of disciplines from which to select, students with widely varying career goals find exciting areas of interest, which range from basic animal biology to animal production and management. While you may be "turned on" by the molecular biology of the developing embryo, your classmate may be equally fascinated by the nutrition of the ruminant or domestic cat or by the mathematics of genetic selection in the horse.

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In the Applied Economics and Management program (the Undergraduate Business Program at Cornell University) you will gain the knowledge and experience you need to succeed in today's fast-paced and fascinating business world. Here you will acquire top-flight skills in finance, marketing and management. You can also focus on specialized programs in entrepreneurship, food industry management, small business, and agribusiness.

The curriculum in Atmospheric Science emphasizes the scientific study of the behavior of weather and climate and applications to the important practical problems of weather forecasting and climate prediction. Students develop a fundamental understanding of atmospheric processes and acquire skill and experience in the analysis, interpretation, and forecasting of meteorological events. The curriculum includes a strong foundation in basic mathematics and science courses; core courses in atmospheric thermodynamics, atmospheric dynamics, and synoptic meteorology; and choices among a variety of Atmospheric Science electives.

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Biological Engineering is at the focus of three great challenges facing humanity today: ensuring an adequate and safe food supply in an era of rapidly expanding world population; protecting or remediating the world's natural resources; and developing engineering systems that monitor, replace, or intervene in the mechanisms of living organisms. The Biological Engineering program has a unique focus on biological systems, including the environment, that is realized through a combination of fundamental engineering sciences, biology, engineering applications courses, and liberal studies.

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Exciting opportunities are available at Cornell for undergraduates interested in study and research in almost any aspect of the biological sciences. Cornell's program in Biological Sciences is composed of over 140 faculty members from the Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Arts and Sciences, and Veterinary Medicine. The size of the program and the diversity of the faculty's teaching and research interests are reflected in the more than 200 Biology course offerings and the design and flexibility of the undergraduate curriculum.

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The Biology and Society program is designed for students who wish to combine training in biology with exposure to perspectives from the social sciences and humanities on the social, the political, and the ethical aspects of modern biology. Many of the most critical social concerns of our time are innately biological: food and population, the impact of genetic engineering and new medical technologies, testing for drugs, the influence of heredity versus environment on human behavior, environmental quality, and the ethical, the legal, and the social aspects of modern medical practice. At the same time, each of these issues involves complex relationships between biological and sociocultural forces.

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Biometry and Statistics majors learn to use quantitative methods to solve problems in the biological, physical, and social sciences. Biometry is the application of statistics, mathematics, computing, and other quantitative methods to phenomena and problems in the life sciences. Statistics is concerned with many aspects of scientific investigations: developing and studying the design and measurement aspects of investigations, executing investigations and collecting numerical information, summarizing the data obtained, and making inferences from the data.

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Think for a moment about how communication technologies have changed over the past few years. Satellites beam breaking news from around the world to ever-smaller household receivers. Pocket phones, laptop computers, e-mail, personal web pages, electronic books and magazines, high-definition television, and other new ways of communicating have affected virtually every sphere of human experience. Yet all these communication technologies rest on a foundation of human relationships, human organizations, and human ideas about the process of communication itself.

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Development Sociology students at Cornell study the social processes involved with technological, economic, demographic, and environmental changes. Each type of change has a major impact on individuals, social groups, societies, and the international order. Students learn about these and other facets of social change in domestic and international settings.

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The Entomology major is designed to provide students with a basic education in the biological and environmental sciences, with a special emphasis on insects. Insects are the most diverse group of animals on earth and are particularly well suited for the study of many basic biological principles. Aspects of evolution, ecology, physiology, behavior, biogeography, speciation, and other phenomena are readily investigated through entomology. The study of diversity itself, including principles of classification, are ideally learned through studies of insects.

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Environmental Engineering is at the focus of three great challenges facing humanity today: ensuring an adequate and safe food supply in an era of rapidly expanding world population; protecting or remediating the world's natural resources; and developing engineering systems that monitor, replace, or intervene in the mechanisms of living organisms. The Environmental Engineering program has a unique focus on biological systems, including the environment, that is realized through a combination of fundamental engineering sciences, biology, engineering applications courses, and liberal studies.

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This program allows entering first-year students to explore the environmental science programs in CALS: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (concentration in Biological Sciences), Environmental Engineering, Natural Resources, Science of Earth Systems, and Science of Natural and Environmental Systems.

Biological Sciences

Environmental Engineering

Natural Resources

Science of Earth Systems

Science of Natural and Environmental Systems

Supplying the world population with safe, nutritious, appetizing, and economical foods is the ultimate goal of Food Science. Achieving this goal requires the processing, packaging, distribution, and evaluation of food. It involves many disciplines and uses the principles of biology, microbiology, chemistry, biochemistry, nutrition, physics, and engineering to solve practical problems related to foods and food systems.

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Information science profoundly affects the way we communicate, learn, discover, work, socialize, and live. Among the opportunities for study in this emerging field are: Web environments, cyber finance, human-computer interaction, social networks, digital libraries, artificial intelligence, computer-enhanced habitats, social and environmental data gathering and analysis, and the evolution of new communication systems.

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An independent major, Interdisciplinary Studies, is available for students interested in pursuing a general education in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. In consultation with a faculty adviser, students can plan a sequence of courses suited to their individual interests, abilities, and objectives in an area not encompassed by the existing major programs.

This B.S. program with a major in International Agriculture and Rural Development is designed for students who wish to concentrate their agricultural degree program on the special problems and prospects of agricultural development in less-developed countries.

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Landscape Architecture students create site-appropriate designs that enhance the value and the sustainability of places. The strength of the department is its rigorous design education, which integrates history, technical skills, and cultural and environmental understanding.

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The undergraduate curriculum in Natural Resources provides students with the concepts and the tools needed to understand the Earth’s biological resources and ecological systems, and to participate with intelligence and foresight in their conservation and management.

It allows students the flexibility to pursue a variety of paths to an integrated, broad-based understanding of the relationships between organisms and their environments, and the ways in which humans affect, and are affected by, those relationships. Students are encouraged to understand the scientific, ethical, and societal bases for management and protection of natural resources and environments through the application of ecological principles and knowledge of societal needs.

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Nutritional science draws upon chemistry, biology, and the social sciences to understand complex relationships among human health and well-being, food and lifestyle patterns, food and agricultural systems, and social and institutional environments. Nutritional scientists seek to understand how human metabolism is regulated, the role of diet in chronic disease, the nutritional quality of foods, and the food and agricultural policies that influence the quality and availability of foods in the United States and abroad.

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Plant Sciences is a multidepartmental program administered by faculty in the Departments of Crop and Soil Sciences, Horticulture, Plant Biology, Plant Breeding, and Plant Pathology. Students in the program share a common interest in topics associated with plant growth and development in the broadest sense, but their individual interests and career goals vary widely.

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Concerns about air and water pollution, nuclear waste disposal, the ozone hole, and global climate changes have increased during the past several decades. These concerns have spurred the scientific community to gain considerable insight into how the biosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and lithosphere systems interact. It has become evident that we cannot understand and solve environmental problems by studying these individual systems in isolation. The interconnectedness of these systems is a fundamental attribute of the Earth system, and understanding their various interactions is crucial for understanding our environment.

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Environmental stewardship and sustainability is increasingly recognized as a human and planetary imperative. Graduates who understand how people both generate and can resolve environmental problems will contribute significantly to creating a sustainable environment for their own and future generations.

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Learn about the management of vineyards and all aspects of running a winery in cool-climate wine-producing regions in this unique major. Students will take courses in plant sciences, food science and business to prepare for all aspects of the wine industry.