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Discover CALS

See how our current work and research is bringing new thinking and new solutions to some of today's biggest challenges.

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Research

We accelerate purpose-driven science by supporting inquiry that crosses disciplinary boundaries and stretches from discovery to invention.

Purpose-driven science? We literally wrote the book on it.

The first undergraduate textbooks in mammology, ornithology and food science? Check. The first successful integration of botany and zoology in 1967’s Biological Science? Check. A 1925 handbook of nature study that is still a primary resource on the subject? Check.

The research of Cornell CALS scientists, students and staff hasn’t just informed discovery and innovation, but it is also the foundation upon which fields of study have been built.

In this section

Undergraduate research

Discovering new genes

Cameron Xu ’26 is using biometry and statistics to help Cornell CALS animal science professor Vimal Selvaraj identify new genes. Together, they’re investigating how steroid hormones regulate the body’s processes, uncovering new knowledge that could advance cancer research and solve other human health challenges.

Explore synthetic biology at CALS
Play CALS Undergraduate Research Experience: Cameron Xu '26

Latest news, discoveries and breakthroughs

Explore the work we’re doing today and discover how it’s reshaping tomorrow.

Sunny Jung (left) places a tomato in a prototype bubbler for cleaning produce while Yany Lin films the experiment with a camera.

News

Tiny bubbles, sound waves clean produce safely and effectively

A bubble bath with a constant acoustic sound in the water may be the best chemical-free, gentle method for cleaning agricultural produce.

  • Biological and Environmental Engineering
Yicong Fu, mechanical engineering doctoral student, injects dye into his custom-built, bio-inspired thermal dispenser to observe how particles disperse.

News

Fish gill-inspired panels reveal path to efficient thermal mixing

Researchers have developed a bio-inspired approach to mixing heat and molecules in fluids – findings that could inform future biomedical devices, heat exchangers and soft robotics.

  • Biological and Environmental Engineering
River ecosystem

News

Global atlas will track human and climate impact on river systems

A new Cornell-led project will create a global record that shows how river systems around the world have changed under human influence over the last 75 years.

  • Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
  • Climate Change
  • Water
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Research in lab

Undergraduate opportunities

Plant Science researchers working in a lab.
Graduate student grants

Opportunities include Andrew W. Mellon Student Research Grants, Arthur Boller Research Fund, Kieckhefer Adirondack Fellowships and Grant Proposal Application Instructions

researcher in field

Faculty research support