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A woman and a man speak with each other while standing in a lab

CALS Magazine

FutureCast

AgriTech Center of Excellence helps food, ag startups thrive
Since September 2018, the Center of Excellence for Food and Agriculture has supported more than 75 small, New York state-based companies. In this feature story, read about how the center has helped three of those businesses thrive.
  • Center of Excellence in Food and Agriculture
  • Cornell AgriTech
  • Cornell Craft Beverage Institute
five different green and red apples on a wood slab

CALS Magazine

FutureCast

Genetic ingenuity: What does it take to put produce on your plate?
Our plant breeders are known for their innovative work in creating new varieties of fruits and vegetables. Developing these varieties is a complex yet creative process, and getting the varieties onto supermarket shelves also requires a tremendous amount of effort. Susan Brown, professor of horticulture, and Phillip Griffiths, associate professor of horticulture, explain how they bring the varieties they develop from seed to supermarket.
  • Cornell AgriTech
  • School of Integrative Plant Science
  • Horticulture Section
CALS Alumna Deborah Arrindell '79 walks outside the Amgen Inc. campus in Thousand Oaks, California.

CALS Magazine

Field Note

My Cornell story: Deborah Arrindell '79
Deborah Arrindell ’79 has 19 years of experience in the pharmacology and biotechnology industries. She currently works as an executive medical director in global patient safety and labeling at Amgen Inc. located in Thousand Oaks, California. My...
  • Molecular Biology and Genetics
  • Health + Nutrition
  • Biology
A student examines plants as part of his research

CALS Magazine

News

New specializations accelerate growth of MPS programs
Gagne graduated with a degree in horticulture and a specialization in controlled environment agriculture and recently landed an apprentice grower position at BrightFarms, a company based in the Hudson Valley. Controlled environment agriculture...
  • School of Integrative Plant Science
  • Horticulture Section
  • Plants
Yi Athena Ren sits at her desk.

CALS Magazine

Spotlight

Q&A with reproductive biologist Yi Athena Ren
How did you become interested in reproductive biology? It all started when I attended a lecture by a well-respected reproductive biology professor at my undergraduate university in China. I was dabbling in research at that time, and his lecture...
  • Animal Science
  • Health + Nutrition
  • Biology

CALS Magazine

News

Center of Excellence for Food and Agriculture helps startups take off

“While formula had everything she needed to thrive and grow, it didn’t have everything we wanted for her,” said Ippolito, a lecturer in the Engineering Management Program at Cornell. In summer 2019, she launched SimpliFed, a startup company...

  • Center of Excellence in Food and Agriculture
  • Cornell AgriTech
  • Agriculture
Miguel Gomez draws on a whiteboard.

CALS Magazine

News

Researchers develop market for East Coast broccoli
This project is no small undertaking. One of the challenges stems from the fact that broccoli was originally cultivated for Mediterranean climates, so growing it in the U.S. confuses the plant’s developmental cues. Broccoli flower buds and heads...
  • Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management
  • Agriculture
  • Food
Chelsea Specht works at a desk with two students.

CALS Magazine

News

New leadership drives diversity and inclusion initiatives at CALS
Now, as students complete the spring semester from off-campus locations, CALS’ efforts to make sure that they feel safe and supported are more crucial than ever. “It’s very important that a sense of belonging envelops our Cornellians who are now...
  • Department of Global Development
  • School of Integrative Plant Science
  • Plant Biology Section
A local restaurant chef gives current students a tour behind the scenes of his kitchen.

CALS Magazine

News

'Just Food' course broadens students' perspectives of food systems
The course, Just Food: Exploring the Modern Food System, benefits from an interdisciplinary pair of instructors: Rachel Bezner Kerr, professor in the Department of Global Development, and Frank Rossi, associate professor of horticulture in the...
  • Department of Global Development
  • School of Integrative Plant Science
  • Food Science
Dean Boor stands with a group of students at the 2019 Cornell Homecoming

CALS Magazine

Field Note

Dean's Message
Kathryn J. Boor is the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Serving as the college’s chief academic and administrative officer, she is responsible for developing and implementing the strategic direction of the...
Two women sitting down and speaking to one another

CALS Magazine

Spotlight

Then and now: Martha Furie '74 and Chenab Khakh '20 talk biology, CALS and women in STEM
Research at Cornell MARTHA: When I was here for undergrad, we science majors were busy! Can you believe that I had a three-hour chemistry lab at 8 a.m. on Saturdays? My career trajectory was shaped by my work in Dr. Adrian Srb’s lab, studying...
  • Microbiology
  • Plant Biology Section
  • Molecular Biology and Genetics
A man leads a line of students down a path in the woods

CALS Magazine

News

Alumni gift creates bog and wetlands conservation internship
But scientists are increasingly understanding that bogs are also crucial ecosystems in the fight against climate change: in some cases, bogs can actually sequester more carbon than rain forests. Bogs are an ecologically unique aquatic system...
  • Cornell Botanic Gardens
  • Plants
  • Biodiversity
A cow sitting in hay in a barn

CALS Magazine

News

Youth development program supports next generation of dairy leaders
Alfredo Resendiz ’19, the first member of his family born in the United States and the first to go to college, developed a passion for agriculture through JDL. “These types of programs do have impact, especially within schools that have no...
  • Dairy Fellows Program
  • Animal Science
  • Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management
Kathryn J. Boor

CALS Magazine

Spotlight

A decade of impact: Kathryn J. Boor, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean
As a teenager, she honed her leadership skills as an active member of 4-H, part of Cornell Cooperative Extension. She first visited Cornell as a New York State 4-H Congress delegate, and her lifelong dedication to the College of Agriculture and...
  • CALS Global Fellows Program
  • Cornell AgriTech
  • Cornell Institute for Digital Agriculture
A man sitting at a computer typing

CALS Magazine

News

'Locally grown' broccoli looks, tastes better to consumers
But the New York broccoli fared much better in a subsequent series of tests. It earned the highest marks for flavor and consumers were willing to pay more for it – on par with the California variety. What changed? The second group was told the...
  • Cornell AgriTech
  • School of Integrative Plant Science
  • Horticulture Section
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CALS Magazine

FutureCast

How is Cornell helping New York state's craft beverage industry?
On tap are an array of beers crafted with New York state ingredients: Seeds of Love and Outrage, Backroad Odysseys, and Lazy Lollygagger, an ale that spotlights the flavor of cherries and lemon-thyme. Owner Jason Sahler knows his way around a...
  • Center of Excellence in Food and Agriculture
  • Cornell AgriTech
  • Food Science
A black and white short haired dog running through a grassy field with its tongue out

CALS Magazine

FutureCast

Sled dogs lead the way in quest to slow aging
By the end of her racing days, she had competed twice in sled dog racing’s equivalent to the Olympics – the International Federation of Sleddog Sports World Championships. And she ended her racing career with a bang, winning an extremely...
  • Animal Science
  • Health + Nutrition
  • Genetics
A woman with short brown hair smiling and looking at grapes hanging from a vine

CALS Magazine

News

Digital agriculture workshop highlights radical collaborations
Two Cornell researchers are tackling the age-old problem using 21st century tools: inexpensive, touch-sensitive soft robots that can help growers predict yield and detect fungal threats.' Justine Vanden Heuvel, associate professor of...
  • Cornell Institute for Digital Agriculture
  • School of Integrative Plant Science
  • Horticulture Section

CALS Magazine

News

New global development unit calls for ‘education with impact’

The Department of Global Development will draw from faculty across the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) to create a unified development studies program focused on engagement with the world’s grand challenges at home and abroad...

  • International Programs
  • Department of Global Development
  • School of Integrative Plant Science
A person kneeling on a dirt ground holding a head of broccoli

CALS Magazine

Spotlight

Eastern Broccoli Project on track to meet $100M goal
“I think we’re going to hit it,” said Thomas Björkman, Cornell professor of horticulture and the project’s principal investigator. Between 2012 and 2017, the number of New York state broccoli farms increased from 290 to 535, and the number of...
  • Cornell AgriTech
  • School of Integrative Plant Science
  • Horticulture Section