Faculty & Staff Awards
At Cornell CALS, we are building a community of recognition. In addition to national and international accolades, the college regularly acknowledges the outstanding work of our faculty and staff members in teaching, research, engagement and service.
- CALS Donald C. Burgett Distinguished Advisor
- CALS Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduate Students in Independent Research
- CALS Professor of Merit
- CALS Kathy Druckman Berggren Diversity and Inclusion Award
- CALS Core Value Staff Awards
- CALS Research and Extension Awards
- CALS Robert H. Foote Mid-Career Teaching Award
- CALS Early Career Faculty Teaching Award
- CALS Louis and Edith Edgerton Career Teaching Award
- SUNY Excellence in Faculty Service
- SUNY Excellence in Librarianship
- SUNY Excellence in Classified Service
- SUNY Excellence in Professional Service
- SUNY Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities
- SUNY Excellence in Teaching
External Awards
Laureates & Fellows
- James Batcheller Sumner (1887 - 1995) - Professor of Biochemistry (faculty 1929-1955), 1946 Nobel Peace Prize in Chemistry for crystallization the first enzyme
- George Wells Beadle (1903 - 1989), Ph.D. '30 -Professor of Molecularly Biology and Genetics, 1958 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the "one gene, one enzyme" hypothesis
- Robert W. Holley (1922 - 1993), Ph.D. '47 -Professor of Biochemistry, 1968 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for cracking the genetic code of ribonucleic acid (RNA)
- Norman Ernest Borlaug (1914 - 2009) - Father of the Green Revolution, Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large 1982-88, 1970 Nobel Peace Prize for improving cultivation methods to combat world hunger
- Barbara McClintock (1902 - 1992), B.S. '23, M.A. '25, Ph.D. '27 - World-Renowned Cytogeneticist, Professor of Genetics 1927-74, 1983 Nobel Peace Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her work on mobile genetic elements. The United States Postal Service commissioned a stamp in her honor in 2005.
- Gregory Martin (Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology) - elected in 2022
- Christopher Barrett (Dyson and Global Development) - elected in 2022
- Maureen Hanson (Molecular Biology and Genetics) - elected in 2021
- Anurag Agrawal (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology) - elected in 2021
- Susan McCouch (Plant Breeding and Genetics)- elected in 2018
- James J. Giovannoni (Plant Breeding and Genetics) - elected in 2016 (adjunct professor)
- John T. Lis (Molecular Biology and Genetics) - elected in 2015
- Edward Buckler (Plant Breeding and Genetics) - elected in 2014
- June B. Nasrallah (Plant Biology) - elected in 2003
- Steve Tanksley (Plant Breeding and Genetics) - elected in 1995
- Jeffrey W. Roberts, (Molecular Biology and Genetics) elected in 1999
- Wendell Roelofs (Entomology) - elected in 1985 (emeritus)
- Dale Bauman (Animal Science) - elected in 1988 (emeritus)
- Jean-Yves Parlange,* Biological and Environmental Engineering (2006)
- Norman R. Scott,* Biological and Environmental Engineering (1990)
- 2003: Pedro A. Sanchez, B.S. ’62, M.S. ’64, Ph.D. ’68 - Soil Science, in South America. He led a team that transformed 75 million acres of marginal land in Brazil into arable productivity, one of the largest such conversions ever
- 1981: Barbara McClintock, B.S. ’23, M.A. ’25, Ph.D. ’27; Faculty 1927-74 - Genetics
- Robert Chandler, Jr. - Agronomy, Former Professor
- John "Mr. Potato" Niederhauser - Alumnus - B.S. and Ph.D., Plant Pathology
- Per Pinstrup-Andersen - IP-CALS, Retired Professor, Nutrition w/Human Ecology
- Pedro Sanchez - Alumnus - B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. Soil Science
- Colin McClung - Alumnus - M.S. and Ph.D. Soil Science
- George McGovern - Brief Lecturer at Cornell in 1990
- Jan Low - Alumna - M.S. Ag Economics, Ph.D. Production Economics, Dyson School
- Prabhu Pingali, Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management (2021)
- Jeremy Searle, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (2020)
- John W. Fitzpatrick, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (2020)
- Catherine Kling, Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management (2019)
- Cédric Feschotte, Molecular Biology and Genetics (2019)
- Ronnie Coffman, Global Development/International Programs (2019)
- Corrie Moreau, Entomology (2018)
- Karl Joseph Niklas, Plant Biology (2018)
- Charles Walcott, Neurobiology and Behavior (2018)
- Martin Wiedmann, Food Science (2018)
- Joseph B. Yavitt, Natural Resources (2018)
- Daniel Barbash, Molecular Biology & Genetics (2017)
- Amanda Rodewald, Natural Resources and Lab of Ornithology (2017)
- Christine Smart, School of Integrative Plant Science (2017)
- Sidney Liebovich (2016)
- Kathryn Boor, Food Science (2015)
- Patricia Johnson, Animal Science (2013)
- Rui Hai Liu, Food Science (2011)
- Michael Scanlon (2009)
- John Schimenti (2008)
- Bruce Lewenstein (2002)
- Maureen Hanson, Molecular Biology and Genetics (2021)
- Harry Walter Greene, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (2014)
- Anthony P. Bretscher, Molecular Biology and Genetics (2018)
- Kenneth J. Kemphues, Molecular Biology and Genetics (2013)
- John T. Lis, Molecular Biology and Genetics (2013)
- Sandra L. Vehrencamp, Neurobiology and Behavior; Laboratory of Ornithology (2013)
- Ronald Raymond Hoy, Neurobiology and Behavior (2010)
- Stephen T. Emlen, Neurobiology and Behavior (2007)
- Scott D. Emr, Molecular Biology and Genetics (2004)
- Thomas D. Seeley, Neurobiology and Behavior (2001)
- Malden C. Nesheim, Nutritional Sciences (1995)
- Jeffrey W. Roberts, Molecular Biology and Genetics (1995)
- Frank H. T. Rhodes, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences; President Emeritus (1989)
- Wendell L. Roelofs, Entomology, Cornell Geneva Campus (1986)
- 1994 - Thomas Eisner
- 1983 - Wendell Roelofs
- 1976 - Efraim Racker
- 1970 - Barbara McClintock, B.S. '23, M.A. '25, Ph.D '27, faculty 1927
- 2020 - Johannes Lehmann, School of Integrative Plant Science, Soil and Crop Sciences Section. The award recognizes Lehmann’s lifetime achievement in soil science, pushing frontiers in methods, approaches and concepts particularly his research and teaching in the areas of biochar, carbon sequestration and climate change, and the exploration of the art-science interface.
- 2002 - Dennis Gonsalves, Plant Pathology. Internationally known for developing the ringspot virus-resistant papaya that saved the Hawaiian papaya industry. (No longer at Cornell.)
- 1998 - Steve Tanksley, Plant Breeding & Genetics. Developed the first molecular maps of rice and tomatoes. Tanksley used these genetic guides for the identification of trait locations on genes, and he was the first plant geneticist to use map-based cloning of a pest-resistance gene in a crop plant.
- 1977 - Wendell Roelofs, Entomology. Internationally known for his pioneering research with insect pheromones.