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Animal Science

Advancing understanding of animal biology and addressing the most pressing problems of animal industries.

Welcome to the Department of Animal Science

The Department of Animal Science offers undergraduate and graduate programs on the biology and management of food, laboratory and companion animal species. Our research programs advance our understanding of animal biology and address local and global issues facing animal industries today. Our goals are to discover and develop new techniques and information to benefit animals, agriculture and human health. Our internationally recognized faculty have diverse interests in animal management, breeding, genetics, physiology, nutrition, growth biology and microbiology.

Major in Animal Science

Animal science majors learn from internationally recognized professors in all aspects of domestic animal biology: breeding, genetics, nutrition, physiology, growth, behavior and management.

Animal Science Major

Learn more about what an animal science major can do for you.

Undergraduate Studies

International Opportunities

Check out the international opportunities available with the animal science major.

Learn more about undergraduate opportunities

Graduate Studies

Approximately 40 graduate students from a variety of disciplines belong to the Department of Animal Science, most of them in the field of animal science.

Graduate Field of Animal Science

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

News

headshot of ashley randle

Field Note

From dairy to trailblazing career in public service: Ashley Randle ’11
This year, Ashley E. Randle ’11, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, led the effort to launch the first “Year of Youth in Agriculture” in Massachusetts, with the goal to engage youth in farming. The initiative...
  • Animal Science
  • Agriculture
  • Animals
a man crouches in front of a line of dairy cows

Field Note

Refining RuFaS: Predictions are only as good as the data behind them
Haowen Hu ’26 is a doctoral student in the Animal Science Department working under the supervision of Kristan Reed, former Animal Science faculty member and the scientific director of the RuFaS project. His main research focuses on the Ruminant...
  • Animal Science
  • Digital Agriculture
  • Dairy
Hand holding a phone with charts displayed with a cow in the background.

News

Cornell awarded NSF grant to build AI-ready living lab for agriculture

Cornell University has been awarded a portion of a $2 million planning initiative from the U.S. National Science Foundation to establish AI4Ag, a national testbed for artificial intelligence in agriculture.

  • Animal Science
  • Animals
  • Dairy

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Get The Feed, Cornell Animal Science Department's monthly newsletter. Full of the latest news, events, and comings and goings, The Feed is your portal to all things animal science.

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a woman holds a jar of chemicals in a lab
Diana Reyes Gomez prepares samples of SeaGraze, a product developed by Symbrosia based on the seaweed Asparagopsis taxiformis, for a shelf stability trial. Photo provided.

Contact us for more information

Thank you for your interest in Animal Science at Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. 
Reach out through the information below, or find a more direct point of contact for your inquiries.

149 Morrison Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853-4801
Phone: (607) 255-2862
Fax: (607) 255-9829
E-mail: anscinfo [at] cornell.edu (anscinfo[at]cornell[dot]edu)