Rice crops growing in a growth chamber.

Biological & Environmental Engineering

We bring life to engineering

Our unique focus to design and develop processes, products and systems using basic biological, environmental science and engineering tools generates solutions to societal problems involving water, food, energy and public health. Students increasingly need to participate in problem-solving across traditional boundaries. Rapid technological changes are an added challenge, with implications driven by diminishing resources and a growing population. We aim to enable our students to drive innovation as our discipline continues to be transformed by our changing world.

About our department

Welcome to the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering (BEE) in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Our department is one of the largest of its kind in the country, with a very diverse faculty, staff and student population. We serve three integrated functions: teaching the next generation of undergraduate and graduate students, research on problems in biology and the environment, and public outreach to help society implement new knowledge.

Faculty and students conversing in a lab.
Minglin Ma, associate professor of biological and environmental engineering, working with students in his lab. Credit: Allison Usavage

Explore BEE

News

Michael Charles headshot

Spotlight

Meet our faculty: Michael Charles
Academic focus: Computational and community-based sustainable solutions. Research summary: Broadly, I explore how computational models can help communities achieve their envisioned futures. My research is centered on designing sustainable...
  • American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program
  • Biological and Environmental Engineering
  • Computational Biology
Two women look at a screen on lab equiptment.

News

Researchers commercialize rare-earth tech with I-Corps help

The program helped Alexa Schmitz, Ph.D. ’18, and colleagues explore the market potential for their sustainable way of extracting rare earth elements used in many electronics.

  • Biological and Environmental Engineering
Group photo of 8 fellows

News

TW Turner Fellowship celebrates inaugural year at Cornell, points to future collaborations with HBCUs

  • Animal Science
  • Biological and Environmental Engineering
  • Food Science
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