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

Pile of logs.

News

600 years of tree rings reveal climate risks in California

An interdisciplinary collaboration used paleo information and reconstructed weather scenarios to better understand California’s flood and drought risks and how they will be compounded by climate change.

  • Climate Change
  • Biological and Environmental Engineering
Headshot of Professor Sunghwan “Sunny” Jung.

News

Weiss teaching awards honor exceptional faculty

President Martha E. Pollack announced the recipients of the 2023 Stephen H. Weiss Teaching Awards, which honor faculty members who have demonstrated a sustained commitment to teaching and mentoring undergraduate students.

  • Biological and Environmental Engineering
  • Global Development
A sceientist examines something under a microscope.

News

Metal-loving microbes savor green way to refine rare earth

Cornell scientists have replaced the harsh chemical processing of rare earth elements – used to power electric cars, wind turbines and smartphones – with a benign practice called biosorption.

  • Cornell Atkinson
  • Biological and Environmental Engineering
  • Environment
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