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

Undergraduate research

Improving therapeutics for Type 1 diabetes

Gaby Markle ’26 was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was 4 years old. Working with Cornell CALS biological and environmental engineering professor Minglin Ma, Gaby is researching potential treatments using synthetic biology.

Discover synthetic biology at CALS
Play CALS Undergraduate Research Experience: Gaby Markle ’26

News

Sunny Jung (standing), professor of biological and environmental engineering in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, helps Alisha Stahl, a middle school teacher from Durgee Junior High School in Baldwinsville, New York, at a workshop for teachers on July 29.

News

NYS teachers take on microplastics with snail-inspired robot

Researchers and extension staff translated complex research into a hands-on curriculum – including the construction and deployment of floating robots – for New York State teachers and their students.

  • New York Sea Grant Institute
  • Biological and Environmental Engineering
McGraw

News

Two doctoral students selected as FFAR Fellows

Doctoral students Divyanth Loganathan Girija and Sumit Sharma were selected for the 2026-2029 Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research Fellows Program.

  • Animal Science
  • Biological and Environmental Engineering
A team of Cornell students work on a prototype of their weed-killing robot

News

Undergrads’ weed-killing robot wins top prize

A team of Cornell students bested the competition with their invention: an autonomous robot that kills weeds with electricity.

  • Agriculture Sciences Major
  • Biological and Environmental Engineering
  • Agriculture
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