Faculty Lab & Research Sites

Ahner Lab research in environmental biotechnology explores how organisms adapt to trace metal stress in the environment and how they in turn influence the form of metals in the environment—for example how plants solubilize, take up, detoxify and sequester metals.

The Anderson Lab investigates operational methods for more effective use and integration of renewable energy. 

Our team works on the problem of biological energy capture: the primary bottleneck in the conversion of sustainable energy to fuel. We study energy capture in microbes by applying physical principles, genetic engineering, and novel high-throughput methods.

The NYS LTAP Center - Cornell Local Roads Program provides training, technical assistance, and information to municipal officials and employees responsible for the maintenance, construction and management of local highways and bridges in New York state.

Our research and teaching program are built around the application of transport phenomena (e.g., energy and water transport, fluid flow) in biological processes in an effort to better understand their complexities with the intent of improving them through optimization. 

Our work focuses largely on understanding interactions between physical hydrology and ecosystems, with the ultimate goal of developing better strategies for protecting water quality and the "natural" environment.

While the world faces many seemingly insurmountable challenges, insuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable energy for all its citizens is not only achievable, but of paramount importance to lifting the marginalized out of poverty and reversing climatic damage. By understanding how pollutants from energy generation impact the environment, and designing new processes to convert renewable sources to energy and materials that remove such pollutants, we can mitigate energy’s impact on the environment while enabling widespread access to modern energy for all.

Understanding atmospheric chemistry within the context of the earth’s climate system.

Our group’s research interest is to investigate mechanics problems emerging from the interaction of biological systems with surrounding environments. Specifically, our research efforts are dedicated to exploring and understanding how biological systems interact, harness, and cope with fluidic surroundings; investigating the underlying mechanics principles through combined theoretical and experimental approaches; and translating bio-inspired ideas and concepts to sustainable engineering solutions.

Nucleic acids play a critical role in living organisms as the carriers of genetic information. Our research focuses on using DNA and RNA as both generic and genetic materials.

We are interested in developing advanced biomaterials for agricultural and biomedical applications with a particular focus on type 1 diabetes cell replacement therapies.

Research focus includes metabolic and signal engineering. Signaling is how cells communicate with one another and with the world around them.

We study the physics and biology of insect’s interaction with dynamically changing fluid environment. Through morphological and behavioral adaptations, insects have found many innovative ways to autonomously locomote, communicate, and forage in both air and water. We strive to discover and inspire novel engineering solution hidden in the ways insects interact with their fluid environment using experiments and modeling.

Our broad mission is to improve the understanding of physical, chemical, and biological processes related to water flow with the ultimate goal of improving and protecting water resources and ecological systems.

Vivek Srikrishnan's research group works on improving the resilience of societal units, from individual to global, to deeply uncertain and dynamic environmental risks. Our interdisciplinary, mission-oriented research addresses a broad set of problems, from flood risk management to energy-system investments.

The broad goal of our research is to provide decision-centric information for the sustainable design and management of integrated water resource systems.

We are interested in understanding fundamental principles that nature uses to build and control living systems at micrometer scales, in particular through their interactions with fluids.