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Discover CALS

See how our current work and research is bringing new thinking and new solutions to some of today's biggest challenges.

CALS Webinars

Stay connected with CALS. Explore special webinars, CALS Coffee Breaks and CALS Talks.

Communicating Effectively with Emerging Adults

CALS professor and senior associate dean Sahara Byrne offers insight on how you can communicate effectively with your child, especially when they return home from the university setting.

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Professor Sahara Byrne

Recent Special Webinars

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Fall 2021 Town Hall with Dean Houlton
CALS Dean Ben Houlton provides an update on the college, looks back on his first year as dean, and gives us a look ahead to the future of CALS.

November 17, 2021
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The Code Breakers: The Next Generation
Join Dean Houlton and rising star CALS faculty for the 2021 Liberty Hyde Bailey Lecture to unlock the mysteries of DNA and open a new world of discovery and scientific innovation.

June 11, 2021
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Dean Houlton stands in the Ag Quad
Spring 2021 Town Hall with Dean Houlton
Check in with Dean Houlton for information on the college, new faculty hires, admissions and CALS' strategic plans.

April 21, 2021
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Professor Margaret Frank holds a plant
New Ways to Grow Bigger and Brighter Plants
In the 2021 Fred H. Hicks '62 Memorial Lecture, CALS assistant professor Margaret Frank PhD ’14 discusses her work with plant grafting and how her research can impact the color of flowers we grow and the varieties of vegetables we eat.

February 21, 2021
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Green grapes on the vine
Past CALS Special Webinars
Weatherpeople, winegrapes and climate change are just a few of the topics we've explored.

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CALS Coffee Breaks

CALS Coffee Breaks is a new series that was launched in April 2020 for all members of the Cornell community, spotlighting some of the unique work and passions of CALS alumni in half-hour to hour-long webinars.

CALS Coffee Breaks

Stories of the People from the Longhouse

Perry Ground ’91, a Turtle Clan member of the Onondaga Nation of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy, talks about his work as a storyteller, and shares two special tales.

CALS Coffee Breaks

“Little and Often: A Memoir”

Trent Preszler MS ’02, PhD ’12, talks about his best-selling memoir, his relationship with and estrangement from his father, and how the toolbox he left as his one bequest prompted a journey of understanding and self-discovery.

CALS Coffee Breaks

Blizzards, Hurricanes and Groundhog Day

Rob Marciano '91, ABC News senior meteorologist of “World News Tonight” and the weekend edition of “Good Morning America,” joins us to talk about his career, his time at Cornell, and what it takes to cover weather events--all from the front seat of an SUV as he covered the blizzard that took place on Groundhog Day 2021.

CALS Coffee Breaks

The CALS Student Experience

What is student life like today for CALS students? How are they succeeding in the current environment? Meet a diverse group of extraordinary CALS students, and hear how they are taking advantage of their CALS and Cornell education.
 

CALS Coffee Breaks

How School of Rock Rolls on During Crisis

School of Rock CEO Rob Price '90 shares how they were able to pivot quickly at the onset of the COVID crisis to continue to bring life-changing musical experiences to their students. 

CALS Coffee Breaks

Journalism in the Time of COVID-19

NBC Sunday Nightly News anchor Kate Snow ’91 discusses how the pandemic has affected her work as a broadcast journalist, shares what it’s like balancing working and caring for family at home, and offers advice to recent graduates.

CALS Coffee Breaks

Talking Cheese

Stephen Gellert ’03 MBA ’07, executive vice president of The World’s Best Cheeses, talks about a new Cornell student cheese, and Matt Ranieri ’06 PhD ’13, of Acme Smoked Fish discusses the creation of Stockinghall Cheddar, winner of Best in Show from the American Cheese Society in 2019.

CALS Coffee Breaks

Dating & Relationships in the Time of COVID-19

Dr. Marisa Cohen ’06 discusses the science of relationships and the human connection. This CALS Coffee Break covers common misconceptions, ways to determine our “pool of eligible partners”, early courtship experiences, as well as how dating changed during COVID-19. 

CALS Coffee Breaks

The History of CALS

Corey Earle '07, Cornell's unofficial historian, takes us through the history of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, from Ezra Cornell's early days in agriculture to the college's present-day history.

CALS Coffee Breaks

The Art of Storytelling

Ryan Silbert '02 discusses the art of storytelling, his journey as a writer, and his collaboration with Stan Lee on the New York Times bestseller Stan Lee’s Alliances: A Trick of Light, an original, first-of-its kind audio storytelling event.

CALS Coffee Breaks

How I Constructed the New York Times Crossword Puzzle

Robyn Weintraub ’91 shares how she became a crossword puzzle constructor and how she created the puzzle that ran in the New York Times on April 17, 2020.

Man in native American traditional dress
Man on Zoom sits in front of a bookshelf
Weatherman stands in front of a weather screen
Students walking on the Ag Quad with masks on
Rob Price, School of Rock CEO, in his office
Photo of Kate Snow
Stockinghall Cheddar Cheese
Dr. Marisa Cohen leans against a brick wall
Photo of Corey Earle
Photo of Ryan Silbert
Drawing of crossword puzzle constructor Robyn Weintraub.

CALS Talks

CALS Talks, produced by eCornell, was launched in October 2018 and features a sampling of CALS faculty sharing their incredible research, education and outreach with alumni all over the world.

Explore CALS' life-changing work

Woman looks through glass with spiders
The Tangled Lives of Social Spiders

Dr. Linda Rayor of the CALS Department of Entomology discusses the social lives of spiders, in particular the social huntsman spiders, which live a dramatic life of cooperation and conflict.

Woman standing next to a bookcase
Bias in STEM

Dr. Corrie Moreau, the Martha N. and John C. Moser Professor of Arthropod Biosystematics and Biodiversity, shares the history of how women and underrepresented communities have faced bias within the scientific community in the past and how we can overcome these biases in the future.

Professor Susan Brown with apples
How Do You Like Them Apples?

Join Dr. Susan Brown, the Herman M. Cohn Professor of Agriculture and Life Science, as she discusses the science of apple breeding and the three newest varieties Cornell is bringing to market: Cordera, Pink Luster and Firecracker.

Past CALS Talks

Dr. Peter McIntyre, CALS Associate Professor of Natural Resources, discusses the impacts of climate change, toxic pollution and aquaculture on freshwater fish worldwide.

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Rising temperatures, ocean acidification and de-oxygenation are causing dramatic changes in our marine ecosystems. In this webinar, Bruce Monger, Senior Lecturer, Earth & Atmospheric Science, will explain how rising carbon dioxide concentrations threaten global ocean ecosystems and the need to take effective action now.

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Experts predict the world’s population will top 9 billion people by 2050. Dean Kathryn J. Boor, the previous dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, speaks to how both Cornell and CALS are working to improve the world’s food supply, keep the environment healthy and promote sustainability.

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Professor Lee Humphreys ’99, Associate Professor, Communication, looks at mobile and social media through an historical perspective, revealing what is new about these ways to communicate and how they are similar to individual communication across several hundred years.

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Want to understand the winter weather and just don’t get it? Professor Art DeGaetano, Earth & Atmospheric Science, explains the polar vortex, the impact of climate change and other meteorological information to help you understand current weather patterns.

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Professor Emeritus George Hudler, Plant Science, created one of the most popular classes on campus. In this webinar, he provides information on how fungi have evolved and migrated to new environments, while also offering useful information on those mushrooms growing in your garden.

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Co-sponsored by CALSAA and the Human Ecology Alumni Association, join Natalie Bazarova, associate professor in the Department of Communication and Human Ecology’s Janis Whitlock as they discuss the Social Media TestDrive platform for young people created by researchers in Cornell’s Social Media Lab. 

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