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

Environment News

Solar panels floating on a pond

News

New approach models potential and trade-offs of floating solar

Researchers project significant energy gains from using floating solar on just 3.5% of waterbodies in the Northeastern U.S., even with approaches that preserve biodiversity and recreation.

  • Cornell Atkinson
  • Natural Resources and the Environment
  • Biodiversity
a handful of healthy soil

News

“We don’t think about waste as a resource, but we should,” added Lori Leonard, professor and chair of global development in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. “Our landfills are filling up, and nobody wants a new landfill in their...
  • Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station
  • PRO-DAIRY
  • Food Science
Close up of blue microbes floating

News

Cornell geochemists and synthetic biologists have collaborated to improve the efficiency of microbes that can dissolve rocks to extract critical minerals while speeding carbon sequestration from air.

  • Biological and Environmental Engineering
  • Microbial biology
  • Environment
a flock of birds fly over a blue track and compost pile

Field Note

Jean Bonhotal, director of the Cornell Waste Management Institute, has been helping farmers and regulatory agencies deal with the toughest organic waste disposal issues for the past 35 years. Here, she explains how she’s helping farmers and...
  • Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station
  • Environment
2024 Interdisciplinary Studies Major Graduation

News

Join us in recognizing the CALS class of 2025.
  • Landscape Architecture
  • Nutritional Sciences
  • Agriculture
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Events

Brent Sinclair Headshot

Spotlight

Meet our faculty: Brent Sinclair
Academic focus: Insect environmental physiology Research summary: I study how insects survive and thrive in harsh environments. Although we center our research on the insect, we follow mechanisms all the way to molecular biology and consequences...
  • Department of Entomology
  • Entomology
  • Physiology
Melissa Guzman Headshot

Spotlight

Academic focus: Biodiversity big data and insect conservation Research summary: The goal of my research is to help improve insect conservation by developing statistical methods that better use all available data. While the distribution of some...
  • Department of Entomology
  • Entomology
  • Pollinators
Steven Mana'oakamai Johnson wearing a yellow and white shirt standing with arms folded.

Spotlight

Academic focus: Ocean conservation and social-ecological systems. Research summary: I study the relationship between people and the ocean, ranging from Indigenous Pacific Islander communities traditionally managing coral reefs to geopolitical...
  • American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program
  • Natural Resources and the Environment
  • Development Sociology