Graduate Field of Natural Resources

The sheer complexity, interrelatedness and multiple facets within the broad field of environmental management and sustainability make this profession as exciting as it is rewarding. Within this specialization, students in Cornell’s Field of Natural Resources will be embedded in an academic community of highly motivated, broadly diverse and globally renowned experts and practitioners of conservation, policy, ecology, resource economics, environmental attitudes and decision processes, sustainable practices and social ecological systems.

Water scarcity is rapidly becoming the most limiting resource globally—due to the complex interactions of an expanding human population, mismanagement and undervaluing of water—and the predicament is only being exacerbated by climate change. With more than 35 classes and 65 faculty, Cornell is a leading institution for studying every aspect of water resource management from fisheries to hydropower, from ditch networks and streams to the Great Lakes, which comprise more than 20% of the world’s freshwater.

People and the environment are intricately intertwined, and the success or failure of environmental stewardship often depends on understanding and integrating people in environmental decision making. Cornell and the Field of Natural Resource are leaders in applying interdisciplinary approaches to understanding and addressing environmental problems.

Implicit to the concept of sustainability is the wise use of natural resources, without degrading the environment or undermining the ecological processes that contribute to long-term stability. The Sustainability Science specialization offers a multidisciplinary approach to concepts, applications and contemporary techniques involved in ensuring maintenance, stability and long-term health of some of the world’s most critical resources.

Forests are increasingly important to the well-being of human communities, providing direct benefits and ecosystem services, such as sequestration of carbon dioxide, maintenance of high biodiversity and conservation of water, nutrients and soil. In the field of Natural Resources, we focus on rejuvenation, regeneration and re-establishment of natural cycles, to improve forest health and create self-sustaining forest ecosystems.