We provide opportunities for students.

Our students learn from and work with people and partners on campus and throughout the world. Together, we confront environment and sustainability challenges head-on and with confidence. We aim to be bold. We take heart in working together to sustain and restore healthy conditions that sustain people and the diverse wonders of our planet.

We span the resources of Cornell.

As a cross-college major, we are available to students in the College of Arts & Sciences and the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences. Five Cornell colleges are represented by faculty and courses associated with the major. Cornell programs and facilities throughout the U.S. and other countries further extend our reach beyond the Ithaca campus.

We work across the globe.

Our network of faculty, staff and alumni support our undergraduate students throughout their time on campus and beyond. Faculty and alumni provide connections with a broad range of local, regional, national and international off-campus organizations and institutions working together with common purpose.

A single solar panel in the foreground and McGraw Tower in the background at dusk.
Campus partners
Three students working in a group near Beebe Lake
Learning goals

Making a positive impact

Student experiences, alumni pathways, news and other environment and sustainability stories.

Illustration of sturgeon swimming with yellow sound waves in the background

News

Newly discovered ‘thunder’ of Atlantic sturgeon inspires awe

The finding gives New York state another tool to locate and understand the behavior of the endangered Atlantic sturgeon, an iconic species decimated by overfishing.

  • New York State Water Resources Institute
  • Ashley School of Global Development and the Environment
  • Water

News

Senior Research Associate Jim Watkins and graduate student Kayden Nasworthy attended the annual conference of the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography in Montreal, Quebec from May 12-17. Watkins presented data on nearshore zooplankton...

  • Biological Field Station
  • Ashley School of Global Development and the Environment
  • Natural Resources and the Environment Section
Illustration with students packing foods for a food pantry

News

From donating excess dining hall food to surveying their peers' leftovers, students reduce waste and make campus more sustainable.

  • Ashley School of Global Development and the Environment
  • Environment
  • Food
Lake Michigan graph

News

CBFS scientists team up with Buffalo State to review the impact of the invasive quagga mussel on the native burrowing amphipod on both sides of the Atlantic. These amphipods are keystone species in North American and Eurasian freshwater...
  • Biological Field Station
  • Ashley School of Global Development and the Environment
  • Natural Resources and the Environment Section
Oneida Lake overview

News

With Oneida Lake changing through invasive species, resurgence of native species and climate change, it was time for an update of our Oneida Lake Profile. Last version was written in 2006. Since then, there is even more clear patterns of...
  • Biological Field Station
  • Ashley School of Global Development and the Environment
  • Natural Resources and the Environment Section