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 chromosomes

News

Flipped chromosomal segments drive natural selection

Research finds that chromosomal inversions – which occur when a chunk of chromosome containing tens to thousands of genes breaks off, flips and reattaches – help certain species maintain genetic differences adapted to various regions.

  • Ashley School of Global Development and the Environment
  • Natural Resources and the Environment Section
bobolink bird

News

In June 2023, smoke from Canadian wildfires dampened birds’ vocalizations in New York state, with a particularly negative effect on already imperiled grassland birds.

  • Ashley School of Global Development and the Environment
  • Natural Resources
person hauling in a tow net

News

The Great Lakes Fishery Commission recently funded a Cornell DNRE and CBFS group for a new two-year project “Evaluating mysid abundance in Lake Michigan using two decades of fisheries acoustic data.” This project will involve DNRE graduate...
  • Biological Field Station
  • Ashley School of Global Development and the Environment
  • Natural Resources and the Environment Section
Bee

News

Five new projects from the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability and The Nature Conservancy seek to protect pollinators, restore oyster habitats, manage flood risk and support “cattlevoltaics.”

  • Cornell Atkinson
  • Ashley School of Global Development and the Environment
  • Natural Resources and the Environment Section
person standing next to poster at conference

News

The New York Chapter and Northeastern Division of the American Fisheries Society annual meeting was held in Saratoga, New York, from February 4-6. Seven Cornell Biological Field Station (CBFS) representatives attended, including Tom Brooking...
  • Biological Field Station
  • Ashley School of Global Development and the Environment
  • Natural Resources and the Environment Section