Honors Program
If your experiences in classes and other activities have left you wanting to dive into research more deeply, we encourage you to pursue an independent project and to write an honors thesis in your senior year. The core of this experience is designing and executing a project, then writing a manuscript that reports your findings in the standard format for professional journals in a relevant discipline. With guidance from your faculty Research Mentor, you will lead all steps of the project including communicating your results to the Cornell community.
Completing a novel research project and reporting the results in a professional manner are ideal preparation for graduate school or a research career. However, each step of the process will demand considerable time and energy, so you should think carefully about your time budget and level of interest before committing. Please talk through scenarios with your mentor(s).
Senior theses can report work in any domain (arts, social science, physical and life sciences, humanities, and more) as long as they focus on environmental and/or sustainability themes. The E&S Honors Program is open to any E&S major from the College of Arts and Sciences, and to all students in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Applicants must have a cumulative Cornell GPA of 3.0 or higher at the time of both entry and completion of the Honors Program.
Please do not hesitate to reach out if you would like to explore whether your research interests are a good fit for the E&S Honors Program.
Program Overview
It is ideal to launch thesis research before or during your junior year so that you have at least one summer to focus on your project. For students doing research off campus, the winter and summer breaks are often essential for collecting data.
Your final thesis must be submitted by mid-April in your senior spring semester for May graduates (very early December for December graduates). After approval by your faculty Research Mentor, your thesis manuscript is submitted to the E&S Honors Committee for formal review. In addition, all Honors candidates are expected to give a public presentation (oral or poster) in their final semester.
You can focus your thesis research on any topic or system, as long as it addresses an environmental or sustainability these. Reflecting the breadth of E&S concentrations, thesis research can be presented in any format that accords with the scholarly traditions of the relevant discipline(s). You can see examples of honors theses on eCommons, a public Cornell repository where Cornell student authors have granted a Release to Publish that makes their manuscript available for viewing.
Honors Application Process
Our application process has two parts: 1) completing a simple application questionnaire, and 2) submitting your thesis proposal (2 pages). The proposal will consist of four parts: a concise research question; a summary of background context (including published citations); a research plan (identifying the key steps in your research that will enable tyou to address your question), and a target timeline. The priority for this document is clear, careful thinkiing informed by discussions with your Research Mentor and others you may be collaborating with. Thus, we ask that you give your mentors time to review the proposal and provide constructive feedback that you can implement in the final draft.
APPLY HERE.
Example timeline for an E&S Honors Thesis
Junior Year
- Find a Research Mentor, and discuss your thesis ideas until you both agree on your question, plans, and timeline.
- Read appropriate reference material to become familiar with prior research in the same domain.
- Design and execute your research project during the summer.
Senior Year
- Apply to the E&S Honors Progam no later than September 25 (same deadline for both December and May graduates). If that application deadline is not feasible, please contact Professor Peter McIntyre (pbm3 [at] cornell.edu (pbm3[at]cornell[dot]edu)), faculty director of the E&S Honors Program, to discuss.
- There are no classes required to complete an Honors Thesis in E&S. However, some honors candidates enroll in Special Studies 4990 - Undergraduate Research, in consultation with their Research Mentor, to receive credit for work done during the fall and/or spring semesters.
- To enroll in research credits use the CALS Special Studies form available online.
- Select the home department of your Research Mentor to enroll in 4990 related to their field (e.g. NTRES 4990) or you may choose ENVS 4990. [Note: On the Special Studies form, choose ENVS as the home department of your mentor in order to enroll in ENVS credits.]
- If your faculty advisor is not listed under ENVS 4990, please contact the E&S program office at environment [at] cornell.edu (environment[at]cornell[dot]edu) and we will add the advisor to the system. Typically an update will take 1-2 business days.
- Arts & Sciences candidates, enroll in ENVS credits to receive AS credit!
- REMINDER, it is NOT required to enroll in research credits to submit a thesis.
- Attend both fall (9 September 2026) and spring (date TBD) honors cohort meetings with the E&S Honors faculty director.
- Submit a brief progress report by 20 December 2026. Details will be provided after your thesis proposal is approved.
- The deadline to submit your thesis submission is 15 April 2027. The reviewwers need time to evaluate your manuscript before Honors recommendations are made.
- By the end of classes, you will receive thesis feedback from the reviewwers, and have an opportunity to revise your manuscript.
- By the end of final exams, the revised version of your thesis will be due.
- Prior to graduation, all Honors candidates are expected to present their research findings in a forum iof some sort. There is considerable flexibility: it can be a lab group meeting, a professional society conference, an informal presentation to stakeholders, or anything else with an audience. There may be opportunities to join an undergraduate research forum at Cornell (details TBA).
- Finally, student authors may voluntarily publish their original honors research on eCommons, Cornell’s digital repository. That decision should be made in close consultation with their Research Mentor and other collaborators, to avoid interfering with other plans for use or publication. The eCommons Permission to Publish form is available on their website.
