Training next-generation development practitioners

Our 1-year Master of Professional Studies in Global Development is designed for early and mid-career professionals to take their career to their next level. This program will enhance your practical and technical skills and prepare you for a career in field-based development and policy in low-income and rural communities around the globe. Our graduate students and alumni are at the frontlines of developing solutions to pressing issues — from agriculture and food systems to gender, economics and demographics — on the local and global scale.

Student research

Learn how our MPS students connect their research interests with a passion to make a difference in the world.

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News

Maria Orozco, MPS '24: Bridging global farming communities
Maria Orozco came to Cornell with a commitment to empowering farmers, namely through outreach and education that can address the ever-evolving needs of underserved and marginalized communities in our food systems. When a research opportunity...
  • Department of Global Development
  • Global Development
Woman tends to a strawberry field in Nigeria

Field Note

In the wake of Nigeria's devastating 2022 floods, Mercy Awazi Abutsa, MPS ’24 , a dedicated advocate for climate action and rural development, found renewed purpose. Inspired by the urgent need to address climate change alongside existing...
  • Department of Global Development
  • Global Development
Elizabeth	Arrazola headshot

Field Note

After serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco, Elizabeth Arrazola returned to the United States with a passion to support equitable immigration rights, particularly for unaccompanied minors. This path led her to the Master of Professional...
  • Department of Global Development
  • Global Development

Alumni spotlights

Are you wondering where a graduate education in Global Development can take you? Meet some of our MPS alumni who have taken lessons learned to advance their careers in every corner of the world.

A man poses near corn in a greenhouse

Science & Technology Policy Fellow, USAID/American Association for the Advancement of Science

student ashraf bhuiyan sitting with computer outside.

Assistant vice president, Infrastructure Development Company Limited (Bangladesh)

Ariana Constant

Director, Clinton Development Initiative

student michal matejczuk working in field.

Ph.D. student in Food Science and Technology, Cornell University

Parasto Hamed

Consulting Specialist, Deloitte; Field Coordinator, AgResults Project

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Founder, Potohar Organization for Development Advocacy (Pakistan)

Connect with us

Ed Mabaya headshot
Ed Mabaya

Research Professor

Department of Global Development

Director, Humphrey Fellowship Program

Department of Global Development

Co-Director, Graduate Field of Global Development

Department of Global Development

Ed Mabaya
Applied Economics and Policy
Food and Agricultural Economics
International and Development Economics and Policy
Headshot of Derar Lulu
Derar Lulu

Graduate Field Coordinator

Department of Global Development

Derar Lulu
  • dl987 [at] cornell.edu