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Science-based innovation for a changing world

Our Four Grand Challenges

Plants, their ecosystems, the soils in which they grow, and their associated microbes are foundational to our health and the health of our planet. In the face of a changing climate and growing pressure on natural and agricultural ecosystems, our research, teaching and outreach address these critical Grand Challenges.

Sustainable crop production and food security

Safeguarding future food security for all with sustainably managed nutritious crops in diverse production systems, under a changing climate, with minimal loss to weeds and pathogens.

Learn more about sustainable crop production and food security

Plants and ecosystem health

Integrating climate change mitigation and adaptation to secure ecosystem and human health and foster climate justice in diverse environments.

Learn more about plants and ecosystem health

Biodiversity, evolution, and molecular mechanisms

Understanding plant processes from molecular to ecosystem levels, and harnessing fundamental knowledge of plants, their associated microbes, and their relationships with the environment.

Learn more about biodiversity, evolution, and molecular mechanisms

Urban plants and ecosystem services

Enhancing food access and ecosystem services for equitable human and ecosystem health in high population areas.

Learn more about urban plants and ecosystem services

Make a difference! Study plant and agricultural sciences at Cornell.

Learn more about undergraduate majors in the School of Integrative Plant Science:

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tissue culture plants
Research areas in SIPS
measuring chlorophyll
Graduate studies in SIPS
field day
SIPS extension & outreach

School of Integrative Plant Science sections

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Cultivating an inclusive community

School of Integrative Plant Science News

Learn how our research in plant and soil sciences is advancing our knowledge and securing food security and environmental sustainability. Stories from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences newsroom.

monkeyflower poking out from rocks

News

Rapid evolution can ‘rescue’ species from climate change

In response to extreme drought, scarlet monkeyflower populations rapidly evolved and recovered, providing a window into climate change adaptation.

  • School of Integrative Plant Science
  • Plant Biology Section
  • Evolution
Jiameng Lai, Ph.D. ’25

News

Doctoral alumna wins Ph.D. Dissertation Award

Soil and crop sciences alumna Jiameng Lai, Ph.D. '25, was selected as a winner of the SUNY Chancellor Distinguished Ph.D. Dissertation Award.

  • School of Integrative Plant Science
  • Soil and Crop Sciences Section
A monarch butterfly on milkweed.

News

Seed research is key to pollinator habitat restoration 
Monarch butterflies and other pollinators are essential to ecosystems and agriculture, supporting the reproduction of flowering plants and the production of fruits and vegetables. But decades of habitat loss, pesticide use and the disappearance...
  • Cornell AgriTech
  • School of Integrative Plant Science
  • Horticulture Section

Land Acknowledgment

Cornell University is located on the traditional homelands of the Gayogo̱hó:nǫɁ (the Cayuga Nation). The Gayogo̱hó:nǫɁ are members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, an alliance of six sovereign Nations with a historic and contemporary presence on this land. The Confederacy precedes the establishment of Cornell University, New York state, and the United States of America. We acknowledge the painful history of Gayogo̱hó:nǫɁ dispossession, and honor the ongoing connection of Gayogo̱hó:nǫɁ people, past and present, to these lands and waters.

This land acknowledgment has been reviewed and approved by the traditional Gayogo̱hó:nǫɁ leadership. Learn more from the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program website.