Purpose-driven science? We literally wrote the book on it.

The first undergraduate textbooks in , and ? Check. The first successful integration of botany and zoology in 1967’s ? Check. A 1925 handbook of that is still a primary resource on the subject? Check.

The research of Cornell CALS scientists, students and staff hasn’t just informed discovery and innovation, but it is also the foundation upon which fields of study have been built. 

In this section

We accelerate purpose-driven science by supporting inquiry that crosses disciplinary boundaries and stretches from discovery to invention.

Natural and Human Systems: Social, Physical, and Economic Well-Being; and Sustainable Food, Energy, and Agricultural Resources

The world is complex and intertwined, and bringing global challenges into focus takes more than one lens.

That’s why we focus on three overlapping spheres of inquiry. 

We work relentlessly to understand the systems that drive the human and natural worlds. We do this to promote the well-being of communities and to ensure access to sustainable food, energy and environmental resources.

Because no single discipline is able to address the complex problems facing our communities, CALS researchers collaborate across disciplines.

By working in and across multiple scientific areas, CALS is able to address the challenges and opportunities of the greatest relevance, here in New York, across the nation and around the world.

Research in lab

Undergraduate Opportunities

Plant Science researchers working in a lab.
Graduate Student Grants

Opportunities include Andrew W. Mellon Student Research Grants, Arthur Boller Research Fund, Kieckhefer Adirondack Fellowships and Grant Proposal Application Instructions

researcher in field

Faculty Research Support

Biology Scholars Program

Supporting undergraduate diversity in Biological Sciences

Office of Research Development

Assisting faculty at all levels in creating research

students in group
researchers in lab

Did you know?

Explore some of the discoveries that have changed lives and industries.

Disease-resistant Papaya

In the 1990s, he developed the first ever transgenic, disease-resistant papaya which effectively saved Hawaii’s $11 million papaya industry.

Five-kingdom Scheme

He proposed the five-kingdom scheme of classification for organisms in 1969, adding three kingdoms--Monera (bacteria), Protista, and Fungi--to the previous two--animals and plants.

Nine Plant Patents

She holds nine U.S. plant patents: four sweet cherries, one tart cherry, and four apple varieties, including SnapDragon™ and RubyFrost.™

First Molecular Maps

He developed the first molecular maps of both rice and tomatoes.

Red Wine Benefits

He was first to discover that Resveratrol in red wine is beneficial for human heart health.

World's First "Gene Gun"

They developed the world’s first "gene gun", a prototype of which is found in the National Museum of American History.

Latest news, discoveries, and breakthroughs

Explore the work we’re doing today and discover how it’s reshaping tomorrow.

An asian male standing in a room containing pens of chickens with male and female lab workers behind him

News

Cornell partners in $10M poultry science grant
The grant, awarded by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture on Sept. 1 and co-led by the University of Arkansas, is among the largest grants ever awarded by the USDA, and dovetails with Cornell’s land-grant missions of research,...
  • Animal Science
  • Animals
  • Environment
A blue ocean with fish swimming in a school far in the distance and multi-colored coral in the foreground with a plastic back wrapped around it

FutureCast

A sea of troubles: Marine ecosystems send an SOS
Read more This article originally appeared in Cornell Alumni Magazine (CAM). Explore CAM Marine ecologist Drew Harvell was a University of Washington doctoral student in zoology in 1982 when she went on a research trip off Panama’s western coast...
  • Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
  • Animals
  • Disease
View more news & stories