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Discover CALS

See how our current work and research is bringing new thinking and new solutions to some of today's biggest challenges.

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Research

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

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

The first undergraduate textbooks in mammology, ornithology and food science? Check. The first successful integration of botany and zoology in 1967’s Biological Science? Check. A 1925 handbook of nature study 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

Undergraduate research

Discovering new genes

Cameron Xu ’26 is using biometry and statistics to help Cornell CALS animal science professor Vimal Selvaraj identify new genes. Together, they’re investigating how steroid hormones regulate the body’s processes, uncovering new knowledge that could advance cancer research and solve other human health challenges.

Explore synthetic biology at CALS
Play CALS Undergraduate Research Experience: Cameron Xu '26

Latest news, discoveries and breakthroughs

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

Scott Morris with plants in a greenhouse

News

18-year study: deer inhibit trees, raise plant diversity
At high densities, white-tailed deer inhibit growth of trees but increase the overall diversity of smaller plant and weed species, according to a long-term study published Dec. 23 in PLOS One. Twenty years ago, Cornell researchers established...
  • Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station
  • Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
  • School of Integrative Plant Science
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News

Are we asking the right questions to prevent tick-borne illnesses?

Research on prior surveys finds very few people have been asked why they chose not to take preventative actions.

  • Cornell Integrated Pest Management
  • Entomology
  • Disease
Jonathan Chai in a green house with datura and squash flowers

Field Note

Jonathan Chai ’24: Exploring plants, insects and floral microclimates
Jonathan Chai ‘24 worked for two years as an undergraduate research assistant in the lab of Robert Raguso , professor of neurobiology and behavior. Raguso’s lab made the first discovery that insects are attracted to plants as much by humidity as...
  • Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station
  • School of Integrative Plant Science
  • Agriculture
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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

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Faculty research support