Core Courses for Integrative Plant Science MPS

Integrative Plant Science MPS majors must complete 13 credits of core courses as follows:

Professional Development: 5 - 9 credits
Quantitative Literacy: 2 - 6 credits
Capstone Project: 2 - 6 credits

Below are some of the courses that can be used to meet the core course requirements.

Professional Development: 5 - 9 credits

Here are some of the courses you can take to fulfill the professional development requirement. Courses are not necessarily offered every semester or every year. Refer to the Courses of Study website for details.

PLSCI 5050 Cultivating Community through Self-discovery and Skill Development (2 credits) - Form trustworthy relationships and be a part of creating and benefiting from reflection and meaningful conversation. Learn principles and practices for deeper listening. Discover an inner capacity to lead a more authentic, meaningful and resilient life, forming a commitment to positive action and courage to act with integrity. Consider questions to inform your “right fit” with regard to your profession, develop the inner authority to articulate who you are, what you are about, and how you intend to contribute – all as a vital foundation for your professional life beyond graduate student life. Cultivate the skills and capacities to form community in the classroom, with others at Cornell, and in the spaces in which you will live and work one day.
PADM 5431 Fundraising, Grantmaking, and Lobbying (1.5 credits) - This course is designed for graduate students considering a career in the non-profit sector. It will provide an overview of philanthropy, specific giving vehicles (annual fund, major gifts, capital gifts, deferred gifts, etc.), capital campaigns, grant writing, working with private foundations and community foundations, and crowdfunding techniques. At the completion of the course students will have a strong working knowledge of key principles and techniques of fundraising and a familiarity with gift vehicles and instruments.
NCC 5540 Managing and Leading Organizations (3 credits) - People are the heart of organizations. Managing them well requires a sophisticated understanding of the self and others. Good leadership requires deliberate thought and significant effort. It is a continually developing life skill that becomes increasingly important for effectiveness as one rises in the hierarchy of an organization. To help students in their ongoing efforts to be equipped for success as leaders, the two primary purposes of this course are: (1) to build skill and broad fluency with organizational leadership and behavior (2) to develop a personal leadership philosophy based on a) an informed understanding of management concepts at the individual, group, and organizational level and b) self-knowledge and introspection regarding personal values, goals, and perspectives about oneself and others.
NBA 5690 Management Consulting Essentials (1.5 credits) - This course will help students learn about consulting and the skills and capabilities to be a successful consultant. The course will begin with a module on successful case interviews. The consulting process will be discussed and why it leads to successful solutions for complex business problems. With the consulting process understood the course will focus on developing a problem definition diagnostic framework, hypotheses, analytical approaches, data collection and conclusions. The course will also include concepts critical to consulting including interviewing to collect information, facilitating meetings, managing clients and their expectations, selling recommendations and developing impactful presentations. The course will use a combination of lectures, case work, individual and teamwork to learn the concepts.
NBA 5670 Management Writing (1.5 credits) - This course is designed to develop your writing skills in the context of practical business applications. It begins with a strategic perspective on business writing and focuses on the elements that make your writing clear, concise, efficient, and effective. You will improve the engagement, clarity, content, and flow of your management writing as well as increase your confidence in your communication skills. The course is suitable for students for whom English is their native language, as well as students for whom English may be a second or third language.
NBA 5640 The Business of Entrepreneurship (3 credits) - The Business of Entrepreneurship is a comprehensive introduction to the key aspects of envisioning, starting and running a new business. The Business of Entrepreneurship focuses both on concepts and frameworks in entrepreneurship and on "doing" entrepreneurship. Students will form teams, ideate new businesses, complete customer development, construct business models and work towards defining minimum viable products. Topics covered will include definition of the market, sales and distribution, competition, hiring and management of people, cash flow and financial management, making compelling pitches and raising capital. The course culminates in a capstone project of writing a business plan and presenting to a group of entrepreneurs and investors. This course is appropriate both for students interested in launching an entrepreneurial endeavor or students who will benefit from learning frameworks applied to the entrepreneurial process.
NBA 5380 The Business Idea Factory (1.5 credits) - Do you want to become an entrepreneur, but you don’t yet have that brilliant idea? This class will help you come up with new ideas and evaluate which ones are the most worth pursuing to ensure you invest your time and energies on ideas that have the most promise. The first section of the course will be about places and processes that you can use to find inspiration to come up with a large number of potential business ideas. We will then walk through a systematic process to evaluate, validate, and quantify the best ideas for each team. This process will be assisted by experienced entrepreneurs as guest speakers who will share the inspirations for their businesses, the methods they used to select those ideas as worthy of pursuit, as well as insights into their careers.
NBA 5150 Leadership Theory & Practice (3 credits) - This course will focus on the challenges of effective leadership in a complex world. The course has four significant parts: 1. Exploring historical and contemporary theories and models of leadership through the required text and selected articles; 2. Examining and applying the Johnson School’s Leadership Model; 3. Analyzing the practical challenges of leadership through case studies, and executive speakers; 4. Developing self-awareness of the student’s leadership strengths and weaknesses through the use of behavioral instruments and group exercises and creating a personal action plan for improvement. A critical element of this course will be the coaching and feedback students will receive on their own leadership styles and behaviors from their peers and instructor.
NBA 5070 Entrepreneurship for Scientists and Engineers (3 credits) - The course provides a hand-on experience for learning the key philosophies and tactics of entrepreneurial activity and the entrepreneurial mindset. The unique focus of this class is that it is designed for Scientists & Engineers who would start a business that would have meaningful technology at the heart of the company. This includes the development of a viable business concept, customer discovery, the evaluation and planning of the start-up businesses, go-to-market strategy, intellectual property, and financing. The course utilizes lectures, directed readings, and guest speakers. The goal is a meaningful understanding of how to design a new business venture, achieved by building and communicating the framework for a viable business.
ILRHR 6640 HR Research for Executive Decision-Making (3 credits) - Develops key HR competencies and skills for researching and presenting information necessary for executive decision making. The first several weeks cover the application of the design thinking model to the research process through instruction and hands-on experience. Following that, students act as consultants in a combined classroom and workplace setting as they work on special projects and topics posed by HR executives of primarily Fortune 500 companies. These team-based assignments give students exposure to different companies, their cultures, and executives while providing real work experience. Interviewing skills, report writing, and presentation methods are also covered.
HADM 6130 Entrepreneurial Management (3 credits) - This course addresses the issues faced by managers who wish to take a nascent idea and turn it into a viable organization that creates value, and empowers students to develop their own approaches, guidelines, and skills for being entrepreneurial managers.
GDEV 6820 Community Organizing and Development (3 credits) - This course is designed to provoke students from a wide variety of gradate fields to question and examine the cultural and political dimensions of development practice in everyday community settings and contexts. It’s specifically focused on the history, theory and practice of community organizing, and the roles NGO, government, academic, and other professionals do, can, and should play in the public work of democracy.
COMM 5660 Science Communication Workshop (1 credits) - This weekend workshop trains researchers in the sciences (including natural sciences, engineering, experimental social sciences, etc.) to communicate effectively with nonscientists such as policy makers, political stakeholders, the media, and the general public. Training activities may include role-play, reading/discussion, writing press releases and other outreach materials, and discussion with invited speakers.
ALS 5211 Career Readiness: Engaged Learning for CALS Professional Master’s Students (1 credit) - This course will provide CALS professional master’s students with career readiness, an integral part of achieving success upon degree completion. Career readiness can be defined as the attainment and demonstration of competencies that broadly prepare graduates for a successful career transition. This course will be taught with the Engaged Learning framework, which will give students the opportunity to integrate professional development skills into career and life experiences.
AEM 6145 Business and Management Fundamentals for STEM Graduate Students (1.5 credits) - Basic business and management skills are necessary to advance your career no matter what area of STEM discipline you plan to pursue. The purpose of this course is to provide the skills necessary to present a strong business case for any new biomedical or life science technology. Like any foreign language, “business eeze” has its own vocabulary, grammar principles and culture. The course will be presented in a similar fashion utilizing STEM case studies to emphasize and immerse the student in business and managerial principles.
AEM 5700 MPS Management Communication (1.5 credits) - Communication is perhaps the most complex thing humans do. It is arguably the most critical skill for thriving and surviving in almost any situation in the business world. This course is designed to improve your oral communication and presentation skills in the business environment. Course content includes hands-on lessons in effective design along with individual team, and virtual presentations. Public speaking, interpersonal skills, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills are emphasized. Development of these skills is integrated with the use of technology.
AEM 5110 Design and Innovation (3 credits) - This course introduces students to a design toolkit and mindset for creative problem solving that enables a shift from a 20th century, market-based perspective to a more sustainable, human-centered approach appropriate to this century’s systemic challenges. Topics covered include: opportunity finding and innovation; the design thinking cycle of inspiration-interpretation-ideation-implementation; and visual communication. Students will learn to apply design strategies to their work to make it more integrated and collaborative. This course will require openness to new ways of (divergent) thinking.

Quantitative Literacy: 2 - 6 credits

Here are some of the courses you can take to fulfill the quantitative literacy requirement. Courses are not necessarily offered every semester or every year. Refer to the Courses of Study website for details.

STSCI 5200 Biological Stats 1 (4 credits) - In this course, students develop statistical methods and apply them to problems encountered in the biological and environmental sciences. Methods include data visualization, population parameter estimation, sampling, bootstrap resampling, hypothesis testing, the Normal and other probability distributions, and an introduction to linear modeling. Applied analysis is carried out in the R statistical computing environment.
STSCI 5150 Introductory Statistics for Biology (4 credits) - This course provides an introduction to data analysis and statistical inference illustrated with biological applications. The computer labs will teach graphical analysis and statistical computation using R. Topics include graphical display, populations and sampling, probability distributions, expectation and variance, estimation, testing, correlation, regression, contingency tables, and the design of experiments. Emphasis is on concepts and the careful modeling of biological data, so that statistical methods are applied properly, pitfalls are avoided, and sound conclusions are reached.
STSCI 5120 Intro to R Programming (2 credits) - The course will cover the basics of R programming for reading and writing data, executing simple operations on data, performing basic analyses, and producing visual graphics. An emphasis will be placed on practical aspects and understanding of fundamental R objects and functions.
SOC 6310 Qualitative Research Methods for Studying Science, Technology, and Medicine (3 credits) - In this Graduate seminar we will discuss the nature, politics and basic assumptions underlying qualitative research. We will examine a selection of qualitative methods ranging from interviewing, oral history, ethnography, participant observation, archival research and visual methods. We will also discuss the relationship between theory and method. All stages of a research project will be discussed - choice of research topic and appropriate methods; human subject concerns and permissions; issues regarding doing research; as well as the process of writing up and publishing research findings.
SOC 6010 Statistics for Sociological Research (4 credits) - This course provides an introduction to analytical approaches in quantitative sociological research. The class will cover data description and graphical approaches, elementary probability theory, hypothesis testing, bivariate and multivariate linear regression, and data analysis and interpretation. Although the course will be taught using basic mathematics and statistics, I will develop the topics intuitively throughout the course. The class is geared towards sociological thinking–all homework and class examples will use real data and focus on questions from the social world. The course covers the basic building blocks of quantitative data analysis with the goal of training students to be informed consumers of quantitative social science research. This class is also the starting point for students interested in using quantitative methods in their own research.
PUBPOL 6040 Qualitative, Survey, and Mixed Method Approaches to Policy Research (3 credits) - Introduces students to theories and methods of data collection techniques such as in-depth interviews, ethnography, focus groups, and surveys as well as mixed-method approaches used in policy and evaluation research. Addresses the strengths and weaknesses of various methods and the design of qualitative and mixed-method studies. Covers epistemology, ethics, induction and deduction, measurement, validity, and triangulation. Also discusses more concrete issues such as gaining access to a field site, developing a qualitative interview guide and survey questionnaire, conducting a qualitative interview, managing data, and assessing data quality.
ILRST 6100 Statistical Methods I (4 credits) - Develops and uses statistical methods to analyze data arising from a wide variety of applications. Topics include descriptive statistics, point and interval estimation, hypothesis testing, inference for a single population, comparisons between two populations, one- and two-way analysis of variance, comparisons among population means, analysis of categorical data, and correlation and regression analysis. Introduces interactive computing through statistical software. Emphasizes basic principles and criteria for selection of statistical techniques.
GOVT 6019 Introduction to Probability and Applied Statistics (4 credits) - The goal of this course is to introduce probability and statistics as fundamental building blocks for quantitative political analysis, with regression modeling as a focal application. We will begin with a brief survey of probability theory, types of measurements, and descriptive statistics. The bulk of the course then addresses inferential statistics, covering in detail sampling, methods for estimating unknown quantities, and methods for evaluating competing hypotheses. We will see how to formally assess estimators, and some basic principles that help to ensure optimality. Along the way, we will introduce the use of regression models to specify social scientific hypotheses, and employ our expanding repertoire of statistical concepts to understand and interpret estimates based on our data. Weekly lab exercises require students to deploy the methods both ‘by hand’ so they can grasp the basic mathematics, and by computer to meet the conceptual demands of non-trivial examples and prepare for independent research. Some time will be spent reviewing algebra, calculus, and elementary logic, as well as introducing computer statistical packages.
GDEV 6190 Quantitative Research Methods (4 credits) - Graduate-level course in measurement and analysis of survey, demographic, and observational data. Topics include linear regression, analysis of variance, and analysis of covariance with both continuous and categorical variables. Non-linear regression models are also introduced in the form of logistic and multinomial logistic regression. Examples are illustrated using data from sources such as the General Social Survey, the U.S. Census, the American Community Survey, and the National Center for Educational Statistics. Students familiarize themselves with data cleaning, missing data estimation, variable transformations, sub-setting, and other data handling procedures using statistical programs such as STATA, SPSS, and SAS. Students are responsible for lab assignments involving the preparation of basic data preparation and analysis programs.
ENTOM 6060 Applied Statistics: Biological Experiments in Practice (4 credits) - In this course, you will get hands-on experience in how to design, analyze, and interpret biological experiments. This course will be particularly useful if you plan to conduct experiments in a greenhouse or field setting. You will learn to develop a scientific question, formulate biological and statistical hypotheses, derive testable predictions, design and conduct experiments, collect your own data, test the proposed hypotheses using appropriate statistical methods, interpret the statistical results within a broader conceptual framework, and finally present statistical methods and results in written and oral form. You will learn common statistical methods (chi-square tests, t-test, ANOVA, Regression) and in-class workshops will familiarize you with the software to run those statistical tests. This course will be based on the scientific method, and the role statistical analysis play within this method. Writing several papers, based on the experiments you performed and analyzed, will allow you to cement this knowledge for your future research.
DEA 6560 Research Methods in Social Sciences (4 credits) - For graduate students who want to gain an understanding of research design and methods. Course begins with fundamentals of research design and covers internal and external validity, measurement reliability and validity, and a variety of tools and techniques.
CRP 6201 Research Design and Qualitative Methods (3 credits) - The course explores theoretical and practical dimensions of research design and qualitative methods, particularly as they apply to city and regional planning. It critically analyzes how different paradigms of knowledge construction have shaped planning research and practice. Students learn elements of research design, data collection methods, and data analysis procedures, as well as how to evaluate research for its rigor, generalizability, and validity. The course also reviews questions related to research ethics and respect for human subjects.
COMM 6820 Quantitative Research Methods (3 credits) - Analyzes methods of communication research based on a social science foundation. Goals are to understand processes and rationales for qualitative, textual, survey, and experimental methods. Students gain experience with some of these methods through modest individual or group research projects and critiques of selected contemporary communication studies.
CEE 5980 Decision Framing and Analytics (3 credits) - Framework to structure the way we think about decision situations that are complicated by uncertainty, complexity, and competing objectives. Specific decision analysis concepts and tools, such as decision trees, sensitivity analysis, value of information, and utility theory. Applications to all areas of engineering and life. Includes a group project to analyze a real-world decision.
BTRY 6010 Statistical Methods I (4 credits) - Develops and uses statistical methods to analyze data arising from a wide variety of applications. Topics include descriptive statistics, point and interval estimation, hypothesis testing, inference for a single population, comparisons between two populations, one- and two-way analysis of variance, comparisons among population means, analysis of categorical data, and correlation and regression analysis. Introduces interactive computing through statistical software. Emphasizes basic principles and criteria for selection of statistical techniques.
BTRY 5090 Theory of Statistics (4 credits) - Introduction to classical theory of parametric statisticBTal inference that builds on the material covered in BTRY 3080. Topics include sampling distributions, principles of data reduction, likelihood, parameter estimation, hypothesis testing, interval estimation, and basic asymptotic theory.
BTRY 5010 Biological Statistics I (4 credits) - In this course, students develop statistical methods and apply them to problems encountered in the biological and environmental sciences. Methods include data visualization, population parameter estimation, sampling, bootstrap resampling, hypothesis testing, the Normal and other probability distributions, and an introduction to linear modeling. Applied analysis is carried out in the R statistical computing environment.
AEM 5605 Predictive Analytics for Business Strategy (2 credits) - The purpose of this course is to teach students how data analysis can inform strategy, within a framework centered on logical reasoning and practical communication. In doing so, we will develop the analytical tools and hands-on experience with data and economic models to optimally utilize information in decision-making, often in the context of economic consulting. The focus of the material will be on a subdivision of predictive analytics, called active prediction, which is most appropriate when evaluating business strategies. We will explore the implications and interrelationships between use of prediction, business processes, and firm strategy. In addition, students will develop presentation and communication skills, particularly with regard to quantitative outputs, and learn valuable, targeted computer programming skills. Finally, students will learn the basics of identification in order to better understand which data is most useful to collect when answering a given empirical question.
AEM 5510 Environmental Economics (3 credits) - This class will focus on the role of the environment in the theory and practice of economics. It will make use of microeconomic analysis at the intermediate level and will incorporate real-world examples. It examines market failures, externalities, benefit-cost analysis, non-market valuation techniques, cost-effective policy instruments, and recent applied work on the economics of the environment.
AEM 5225 Systems and Analytics in Accounting (3 credits) - An investigation of the systems and software that capture and store accounting and economic information, and of the tools and techniques that support a robust use of that data for the benefit of individual enterprises and greater society. Topics include "Big Data", Data Visualization, Optimization Tools and Accounting Support Systems and Databases. Students taking this course at the graduate level will have a semester project related to the extension of the utility of large data sets beyond their initial purposes.

Capstone Project: 2 - 6 credits

ALS 5910 Master of Professional Studies Project Completion (1 credit) - The MPS project is a degree requirement which showcases a student’s knowledge on a particular topic in their field of study. The student will analyze and summarize the results of their work conducted during the development of the project. The successful completion of this course indicates the completion of the MPS project.
ALS 5900 Master of Professional Studies Project Development (1-5 credits) - The MPS project is a degree requirement which showcases a student’s knowledge on a particular topic in their field of study. This project may be an action program, the development of a plan to address a pertinent problem, the development of materials or methodology suited to the student’s situation, or the development and execution of research appropriate to the profession. The project is the integration of coursework and skills acquired during the degree program.