MPS careers and faculty interests

Use this page to zero in on which concentration will best meet your career goals, and which faculty advisor can help you make the most of your Cornell IPS-MPS experience.

For each concentration, we've listed some careers that that concentration can help prepare you for.  Then we've listed faculty who are active in the focal area.  Use that information to help you zero in on the faculty who you think would be most helpful to you as mentors.

Questions? Contact Tara Reed, Plant Science MPS Program Coordinator, (607) 255-2131 tln2 [at] cornell.edu (tln2[at]cornell[dot]edu).

Visit the Agronomy program page.

Agronomy careers:

  • Cropping systems specialist
  • Crop consultant
  • Extension educator
  • Agronomist
  • Natural resources conservation specialist
  • Farm manager
  • Forage specialist
  • Cover crop specialist
  • International cropping specialist
  • Research technician
  • Farm business manager
  • Agronomic sales and management
  • Technical specialist with government and non-governmental organizations

Agronomy focus area faculty and their interests:

Jerome Cherney 

  • Environmental sustainability
  • Grass bioenergy
  • Profitable management of forage crops

Antonio DiTommaso   

  • Biological weed management
  • Invasive species
  • Weed ecology

Peter Hobbs   

  • Agroforestry
  • International agriculture
  • Tropical cropping systems

Louis Longchamps   

  • On-farm research
  • Precision agriculture
  • Site-specific weed management and variable rate nitrogen management

Andrew McDonald   

  • Agricultural sustainability, food security, water resources and climate
  • Cropping systems ecology
  • International agriculture, policy, and applied social sciences

Matthew Ryan   

  • Cover crops and ecological weed management
  • Organic production
  • Sustainable cropping systems and agroecology

Tim Setter   

  • Drought and environmental stress physiology
  • International agriculture
  • Maize, wheat and cassava breeding and genomics

Peter Woodbury   

  • Agricultural and forest ecosystems
  • Geospatial modeling, land use and environmental quality
  • Greenhouse gas emissions

Visit the Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) program page.

Potential Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) careers:

  • CEA/greenhouse grower
  • CEA/greenhouse research support specialist
  • CEA/greenhouse pest management specialist
  • CEA/greenhouse facilities manager
  • CEA/greenhouse lighting systems specialist
  • CEA/greenhouse operations manager
  • CEA/greenhouse hemp grower
  • CEA/greenhouse hydroponics specialist

Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) focus area faculty and their interests:

Neil Mattson

  • Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA)
  • Greenhouse horticulture
  • Greenhouse lighting and systems engineering
  • CEA/Greenhouse hemp production

William Miller

  • Flower bulbs and floriculture
  • Greenhouse and nursery crops
  • Physiology and post-harvest management
  • CEA/Greenhouse hemp production

Visit the Climate Change and Agriculture program page.

Climate Change and Agriculture careers:

  • Climate/environmental scientist
  • Biofuels specialist
  • Climate smart farming specialist
  • Sustainability consultant
  • Conservation scientist

Climate Change and Agriculture focus area faculty and their interests:

Taryn Bauerle

  • Woody plant root biology and physiological ecology
  • Water stress
  • Root herbivory

Mike Gore

  • Quantitative genetics and genomics
  • High-throughput phenotyping tools
  • Nutritional genomics

Johannes Lehmann 

  • Soil biogeochemistry, fertility management, organic matter, and carbon and nutrient cycling from wastes
  • Soil carbon sequestration and biochar systems
  • Sustainable agriculture in the tropics

Louis Longchamps

  • On-farm research
  • Precision agriculture
  • Site-specific weed management and variable rate nitrogen management

Andrew McDonald  

  • Agricultural sustainability, food security, water resources and climate
  • Cropping systems ecology, International agriculture, policy, and applied social sciences

Rebecca Nelson 

  • Genetics of quantitative disease resistance in plants
  • International agriculture and rural development
  • Mycotoxin management

Tim Setter   

  • Drought and environmental stress physiology,
  • International agriculture
  • Maize, wheat and cassava breeding and genomics

Diana Sinton  

  • Geographic information science and systems and natural resources management
  • Integration of in social and cultural data in GIS and humanitarian mapping projects
  • Geospatial literacy and spatial thinking, GIS in Higher Education

Ying Sun

  • Canopy- to global-scale modeling
  • Geospatial analysis and big data synthesis
  • Remote sensing

Janice Thies   

  • International agriculture
  • Soil biology quality assessment and remediation
  • Soil ecology

Peter Woodbury 

  • Agricultural and forest ecosystems
  • Geospatial modeling, land use and environmental quality
  • Greenhouse gas emissions

Dominic Woolf  

  • Biochar, Soil carbon sequestration and climate-smart agriculture
  • Sustainable landscape management, agroforestry reforestration and restoration of degraded land

Visit the  Crop Science program page.

Crop Science careers:

  • Crop advisor
  • Crop consultant
  • Extension educator
  • Cropping systems specialist
  • Crop production manager
  • International cropping specialist
  • Fertilizer, water & pest management specialists
  • Field-trial, greenhouse, and laboratory technician and manager
  • Educators and extension specialists.
  • Farm business manager
  • Horticulturist

Crop Science focus area faculty and their interests:

Jerome Cherney   

  • Environmental sustainability
  • Grass bioenergy
  • Profitable management of forage crops

Antonio DiTommaso   

  • Biological weed management
  • Invasive species
  • Weed ecology

Peter Hobbs   

  • Agroforestry
  • International agriculture
  • Tropical cropping systems

Louis Longchamps   

  • On-farm research
  • Precision agriculture
  • Site-specific weed management and variable rate nitrogen management

Andrew McDonald   

  • Agricultural sustainability, food security, water resources and climate
  • Cropping systems ecology
  • International agriculture, policy, and applied social sciences

Matthew Ryan  

  • Cover crops and ecological weed management
  • Organic production
  • Sustainable cropping systems and agroecology

Tim Setter   

  • Drought and environmental stress physiology
  • International agriculture
  • Maize, wheat and cassava breeding and genomics

Peter Woodbury 

  • Agricultural and forest ecosystems
  • Geospatial modeling, land use and environmental quality
  • Greenhouse gas emissions

Visit the Geospatial Applications program page.

Geospatial Careers:

  • Geospatial analytics scientist
  • Precision agriculture specialist
  • Digital agriculture specialist
  • Environmental management
  • Land use management
  • Wildlife conservation
  • Regional planning
  • Climate change monitoring and analysis
  • Transportation planning and logistics
  • Surveying and digital cartography
  • Image processing and analysis
  • Data applications specialist

Geospatial focus area faculty and their interests:

 

Yu Jiang   

  • Agricultural robotics and artificial Intelligence
  • High throughput plant phenotyping
  • Image processing

Johannes Lehmann   

  • Soil biogeochemistry, fertility management, organic matter, and carbon and nutrient cycling from wastes
  • Soil carbon sequestration and biochar systems
  • Sustainable agriculture in the tropics

Louis Longchamps   

  • On-farm research
  • Precision agriculture
  • Site-specific weed management and variable rate nitrogen management

Andrew McDonald   

  • Agricultural sustainability, food security, water resources and climate
  • Cropping systems ecology
  • International agriculture, policy, and applied social sciences

D G. Rossiter   

  • Geostatistics
  • Soil Survey
  • Spatial modeling of the environment

Diana Sinton  

  • Geographic information science and systems and natural resources management
  • Geospatial literacy and spatial thinking, GIS in Higher Education
  • Integration of in social and cultural data in GIS and humanitarian mapping projects

Ying Sun

  • Canopy- to global-scale modeling
  • Geospatial analysis and big data synthesis
  • Remote sensing

Harold Van Es   

  • Digital agriculture
  • Precision nitrogen management (Adapt-N)
  • Soil health

Justine Vanden Heuvel   

  • Computational tools for vineyard management
  • Ecophysiological factors and their impact on fruit and wine composition
  • Sustainable viticulture production

Peter Woodbury   

  • Agricultural and forest ecosystems
  • Geospatial modeling, land use and environmental quality
  • Greenhouse gas emissions

Dominic Woolf  

  • Biochar
  • Soil carbon sequestration and climate-smart agriculture
  • Sustainable landscape management, agroforestry reforestration and restoration of degraded land

 

 

 

 

 

Visit the Hemp Science program page.

Hemp Science Careers:

  • Hemp production manager
  • Hemp breeder
  • Hemp production consultant
  • Commercial hemp grower
  • Hemp quality control specialist
  • Hemp product developer
  • Hemp research support specialist
  • Hemp pest management specialist
  • CEA/greenhouse hemp grower

Hemp Science focus area faculty and their interests:

Carlyn Buckler

  • Diversity, equity and inclusion in the plant sciences
  • Plant genetics
  • Science communication and digital technologies

Heather Grab   

  • Agroecology
  • Industrial hemp production and processing
  • Plant-insect interactions

Neil Mattson   

  • Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA)
  • Greenhouse horticulture
  • Greenhouse lighting and systems engineering
  • CEA/Greenhouse hemp production

William Miller   

  • Flower bulbs and floriculture
  • Greenhouse and nursery crops
  • Physiology and post-harvest management
  • CEA/Greenhouse hemp production

Chris Smart   

  • Biology and management of vegetable diseases
  • Host-pathogen interactions
  • Physiology and post-harvest management

Larry Smart   

  • Breeding and genomics
  • Industrial hemp
  • Willow bioenergy crops

 

Visit the Plant Biotechnology program page.

Potential Plant Biotechnology careers:

  • Bioinformatics scientist
  • Biotechnology technician
  • Plant tissue culture specialist
  • Plant propagator
  • Plant breeder
    • Seed company
  • Plant scientist
    • Greenhouse engineer
    • Field Engineer
  • Laboratory Technician
    • Genomics technician
    • Plant tissue culture technician
    • Biotechnology technician
  • Plant microbiologist
  • Plant physiologist
  • Environmental monitor
  • Cell therapist
  • Molecular plant biologist
  • Quality assurance specialist
  • Intellectual property patent specialist
  • Bioinformatics analyst
  • Biochemist
  • Microbiologist
  • Plant cell therapist
  • Process engineer (for research company)
  • Pilot plant engineer
  • Process scientist
  • Technical consultant
  • Entrepreneur manager
  • Technology Officer (Chief Tech. Officer)
  • Seed regulatory specialist
  • Computational biologist
  • Extension agent
  • Bioprocess scientist
  • Computational biologist at a plant genomics, plant breeding or any other company
  • Biochemist or mass spectrometrist in a pharmaceutical company
  • Protein structural engineer at a synthetic biology company

Plant Biotechnology focus area faculty and their interests:

Mark Bridgen

  • Ornamental plant breeding
  • Cell and tissue culture
  • Greenhouse floriculture

Susheng Gan

  • Dimensional control of gene expression
  • Plant senescence

Jian Hua

  • Environmental responses; Adaptation; temperature; immunity; plants

Gaurav Moghe

  • Evolution of plant specialized metabolism, plant natural variation; genomics, metabolomics

Visit the Plant Breeding program page.

Plant Breeding careers:

  • Variety trials manager
  • Plant breeding research associate
  • Germplasm collection manager
  • Bioinformatics associate
  • Breeding software developer
  • Plant genetics technician
  • Biotechnology specialist
  • Plant improvement specialist
  • Phenomics breeding associate

Plant Breeding focus area faculty and their interests:

Mark Bridgen

  • Cell and tissue culture
  • Greenhouse floriculture
  • Ornamental plant breeding

Susheng Gan

  • Dimensional control of gene expression
  • Plant senescence

Mike Gore

  • Quantitative genetics and genomics
  • High-throughput phenotyping tools
  • Nutritional genomics

Michelle Heck 

  • Molecular interactions among plant pathogens, insect vectors, and plant hosts

Jason Londo  

  • Grape stress physiology genetics and genomics

Rebecca Nelson 

  • Genetics of quantitative disease resistance in plants
  • International agriculture and rural development
  • Mycotoxin management

Larry Smart   

  • Breeding and genomics
  • Industrial hemp
  • Willow bioenergy crops

Justine Vanden Heuvel 

  • Computational tools for vineyard management
  • Ecophysiological factors and their impact on fruit and wine composition
  • Sustainable viticulture production

Visit the Plant Protection program page.

Plant Protection Careers:

  • Pest control advisor
  • Weed scientist
  • Crop advisor
  • Crop consultant
  • Extension educator
  • Crop scout
  • Field scout
  • Custom applicator
  • Border inspection specialists with USDA-APHIS
  • Research/outreach with non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
  • Pest control product development and testing
  • Pest survey and management positions with federal, state, and local organizations
  • Entomologist
  • Nematologist
  • Plant pathologist

Plant Protection focus area faculty and their interests:

Kerik Cox   

  • Orchard fungal ecology
  • Fungicide resistance
  • Pesticide stewardship
  • Fruit pathology

Antonio DiTommaso   

  • Biological weed management
  • Invasive species
  • Weed ecology

Michelle Heck    

  • Molecular interactions among plant pathogens, insect vectors, and plant hosts

Kathie Hodge

  • Mycology, Fungal systematics, Fungal pathogens of insects

Jian Hua

  • Environmental responses; Adaptation; temperature; immunity; plants

Betsy Lamb

  • Ornamental and greenhouse integrated pest management

Louis Longchamps   

  • On-farm research
  • Precision agriculture
  • Site-specific weed management and variable rate nitrogen management

John Losey 

  • Insect biodiversity and conservation
  • Management of endangered or declining insect populations
  • Management of pest insect populations

Rebecca Nelson   

  • Genetics of quantitative disease resistance in plants
  • International agriculture and rural development
  • Mycotoxin management

Teresa Pawlowska

  • Evolutionary and population genomics, Innate immunity in fungi and fungal-bacterial interactions, Arbuscular mycorrhizae

Chris Smart   

  • Biology and management of vegetable diseases
  • Host-pathogen interactions
  • Physiology and post-harvest management

Karen Snover-Clift

  • Plant disease diagnosis
  • Plant pathology training of Master Gardeners, Extension Educators, and green industry members

 

Visit the Plant Systems program page.

Plant Systems careers:

  • Garden educator
  • Urban forester
  • Arborist
  • Landscape designer
  • Landscape technician
  • Plant ecologist
  • Extension educator
  • Crop consultant
  • Lab or field scientist
  • Specialty crop entrepreneur
  • Ecosystem analyst
  • Food system specialist
  • Non-profit agriculture organization leader
  • Orchard manager
  • Paleobotanist
  • Forensic botanist
  • Greenhouse/nursery specialist
  • Flower bulb specialist
  • Agricultural educator
  • Berry grower
  • Vegetable grower
  • Specialty crop grower/organic farmer

Plant Systems focus area faculty and their interests:

Nina Bassuk   

  • Street trees
  • woody plant propagation
  • landscape management

Mark Bridgen

  • Ornamental plant breeding
  • Cell and tissue culture
  • Greenhouse floriculture

William Crepet

  • Plant systematics and phylogeny
  • Flowering plants
  • Paleobotany

Michelle Heck    

  • Molecular interactions among plant pathogens, insect vectors, and plant hosts

Ashley Helmholdt    

  • Garden-based learning

Kathie Hodge

  • Mycology
  • Fungal systematics
  • Fungal pathogens of insects

Jian Hua

  • Environmental responses; Adaptation; temperature; immunity; plants

Yu Jiang

  • Agricultural robotics and artificial Intelligence
  • High throughput plant phenotyping
  • Image processing

Betsy Lamb

  • Ornamental and greenhouse integrated pest management

Jason Londo    

  • Grape stress physiology genetics and genomics

William Miller

  • Flower bulbs and floriculture
  • Greenhouse and nursery crops
  • Physiology and post-harvest management
  • CEA/Greenhouse hemp production

Gaurav Moghe

  • Evolution of plant specialized metabolism, plant natural variation; genomics, metabolomics

Teresa Pawlowska

  • Evolutionary and population genomics
  • Innate immunity in fungi and fungal-bacterial interactions
  • Arbuscular mycorrhizae

Greg Peck

  • Tree fruits
  • Hard cider
  • Organic production

Jeff Perry   

  • Extension Education
  • Teaching Methods
  • Youth Leadership Development

Marvin Pritts

  • Berry crops
  • Season extension
  • Sustainable production practices

Anu Rangarajan   

  • Fresh market vegetable production
  • Organic and reduced tillage vegetable production
  • Small farms and sustainable agriculture

Steve Reiners   

  • Organic gardening
  • Processing vegetables (peas, beans, sweet corn)
  • Vegetable production systems

Frank Rossi

  • Lawn, golf and sports turf,
  • Urban grasslands management

Sonja Skelly   

  • Plants and human well being
  • Public garden management School & youth gardening, adult education

Karen Snover-Clift

  • Plant disease diagnosis
  • Plant pathology training of Master Gardeners, Extension Educators, and green industry members

Peter Woodbury   

  • Agricultural and forest ecosystems
  • Geospatial modeling, land use and environmental quality
  • Greenhouse gas emissions

Visit the Public Garden Leadership program page.

Public Garden Leadership careers:

  • Botanical garden educator
  • Outreach coordinator
  • Volunteer manager
  • Fundraising specialist
  • Plant record manager
  • Marketing and communications specialist 
  • Horticulturist
  • Greenhouse grower
  • Conservation manager
  • Plant biologist
  • Soil scientist
  • Botanist

Public Garden Leadership focus area faculty and their interests:

Nina Bassuk   

  • Street trees
  • woody plant propagation
  • landscape management

Don Rakow   

  • Botanical history
  • Equitable access to parks and green spaces
  • Public garden management and social impact

Sonja Skelly   

  • Plants and human well being
  • Public garden management School & youth gardening, adult education

Visit the Soil Science program page.

Soil Science careers:

  • Soil scientist
  • Soil conservationist
  • Soil health specialist
  • Soil microbiologist
  • Biochar specialist
  • Urban soil specialist
  • Tropical soil specialist
  • Local, state, federal and international agencies with programs in agriculture and the environment
  • Agronomic services companies
  • Private consulting firms
  • Environmental advocacy and policy organizations (NGOs, etc.)

Soil Science focus area faculty and their interests:

Dan Buckley   

  • Bacterial population structure in soils
  • Microbial diversity

Antonio DiTommaso   

  • Biological weed management
  • Invasive species
  • Weed ecology

Deb Grantham   

  • Natural resources and the environment
  • Soil hyperspectral reflectance
  • Watershed education

Johannes Lehmann   

  • Soil biogeochemistry, fertility management, organic matter, and carbon and nutrient cycling from wastes
  • Soil carbon sequestration and biochar systems
  • Sustainable agriculture in the tropics

Carmen Martinez   

  • Nutrient and mineral cycling
  • Soil biogeochemistry
  • Soil organic matter

Jonathan Russell-Anelli   

  • Soil surveys
  • Spatial arrangement and characterization of soil properties, nutrient and contaminant distribution
  • Urban soils

Janice Thies   

  • International agriculture
  • Soil biology quality assessment and remediation
  • Soil ecology

Harold Van Es       

  • Digital agriculture
  • Precision nitrogen management (Adapt-N)
  • Soil health

Dominic Woolf   

  • Biochar
  • Soil carbon sequestration and climate-smart agriculture
  • Sustainable landscape management, agroforestry reforestration and restoration of degraded land

Visit the Viticulture program page.

Viticulture careers:

  • Vineyard production advisor
  • Vineyard manager
  • Grape production consultant
  • Extension educator
  • Winemaker
  • Viticulturist
  • Enologist
  • Viticulture teaching, research and business

Viticulture focus area faculty and their interests:

Jason Londo    

  • Grape stress physiology genetics and genomics

Russell Moss    

  • Viticulture

Justine Vanden Heuvel   

  • Computational tools for vineyard management
  • Ecophysiological factors and their impact on fruit and wine composition
  • Sustainable viticulture production