Energy, Environment & Sustainability

Cornell is a global leader in sustainability and climate change research, teaching and engagement. Our campuses are living laboratories for developing, testing and implementing solutions that address these most challenging issues.


Sedimental journey: Davis leads 'Port Futures' workshop

Cornell’s Brian Davis will co-lead the "Port Futures" workshop at the upcoming, weeklong DredgeFest Great Lakes 2015, Aug. 14-22 in Minneapolis.

Scientists bolster 'phage' weapons in food safety battle

In the war to keep food safe from bacteria, Cornell food scientists examine a class of weaponry called bacteriophages – an all-natural biological enemy for Listeria.

Cornell team readies for national 'Weed Olympics' July 21

Cornell will send 11 students for two days of agronomic combat at the 2015 National Collegiate Weed competition at South Charleston, Ohio, July 21-22.

Todd Walter named director of Water Resources Institute

Todd Walter, associate professor in the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, has been appointed director of the New York State Water Resources Institute, effective July 1.

Nanotech transforms cotton fibers into modern marvel

Juan Hinestroza and his students live in a cotton-soft nano world, where they create clothing that kills bacteria, conducts electricity, wards off malaria, captures harmful gas and weaves transistors into shirts and dresses.

Waiting to harvest after a rain enhances food safety

Aiming to protect consumers from foodborne illness, produce farmers should wait 24 hours after a rain or irrigating their field to harvest crops - to reduce the risk to a major foodborne pathogen.

Cornell introduces silver flies to save hemlock forests

In an ongoing battle to save the ecologically important hemlock forests, Cornell researchers have high hopes for a new weapon against menacing woolly adelgids: silver flies.

'Pollination' debuts at animal behavior film festival

Cornell’s latest Naturalist Outreach film, "Pollination: Trading Fertilization for Food," made its national debut at the 2015 Animal Behavior Society Film Festival on June 12 in Anchorage, Alaska.

Atkinson Center grants $1.2 million to sustainable ideas

Cornell’s David R. Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future has given $1.2 million from its Academic Venture Fund to 11 new university projects from 37 proposals.