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.


African students learn advanced cassava breeding skills

A partnership between International Programs in Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is training African students in advanced cassava breeding.

Thomas Seeley waxes poetic on bees

Biologist Thomas Seeley read passages from his book 'Honeybee Democracy' at a Literary Luncheon hosted by President David Skorton and Robin Davisson, who, with Seeley's help, recently took up beekeeping.

Study: Weather patterns aid small birds’ migrations

A new study shows how songbirds migrate thousands of miles using elliptical routes that take advantage of prevailing wind patterns.

New battery test center adds zip to New York economy

Replacing the gasoline economy with better batteries may be accelerated thanks to unique battery testing capabilities at Cornell, and anchored by a new testing and prototyping center that the university helped to establish.

UV-B light zaps cucumber disease

A new study by scientists at Cornell and in Norway finds that UV-B light suppresses cucumber powdery mildew; less use of fungicides may result from the finding.

Threats seen to 3 billion birds in vast Canadian forest

A new report calls for saving half of the 1.5 billion acres of North America's boreal forest – one of the world's last great forests – to protect the habitat for more than 300 migratory bird species.

Watts down: Vintage Sheldon Court wins energy contest

Cornell’s venerable Sheldon Court – a Collegetown residence hall that's more than a century old – earned first place in Unplugged 2014, the university's first annual energy saving competition among dormitories.

Lehman Fund makes seven awards for China study

The Jeffrey S. Lehman Fund for Scholarly Exchange with China has made grants to Cornell faculty members and graduate students to support collaborative research projects.

Student-developed water monitor gets EPA support

A proposal to develop a portable, affordable turbidimeter, a tool for measuring water quality, has won a $90,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency’s People, Prosperity and the Planet student design competition.