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.


Hot air balloon hotel concept wins international competition

Four students in the masters of management in hospitality program won The Sustainability Hospitality Challenge with a business plan for “NIMBUS,” a carbon-neutral hotel room that folds up and moves with its guests by hot air balloon.

Small fish could play big role in fight against malnutrition

Inexpensive, small fish species caught in seas and lakes in developing countries could help close nutritional gaps for undernourished people, and especially young children, according to new research.

Unique fellowship honors bioacoustics pioneer

Philanthropist K. Lisa Yang ’74 has endowed $1.5 million to establish the Katharine B. Payne Fellows Program in Conservation Bioacoustics in honor of Katy Payne ’59, a pioneer in the burgeoning science of bioacoustics. 

Cornell, Oxford to lead grants aimed at boosting iron nutrition

In an international, multi-institutional effort, Cornell’s Food Science Department will research how to increase iron and zinc absorption, thanks to a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant.

Gennady Shvets to lead Laboratory of Plasma Studies

For nearly six decades, Cornell’s Laboratory of Plasma Studies has remained at the forefront of plasma science – a tradition its incoming director, Gennady Shvets, professor of applied and engineering physics, plans to continue while also broadening the lab’s research capabilities.

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Cornell life science incubator graduates three startups

Three startups – two helping to make a green economy and one creating next-generation microbial images – graduated Nov. 16 from Cornell’s Center for Life Science Ventures business incubator. 

Sean and Holly Olson establish a fund as “an investment in the world we want to see”

Holly and Sean Olson have established the Olson Family Strategic Initiatives Fund at the Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy to help create the world they want to live in.

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Student prods COP27 to include youth in climate solutions

Kehkashan Basu, an MBA student at the Johnson School, hopes to kindle positive global change. She moderated the first roundtable meeting between government officials and youth at COP27.

To prevent the next pandemic, restore wildlife habitats

Preserving and restoring natural habitats could prevent pathogens that originate in wildlife from spilling over into domesticated animals and humans, according to two new companion studies.