CENTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
GENERAL INFORMATION
WWW home page: http://www.cfe.cornell.edu
The Cornell Center for the Environment (CfE) is committed to research, teaching, and outreach focused on environmental issues, with the goals of enhancing the quality of life, encouraging economic vitality, and promoting the conservation of natural resources for a sustainable future. The Center serves as a clearinghouse for environmental information; initiates environmental courses and curricula at both the graduate and undergraduate levels; facilitates interdisciplinary environmental research; and coordinates outreach programs that assist state, federal, and local government, private organizations, businesses, and individuals in assessing and solving environmental problems.
Programs of Study
Various departments, centers, and institutes across the campus are involved in teaching and research of potential interest to students wishing to pursue environmental studies. A brochure listing undergraduate environmental course offerings is available from the Center (telephone: 255-7535, or email: cucfe@cornell.edu). Students with this interest most often study in one of the following areas:
* Agricultural and Biological Engineering
* Agricultural, Resource, and Managerial Economics
* Architecture
* Biology and Society
* City and Regional Planning
* Civil and Environmental Engineering
* Design and Environmental Analysis
* Development Sociology
* Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
* Environmental Toxicology
* Natural Resources
* Plant Pathology
* Regional Science
* Rural Sociology
* Science and Technology Studies
* Soil, Crop, and Atmospheric Sciences
Program options for focusing on environmental issues are offered in a number of departments: (1) ecosystems science through the Section of Ecology and Systematics; and the Department of Natural Resources; (2) remote sensing through the Departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering; and Soil, Crop, and Atmospheric Sciences; (3) water resources primarily through the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering;
(4) waste management through the Departments of Environmental Engineering; Agricultural and Biological Engineering; and Agricultural, Resource and Managerial Economics; (5) environmental policy through Toxicology; Natural Resources; and City and Regional Planning; (6) and biological resources through the Division of Biological Sciences.
The graduate field of environmental toxicology offers a multidisciplinary science program leading to a Ph.D. or M.S. degree. The three major areas of concentration in the program are: cellular and molecular toxicology; food and nutritional toxicology; and ecotoxicology and environmental chemistry. The graduate program prepares students for professional opportunities in academia, industry and private research institutes and governmental agencies. Page 22 lists the courses and describes the program in more detail.
In response to a demand for individuals who can bridge the gap between the technical, social, and managerial aspects of environmental problems, plans are in progress for a new multidisciplinary Master of Professional Studies degree program in environmental management. In this curriculum, students with undergraduate preparation in the fields of Natural Resources; Agricultural Economics; Soil, Crop, and Atmospheric Sciences; Agricultural and Biological Engineering; and Development Sociology will be eligible to undertake a concentration in environmental management. Students in this program will be expected to take courses that will enhance or build upon their undergraduate education and in addition will enroll in a common core of courses in the science and technology of environmental control; organizations; environmental economics and accounting; environmental regulation; and an intensive field project. These core courses are intended to provide students with the knowledge, skills, and insights that will enable them to function effectively as managers at various levels in the private, public, and voluntary sectors.
A new program in the Science of Earth Systems, available to students in the Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Arts and Sciences, and Engineering, highlights study of the Earth as one of the outstanding intellectual challenges in modern science and as the necessary foundation for the future management of our home planet. The curriculum coalesces Cornell's strengths across a broad range of earth and environmental sciences to provide students with a rigorous scientific foundation for the study of the Earth system. The program is described in more detail on page 21.
Student employment opportunities are available through programs in the Center for the Environment. The institutional-based programs include the Water Resources Institute; the Institute for Comparative and Environmental Toxicology; the Cornell Waste Management Institute; and the Institute for Resource Information Systems. The faculty-based programs of the Center include the Cornell Institute for Research in Chemical Ecology; the Watershed Science and Management Initiative; the Cornell Program in Environmental Sciences for Educators and Youth; the Climate Change Research Program; the Cornell Urban Environment Program; the Work and Environment Initiative; the Cornell Local Government Program; the Ocean Resources and Ecosystems Program; and the Cornell Program on Environmental Conflict Management.
Students interested in the environment will also find many organizations, resources, and activities beyond the classroom setting at Cornell. The CfE sponsors guest lecturers and co-hosts conferences with a variety of departments across the campus. Providing a forum for the diversity of environmental interests and perspectives, the student-produced publication, URSUS: The Cornell Forum for Environmental Issues, seeks to promote the sharing of environmental information within and around the Cornell community. Other environmental organizations on campus include, but are not limited to, the Compost Club, Cornell Greens, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Earthrise Committee (Ecology House), and Eco-Justice.
For additional information on programs and publications contact:
The Center for the Environment
Cornell University
Rice Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853
Telephone: 607-255-7535
Fax: 607-255-0238
Email: cucfe@cornell.edu
WWW: http://www.cfe.cornell.edu
Listserv: ENVIRONMENT-L@cornell.edu
