Cornell University Registrar

This university-wide seminar series provides critically important perspectives on the grand challenge of climate change. Speakers from Cornell University and other institutions will cover a range of topics including the science of climate change, implications for ecosystems, oceans, forests, agriculture and communities, the important ethical, philosophical and legal insights on the issue, and provide thoughts on societal responses through international mechanisms, economic drivers and communication tools. This seminar series counts towards the requirements of the climate change minor and the ESS minor and major.

The laws of thermodynamics are elegant statements about the conservation, nature, and behavior of energy in the universe. They are also the roadmap to designing and evaluating sustainable solutions to the world's most pressing challenges, from climate change to food insecurity to the energy crisis. After all, the problem of climate change is essentially an energy imbalance between the heat flow into and out of Earth. The goal of this course is to explore fundamental thermodynamic and kinetics concepts as they relate to key sustainability challenges. We will examine how the first and second laws of thermodynamics underpin life cycle analyses. We will use the concept of exergy to benchmark forms of energy and their potential to do work, enabling us to evaluate policies that promote sustainable solutions such as transportation fleet electrification and landfill diversion strategies. Together, we'll break down complex concepts such as Gibbs Free Energy and Chemical Potential to understand why pollutants move as mixtures in the environment and how the sea level is rising because of human activities.

Students will quantitatively understand and analyze environmental issues such as: the impact of industrial contaminants and excess nutrients on water quality; the global carbon cycle; improving global access to clean water. This course integrates principles from chemistry, biology, math and engineering to understand and solve real-world problems that impact three major environmental compartments: air, water, and soil. Students will solve mass and energy balances beginning with simple, closed systems, then progress through reactive, open systems to describe environmental fate and transport of pollutants, natural environmental cycles and remediation scenarios. Students will be exposed to technical and lay material from interdisciplinary sources to understand the environmental externalities - social, political, economic and cultural - that must be considered when proposing solutions to today's most pressing environmental issues. BE and EnvE students must complete either BEE 2510 or BEE 2600 according to their academic plan. Students who complete both BEE 2510 and BEE 2600 receive engineering credit toward their degree for only one of these courses.

Focuses on the integration of biological principles with engineering, math, and physical principles. Students learn how to formulate equations for biological systems in class and practice in homework sets. Topics range from molecular principles of reaction kinetics and molecular binding events to macroscopic applications such as energy and mass balances of bioprocessing and engineering design of implantable sensors. Students will also experience scientific literature searches as related to the biological engineering topics, and critical analysis and evaluation of relevant information sources. BEE students must complete either BEE 2510 or BEE 2600 according to their academic plan. BEE students who complete both BEE 2510 and BEE 2600 receive engineering credit for only one of these courses.

The world today is in a state of enormous transition. In the coming few decades, billions of people will leave poverty and enter the developed world. This unprecedented development will be one of the greatest opportunities ever presented to improve global public health and quality of life, but it will only be realized if it's done right. The challenge of sustainable energy is not just to provide energy without polluting the atmosphere with fossil carbon, but to do so at a global scale at a cost that everyone can afford. Thanks to capabilities ranging from room temperature and pressure catalysis to self-assembly, biology offers first draft solutions to problems in sustainable energy from the safe use of nuclear energy, the capture and storage of solar power, mining and purifying elements critical for sustainable energy technologies like rare earths and even in the construction of advanced materials. In each class we will discuss a set of scientific journal articles and use these discuss the advantages, disadvantages and potential of biology in applications in sustainable energy. Inthe past, we have used these discussions to write a scientific article with students as co-authors.

Sustainable development is a predominant environmental, economic, and social concern of the 21st century. This course seeks to introduce students from across Cornell's colleges to key concepts of sustainable development and how they are integrated into life cycle analysis (LCA) assessments of sustainability. Students seeking to expand their knowledge of sustainable development through readings, videos, written assignments, and interaction with their peers are welcome to take the course. Students learn to evaluate sustainability by carrying out a multi-phase LCA assessment from environmental, economic, and social perspectives throughout the semester for a system/product of their choice. Over the course of the semester, work is posted on an e-portfolio to enable peer sharing and commenting. Course is solely asynchronous and web-based. Additional course information can be found at our Sustainable Development page.

Properties of Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids; hydrostatic and dynamic forces; principles of continuity, conservations of mass, energy and momentum and their applications; laminar and turbulent flows, introduction to Navier Stokes; dimensional analysis and similarity; internal and external bio-fluid examples will be covered e.g. blood circulatory systems and animal locomotion.

Covers the analysis of different types of biomaterials, synthetic or bio-derived, their synthesis, characterization and applications. The fundamental understanding of biomaterials chemistry and physics at the molecular level is emphasized. Mathematical analysis towards rational design of biomaterials is used throughout the course. In addition, examples from forefront biomaterials research will be used for case studies.

Focuses on understanding the principles of heat and mass transfer in the context of biological (biomedical/bioprocessing/bioenvironmental) systems. Emphasizes physical understanding of transport processes with application examples from plant, animal and human biology, the bioenvironment (soil/water/air), and industrial processing of food and biomaterials.

In this class you'll learn about mathematical models of biology that you can use to build engineered organisms. We will cover how to make back of the envelope calculations about biological systems, study the mathematics of metabolic networks for producing commodity chemicals and pharmaceuticals, learn how to approach building a new mathematical model of a biological system, and study mathematical models of gene regulation.

Introduction to physical hydrology with an emphasis on roles and interactions between hydrological processes and ecological, biogeochemical, and human systems.

This course is offered as part of the CALS Signature Semester: Toward a Sustainable Future and Emerging Technologies in China on site in Shanghai, China. Nanobiotechnology strides at the interface between nanotechnology and biotechnology. This introductory course teaches the nano concept related to nanotechnology and biotechnology. The course further covers nanoscale building blocks of life, in particular nucleic acids (including DNA, RNA, TNA, PNA, etc.). Students also learn the concepts of polymers, biosensing, hierarchy assemblies and self-assemblies in the context of sustainability. A variety of related techniques are examined along with demonstrations of real-world applications at different scales, from nano to eco.

Introduction to bio-inspired and bio-enabled robotics across scales by an interdisciplinary approach, by gradually integrating knowledge in mechanical engineering and bioengineering. The concept and basic principles of biorobotics are discussed through macroscale robots in various fields including agriculture such as fruit picking robots. Homework includes programming, literature searches, and design studies of their own biorobots.

Managing soil and water resources requires monitoring. In this field-based lab course, you learn techniques to quantify water flow in surface and subsurface environments and monitor water quality in lakes, rivers, and groundwater. Soil health considerations, measurement accuracy, and water sampling quality assurance are discussed. The final project involves designing a water quality monitoring plan for a research or industrial site.

This course introduces relatively simple but powerful data analysis techniques needed to analyze and model complex datasets frequently encountered in the environmental sciences. The course covers both supervised and unsupervised learning techniques, including linear regression, penalized regression, generalized linear models, local regression, and principal component analysis. These topics are introduced through applications to data from various environmental fields. The course serves as a first course in applied statistics and machine learning for students with only a basic knowledge of probability and statistics, and will provide a review of the mathematical concepts needed to understand the techniques presented. Students will learn by doing, with ample time in class to practice translating theory to application through programming exercises on real environmental datasets.

Bioinstrumentation applications are emphasized in this laboratory-based course. Electronic instruments from sensor to computer are considered. Static and dynamic characteristics of components and systems are examined theoretically and empirically. General analog and digital signal condition circuits are designed, constructed, and tested. A variety of biological applications of instrumentation are discussed.

This course provides a capstone experience in the design of multi-objective water resources systems. The course is designed to teach the fundamentals of planning and management as practiced in water resources engineering, and to simulate interdisciplinary project teams common in industry and government. The course takes a systems focus, including the identification and quantification of objectives that reflect the interests of multiple stakeholder groups; the development of alternative designs for water system management; and the utilization of a computational modeling framework to evaluate how those alternative designs define tradeoffs between objectives. We adopt a focus on sustainable water systems, taking into account both ecological impacts of water management and the potential threats of climate change on system performance. Students will explore these aspects of system design in the context of Lake Ontario, one of the largest regulated lakes in the world that is currently undergoing a major revision to the design of its management plan.

This course will primarily be an in-depth analysis of the various areas in which organisms are be used to physically remove or metabolize (and co-metabolize) various pollutants in the environment. We will examine various types of bioremediation including: bacterial degradation of organic pollutants, biotransformation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, bioremediation of microplastics, and phytoremediation of pesticides and heavy metals. We will evaluate the promise of such technologies as well as the current obstacles to realizing their potential. We will examine the current efforts to “design” organisms to be better bioremediators and talk about the use of genetically altered organisms in the field.

Introduction to simulation-based design as an alternative to prototype-based design; modeling and optimization of complex real-life processes for design and research, using industry-standard physics-based computational software. Emphasis is on problem formulation, starting from a real process and developing its computer model. Modeling application (project) can be biomedical (thermal therapy and drug delivery) or broader biological and bioenvironmental applications that involve heat transfer, mass transfer, and fluid flow. Computational topics introduce the finite-element method, model validation, pre- and post-processing, and pitfalls of using computational software. Students choose their own semester-long project, which is a major part of the course (no final exam).

Covers fundamental mechanisms that nature uses to build and control living systems at micro- and nano-meter length scales; engineering principles for fabricating micro/nano-meter scale devices; examples of solving contemporary problems in the health sector and environment. The lab sessions will provide students with hands on experiences in cell culture, microfluidic device and live cell imaging techniques. Lecture only for 2 credits; lecture and lab for 3 credits.

Ecological mechanics explores ecological relations from a mechanics perspective, including fluid, solid, structural mechanics, and heat and mass transport. While other ecological studies incorporate transport of mass, energy, and information, consideration of momentum transport and its consequence in biotic and abiotic relations in organisms is unique to this discipline. We begin the course by introducing the fundamental and advanced concepts in mechanics. Then we will learn how to incorporate these concepts by considering response function (the functional relationship between condition imposed on the system and its response) to understand and predict ecological phenomena such as predator-prey relation and pattern formation.

Students will choose a project depending on their interests, and complete the project goal by integrating the knowledge of biology, physics, and engineering. Students will present their proposal and final results, and write a report at the end of the semester.

Mechanistic, model-based understanding and digital tools critically innovate in the design cycle for products and processes, food manufacturing is no exception. The course will introduce tools such as computational modeling, digital twins, and predictive knowledge bases, exploring deeper into the underlying universal physics-based frameworks describing transformations in food during processing. Grading is based on in-class and online quizzes, homework and project (no exams).

Every year, the New York State Water Resources Institute (NYSWRI) at Cornell supports applied research that addresses critical water resource problems in the New York State and the nation. This seminar series brings together researchers who work with NYSWRI and state agency partners to support and improve water management in the state. Speakers will present on a broad range of water related topics including water engineering and infrastructure, climate and flood resilience, water quality monitoring and assessment and aquatic ecosystems. The seminar will focus on ways in which robust science can support and influence on-ground management and policy outcomes, and center collaborative and interdisciplinary work between academics, water resource scientists, educators, managers, and policymakers in New York State.

Fresh water has become a limited resource in many parts of the world. In arid and semi-arid regions, groundwater levels are declining at unstainable levels. In several industrial areas, groundwater is contaminated and unsuitable as potable water. This course will address the sustainability and pollution of groundwater by first understanding the theory of saturated and unsaturated flow and contaminant transport under ideal conditions. Subsequently, we learn to simplify groundwater systems in complex subsurface environments to obtain practical solutions. At the end of the course, the learned material will be put in a broader context as they are affected by natural or human actions. Throughout the course, guest speakers will discuss topics of current interest related to water. This elective course is intended for seniors interested in subsurface water and solute transport applications to sustainable groundwater use and prevention of pollution. Well-prepared EAS, CEE and BEE juniors are welcome, too.

Teaches basic engineering design and analysis as practiced for water control and nonpoint source pollution prevention. Discusses the origins of design approaches, including their theoretical bases and recent or emerging methods and concepts. Most of the course is dedicated to practicing applied design. Assignments are generally representative of real-life engineering problems and involve as much hands-on experience as possible. Some example topics include risk analysis, water conveyance, stormwater management, including green infrastructure and low-impact development.

Applications of mathematical modeling, simulation, and optimization to environmental systems planning and management. Fate and transport models for contaminants in air, water, and soil. Optimization methods (search techniques, linear programming, integer programming) to evaluate alternatives for power systems, solid waste management, and water and air pollution control. Introduction to the impact of uncertainty on solutions and risk assessment through simulation.

This course investigates the science of atmospheric chemistry as its relation to air pollution and global change. Students examine the chemistry and physics that determines atmospheric composition on local to global scales including the effects of biogeochemistry and atmospheric photochemistry.

Understanding data is an increasingly integral part of working with environmental systems. Data analysis is an integral part of developing statistical and numerical models to understand system dynamics and project future conditions and outcomes. Simulation from models can represent alternative datasets consistent with a set of assumptions about the underlying data-generating process, facilitating model assessment and hypothesis testing. This course will provide an overview of a generative approach to environmental data analysis, which uses simulation and assessments of predictive performance to provide insight into the structure of data and its data-generating process. The goal is to provide students with a framework and an initial toolkit of methods that they can use to formulate and update hypotheses about data and models. Students will actively analyze and use real data from a variety of environmental systems, potentially including the climate system, sea levels, air pollution, and the electric power system.

This course will provide an applied introduction to modeling, simulation and optimization techniques for various renewable energy systems. The course will be modular in nature. Each module will focus on a particular renewable energy application and relevant modeling/simulation tools. Some modules are independent and some will build on previous modules. The instructional format of the course will include lectures, scientific paper reviews, and some AMPL programming. Students will have an opportunity to apply new techniques to a relevant modeling project. The course will culminate with a modeling project relevant to renewable energy. Undergraduates will work in teams of 2-3 students to complete the term project.

The department teaches trial courses under this number. Offerings vary by semester and will be advertised by the department. Courses offered under this number will be approved by the department curriculum committee and the same course will not be offered twice under this number. Each 4940 has a unique course ID for enrollment.

Special work in any area of biological and environmental engineering on problems under investigation by the department or of special interest to the student, provided, in the latter case, that adequate facilities can be obtained.

The student assists in teaching a biological and environmental engineering course appropriate to his or her previous training. The student meets with a discussion or laboratory section, prepares course materials, grades assignments, and regularly discusses objectives and techniques with the faculty member in charge of the course.

Research in any area of biological or environmental engineering on problems under investigation by the department or of special interest to the student, provided that adequate facilities can be obtained. The student must review pertinent literature, prepare a project outline, carry out an approved plan, and submit a formal final report.

Intended for students pursuing the research honors program in BEE. This course is the culmination of the program's honors project requirement. Students enrolled in the BEE Honors program will prepare an honors thesis based on the subject matter of a BEE 4990 project from the previous semester, under the supervision of their research mentor. A preliminary draft and the final copy will be submitted according to the deadline and formatting requirements of the Honors program.

Research in any area of biological and environmental engineering on problems under investigation by the department or of special interest to the student, provided that adequate facilities can be obtained. The student must review pertinent literature, prepare a project outline, carry out an approved plan and submit a formal final report.

Managing soil and water resources requires monitoring. In this field-based lab course, you learn techniques to quantify water flow in surface and subsurface environments and monitor water quality in lakes, rivers, and groundwater. Soil health considerations, measurement accuracy, and water sampling quality assurance are discussed. The final project involves designing a water quality monitoring plan for a research or industrial site. Graduate students review the literature on the accuracy of the lab methods and present the results in class.

The world today is in a state of enormous transition. In the coming few decades, billions of people will leave poverty and enter the developed world. This unprecedented development will be one of the greatest opportunities ever presented to improve global public health and quality of life, but it will only be realized if it's done right. The challenge of sustainable energy is not just to provide energy without polluting the atmosphere with fossil carbon, but to do so at a global scale at a cost that everyone can afford. Thanks to capabilities ranging from room temperature and pressure catalysis to self-assembly, biology offers first draft solutions to problems in sustainable energy from the safe use of nuclear energy, the capture and storage of solar power, mining and purifying elements critical for sustainable energy technologies like rare earths and even in the construction of advanced materials. In each class we will discuss a set of scientific journal articles and use these discuss the advantages, disadvantages and potential of biology in applications in sustainable energy. In each of the past two years we have used these discussions to write a scientific article with students as co-authors.

Sustainable development is a predominant environmental, economic, and social concern of the 21st century. This course introduces the key concepts of sustainable development and how they are integrated into life cycle analysis (LCA) assessments of sustainability. Students seeking to expand their knowledge of sustainable development through readings, videos, written assignments, and interaction with their peers are welcome to take the course. Students learn to evaluate sustainability by carrying out a multi-phase LCA assessment from environmental, economic, and social perspectives throughout the semester for a system/product of their choice relevant to their majors. Over the course of the semester, work is posted on an e-portfolio to enable peer sharing and commenting. Course is solely asynchronous and web-based. This course follows the same trajectory as BEE 3299, but with greater required depth of research and extent of peer interaction. Additional course information can be found at our Sustainable Development page.

Properties of Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids; hydrostatic and dynamic forces; principles of continuity, conservations of mass, energy and momentum and their applications; laminar and turbulent flows, introduction to Navier Stokes; dimensional analysis and similarity; internal and external bio-fluid examples will be covered e.g. blood circulatory systems and animal locomotion.

The primary focus is to prepare students for the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam, which is the first step in obtaining a Professional Engineering license. Students complete a formal comprehensive review of engineering subjects associated with the FE exam. Engineering professionalism topics will be covered in some of the lectures or asynchronous videos.Students are advised to sign up to take the Fundamental of Engineering (FE) exam during the semester. Students sign up directly with the NCEES site. Once the nationally conducted FE exam is passed, it is valid forever in any state as part of Professional Engineering registration.Course grading is based upon weekly quizzes, assignments within the asynchronous videos, attendance, and a comprehensive online final that is similar to the FE exam. Alternatively, the quizzes and final portion of the grade can be covered by passing of the FE Exam during the semester.

Energy Seminars will explore energy-related topics of emerging, contemporary and historical interest. An abbreviated list of subjects explored in the seminars includes: global energy resources, energy generation technologies (present and future), energy storage options, environmental impacts and climate change mitigation, energy policy, and energy delivery economics and systems. Seminar speakers will be distinguished practicing engineers and executives from industry and government as well as faculty members from several departments at Cornell, and other academic institutions. Students from any department in Engineering or the Physical Sciences should find these talks informative.

Energy Seminars will continue to explore energy-related topics of emerging, contemporary and historical interest. An abbreviated list of subjects explored in the seminars includes: global energy resources, energy generation technologies (present and future), energy storage options, environmental impacts and climate change mitigation, energy policy, and energy delivery economics and systems. Seminar speakers will be distinguished practicing engineers and executives from industry and government as well as faculty members from several departments at Cornell, and other academic institutions.

Focuses on understanding the principles of heat and mass transfer in the context of biological (biomedical/bioprocessing/bioenvironmental) systems. Emphasizes physical understanding of transport processes with application examples from plant, animal and human biology, the bioenvironment (soil/water/air), and industrial processing of food and biomaterials. Students in BEE 5500 will develop a more complex computational model (for which analytical solution is difficult) using the software used in one of the homework. The goal of this activity will not be computation itself but using numerical computation to probe deeper into one or more aspects of conduction/diffusion, flow, generation/depletion, or geometry effect in a transport process.

This course will primarily be an in-depth analysis of the various areas in which organisms are be used to physically remove or metabolize (and co-metabolize) various pollutants in the environment. We will examine various types of bioremediation including: bacterial degradation of organic pollutants, biotransformation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, bioremediation of microplastics, and phytoremediation of pesticides and heavy metals. We will evaluate the promise of such technologies as well as the current obstacles to realizing their potential. We will examine the current efforts to “design” organisms to be better bioremediators and talk about the use of genetically altered organisms in the field.

Introduction to simulation-based design as an alternative to prototype-based design; modeling and optimization of complex real-life processes for design and research, using industry-standard physics-based computational software. Emphasis is on problem formulation, starting from a real process and developing its computer model. Modeling application (project) can be biomedical (thermal therapy and drug delivery) or broader biological and bioenvironmental applications that involve heat transfer, mass transfer, and fluid flow. Computational topics introduce the finite-element method, model validation, pre- and post-processing, and pitfalls of using computational software. Students choose their own semester-long project, which is a major part of the course (no final exam).Students in BEE 5530 will expand the developed model as an individual effort separate from the group effort and include this as an individual report that is an extension of the group report. Such an extension of the mathematical model can include additional and substantial computational work approved by the instructor in any (but not all) of the areas-physics, geometry, properties, and validation.

Students will choose a project depending on their interests, and complete the project goal by integrating the knowledge of biology, physics, and engineering. Students will present their proposal and final results, and write a report at the end of the semester.

In this class you'll learn about mathematical models of biology that you can use to build engineered organisms. We will cover how to make back of the envelope calculations about biological systems, study the mathematics of metabolic networks for producing commodity chemicals and pharmaceuticals, learn how to approach building a new mathematical model of a biological system, and study mathematical models of gene regulation.

Introduction to physical hydrology with an emphasis on roles and interactions between hydrological processes and ecological, biogeochemical, and human systems.

Teaches basic engineering design and analysis as practiced for water control and nonpoint source pollution prevention. Discusses the origins of design approaches, including their theoretical bases and recent or emerging methods and concepts. Most of the course is dedicated to practicing applied design. Assignments are generally representative of real-life engineering problems and involve as much hands-on experience as possible. Some example topics include risk analysis, water conveyance, stormwater management, including green infrastructure and low-impact development.

Applications of mathematical modeling, simulation, and optimization to environmental systems planning and management. Fate and transport models for contaminants in air, water, and soil. Optimization methods (search techniques, linear programming, integer programming) to evaluate alternatives for power systems, solid waste management and water and air pollution control. Introduction to the impact of uncertainty on solutions and risk assessment through simulation.

Understanding data is an increasingly integral part of working with environmental systems. Data analysis is an integral part of developing statistical and numerical models to understand system dynamics and project future conditions and outcomes. Simulation from models can represent alternative datasets consistent with a set of assumptions about the underlying data-generating process, facilitating model assessment and hypothesis testing. This course will provide an overview of a generative approach to environmental data analysis, which uses simulation and assessments of predictive performance to provide insight into the structure of data and its data-generating process. The goal is to provide students with a framework and an initial toolkit of methods that they can use to formulate and update hypotheses about data and models. Students will actively analyze and use real data from a variety of environmental systems, potentially including the climate system, sea levels, air pollution, and the electric power system.

Introduction to bio-inspired and bio-enabled robotics across scales by an interdisciplinary approach, by gradually integrating knowledge in mechanical engineering and bioengineering. The concept and basic principles of biorobotics are discussed through macroscale robots in various fields including agriculture such as fruit picking robots. Homework includes programming, literature searches, and design studies of their own biorobots.

Comprehensive engineering design projects relating to the candidate's area of specialization. Projects are supervised by a BEE faculty member on an individual basis. A formal project report and oral presentation of the design project are required for completion of the course(s). A minimum of 6 to a maximum of 9 credits of 5951-BEE 5952 is required for the M.Eng. degree.

Comprehensive engineering design projects relating to the candidate's area of specialization. Projects are supervised by a BEE faculty member on an individual basis. A formal project report and oral presentation of the design project are required for completion of the course(s). A minimum of 6 to a maximum of 9 credits of BEE 5951-5952 is required for the M.Eng. degree.

The student assists in teaching a biological and environmental engineering course appropriate to his/her previous training. The student meets with a discussion or laboratory section, prepares course materials, grades assignments, and regularly discusses objectives and techniques with the faculty member in charge of the course.

This course introduces relatively simple but powerful data analysis techniques needed to analyze and model complex datasets frequently encountered in the environmental sciences. The course covers both supervised and unsupervised learning techniques, including linear regression, penalized regression, generalized linear models, local regression, and principal component analysis. These topics are introduced through applications to data from various environmental fields. The course serves as a first course in applied statistics and machine learning for students with only a basic knowledge of probability and statistics, and will provide a review of the mathematical concepts needed to understand the techniques presented. Students will learn by doing, with ample time in class to practice translating theory to application through programming exercises on real environmental datasets.

In this class, we will discuss some classical as well as cutting-edge research papers from the biomaterials field on topics including: (1) Polymer Biomaterials; (2) Hydrogel Biomaterials; (3) Inorganic and Composite Biomaterials; and (4) Applications of Biomaterials in Agriculture and Life Sciences. For each topic, the professor will first give introductory lectures, and the students will then give presentations and lead discussions on chosen papers.

Covers fundamental mechanisms that nature uses to build and control living systems at micro- and nano-meter length scales; engineering principles for fabricating micro/nano-meter scale devices; examples of solving contemporary problems in the health sector and environment. The lab sessions will provide students with hands on experiences in cell culture, microfluidic device and live cell imaging techniques. Graduate students will take a leadership role in the team projects (which consists of the mid-term presentation, final presentation, as well as lab). Lecture only for 2 credits; lecture and lab for 3 credits.

Ecological mechanics explores ecological relations from a mechanics perspective, including fluid, solid, structural mechanics, and heat and mass transport. While other ecological studies incorporate transport of mass, energy, and information, consideration of momentum transport and its consequence in biotic and abiotic relations in organisms is unique to this discipline. We begin the course by introducing the fundamental and advanced concepts in mechanics. Then we will learn how to incorporate these concepts by considering response function (the functional relationship between condition imposed on the system and its response) to understand and predict ecological phenomena such as predator-prey relation and pattern formation.

Mechanistic, model-based understanding and digital tools critically innovate in the design cycle for products and processes, food manufacturing is no exception. The course will introduce tools such as computational modeling, digital twins, and predictive knowledge bases, exploring deeper into the underlying universal physics-based frameworks describing transformations in food during processing.

Marginal agricultural lands are an oft-cited but largely untapped regional resource base for bioenergy crop production. They constitute the primary available land base for production of second generation bioenergy crops such as perennial grasses and short-rotation woody crops in New York and the Northeast. In this broadly multidisciplinary seminar series, we will explore the challenges of and opportunities for using marginal lands from multiple viewpoints. Our goal is to expose participants to issues involved in the development of low-cost sustainable perennial bioenergy feedstock production based on marginal lands of New York and the Northeast. Having heard and interacted with speakers representing a spectrum of disciplines and perspectives, participants will be better able to understand, evaluate, and/or contribute to the development of bioenergy resources in the region. Participants will develop an appreciation for challenges of bioenergy development and the cross-disciplinary efforts required to address them.

Every year, the New York State Water Resources Institute (NYSWRI) at Cornell supports applied research that addresses critical water resource problems in the New York State and the nation. This seminar series brings together researchers who work with NYSWRI and state agency partners to support and improve water management in the state. Speakers will present on a broad range of water related topics including water engineering and infrastructure, climate and flood resilience, water quality monitoring and assessment and aquatic ecosystems. The seminar will focus on ways in which robust science can support and influence on-ground management and policy outcomes, and center collaborative and interdisciplinary work between academics, water resource scientists, educators, managers, and policymakers in New York State.

Fresh water has become a limited resource in many parts of the world. In arid and semi-arid regions, groundwater levels are declining at unstainable levels. In several industrial areas, groundwater is contaminated and unsuitable as potable water. This course will address the sustainability and pollution of groundwater by first understanding the theory of saturated and unsaturated flow and contaminant transport under ideal conditions. Subsequently, we learn to simplify groundwater systems in complex subsurface environments to obtain practical solutions. At the end of the course, the learned material will be put in a broader context as they are affected by natural or human actions. Throughout the course, guest speakers will discuss topics of current interest related to water. This elective course is intended for graduate students interested in subsurface water and solute transport applications to sustainable groundwater use and prevention of pollution.

The objective of this course is to investigate novel topics that involve the interactions between physical hydrological processes and ecosystem processes, including the impacts of human activities on the ecohydrological system. The course is designed to encourage teams of students from historically disparate disciplines to collaboratively combine their unique skills and insights to answer multidisciplinary ecohydrological questions. This course will consider a broad range scales from a stomate and a soil pore to a forest, watershed, and region, with emphasis placed on those scales and systems most appropriate to student interests. Through course work we will clarify the current understanding of various topics, identify knowledge gaps, develop hypotheses, and test them quantitatively by creating models and analyzing available data. The goal of this course is to identify the basic principles of ecohydrology and become familiar and comfortable with a range of quantitative tools and approaches for answering ecohydrological questions.

This course investigates the science of atmospheric chemistry as its relation to air pollution and global change. Students examine the chemistry and physics that determines atmospheric composition on local to global scales including the effects of biogeochemistry and atmospheric photochemistry.

This course will provide an applied introduction to modeling, simulation and optimization techniques for various renewable energy systems. The course will be modular in nature. Each module will focus on a particular renewable energy application and relevant modeling/simulation tools. Some modules are independent and some will build on previous modules. The instructional format of the course will include lectures, scientific paper reviews, and some AMPL programming. Students will have an opportunity to apply new techniques to a relevant modeling project. The course will culminate with a modeling project relevant to renewable energy. Graduate students will be required to complete the term project on an individual basis.

The department teaches trial courses under this number. Offerings vary by semester and are advertised by the department. Courses offered under this number will be approved by the department curriculum committee and the same course will not be offered twice under this number. Each 6940 has a unique course ID for enrollment.

Topics are arranged by the faculty at the beginning of the semester.

This course is intended to introduce students to graduate school in Biological and Environmental Engineering. It is intended for first year graduate students although others may find it helpful. It consists of a seminar series and series of classes introducing students to such topics as: how to write a research proposal, how to give a scientific talk, how to get the most out of Cornell resources and time management.

Nucleic Acid Engineering provides a comprehensive examination of the engineering aspects of nucleic acids beyond their biological context. By integrating molecular biology, bioengineering, and Artificial Intelligence, this course promotes a multidisciplinary and active learning environment. It explores the structure-property-function relationships of nucleic acids, focusing on the development of various nanostructures, devices, and materials derived from nucleic acids. The course also covers molecular toolkits for nucleic acid manipulation, their non-biological functions, and practical applications.

Study and discussion of research or design procedures related to selected topics including watershed management, erosion control, hydrology, colloid transport, and water quality.