Dr. Anurag Agrawal is the James Perkins Professor of Environmental Studies in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Cornell University. His work, which unites ecology, genetics, and chemical evolution, informs sustainable agriculture and has implications for infectious disease management.
Agrawal has been selected as the 2025 inductee into the prestigious ARCS Alumni Hall of Fame.
“ARCS was at the very beginning for me as a graduate student. They take a risk on young scientists by allowing them to explore and do different things,” Agrawal says. The great thing about American science is that we invest in students, and that is something we should not forget.”
He is renowned for discovering how plants and their predator insects evolve in a rapid “arms race,” with each surviving by rapidly adapting, at the molecular level, to the other’s threat. To avoid harmful consequences for humanity, his findings show the need to preserve entire ecosystems rather than targeting individual species’ eradication.
“One of the fundamental things we’re trying to study is to what extent organisms are preprogrammed, through their genetic makeup, to look or behave a particular way,” Agrawal says. “Genes are inherited from parents and may determine many aspects, but the environment also impacts behavior and appearance. We’re asking how much of the plant's success is based on inheritance versus the environment in which it grows.”
His approach includes looking at the antagonistic interactions between insect herbivores, the changes in the plants they eat as they evolve defenses, and the impact of these changes on and by the environments in which they are found. By researching co-dependent changes in the behavior, biology, and chemistries of insects and the plants they feed on within the ecologies, he has shown the unintended consequences of human interventions that ignore this three-way dependency.
“The solution requires expanding the view of evolution toward a more comprehensive inclusion of the biochemical changes within the predator species as well as how that interacts with a changing climate,” Agrawal says. “The goal should be to conserve functioning ecosystems so all the species can thrive here.”
Outside of research, Agrawal is passionate about mentoring graduate students and fostering the next generation’s passion for science.
“I think every generation thinks the next one is failing us in some ways,” Agrawal says. “That is the problem of getting old – we see that things aren’t being done the way they used to be done. However, I think it would be a mistake to say that things are getting worse or that young people aren’t working as hard. They’re just working differently.”
He says that the new generation of scientists is bringing about change.
“I think this new generation of students is awesome,” Agrawal says. “They are working hard and smart, and the landscape is changing with advents like artificial intelligence.”
He advises students to “Find the things that keep you up at night wanting to learn more.”
“It’s easy to say that, and it is harder to do, but I suggest finding the things that give you energy,” Agrawal says. “Pursue the study of something that you find yourself telling your friends about and that brings you joy. Try different opportunities, take different classes, and meander your way into finding something that gives you energy.”
Agrawal was an ARCS Scholar from 1998 to 1999 while attending UC Davis, where he completed his PhD in 1999. He has over 300 peer-reviewed articles with over 38,000 citations. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, the Ecological Society of America, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
As a member of the ARCS Alumni Hall of Fame, Dr. Agrawal joins the company of fifteen other outstanding ARCS alumni who are also recognized for their leadership in scientific innovation and discovery. These individuals represent the over 12,000 ARCS scholars who have received awards since 1958 and the diversity of talent that keeps the United States’ science, engineering, medical research, and technology competitive in the world.
