Skip to main content



Batt Lab

Carl Batt Headshot Dr. Carl A. Batt joined the faculty in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University in 1985.  He is the Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor in the Department of Food Science.  Prof. Batt also served as the Director of the Cornell University/Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research Partnership, co-Founder of Main Street Science and the founder of Nanooze, a  science magazine for kids (www.nanooze.org).  He is also the co-Founder and former co-Director of  the Nanobiotechnology Center (NBTC) a National Science Foundation supported Science and  Technology Center. Prof. Batt received his Ph.D. from Rutgers University in Food Science.  He went on to do postdoctoral work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.    Throughout his 30 years at Cornell, Prof. Batt has worked on the fusion of the physical and life sciences developing novel technologies to solve challenges in food and health sciences.  He  has served as a scientific mentor for more than 40 graduates students and over 100 undergraduates, many of whom now hold significant positions in academia, government and the  private sector, both in the United States and throughout the world.

Prof. Batt has published over 240 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and reviews.  In addition, from 1987-2000 he served as editor for Food Microbiology, a peer-reviewed journal  and editor for the Encyclopedia of Food Microbiology that was published in 2000, in 2013 he completed the revision of this encyclopedia.  In 2014 he was named editor for Elsevier’s  Food Safety, Defense and Microbiology reference module.  From 1999-2002, Prof. Batt was the President  of the Board of Directors of the Ithaca Montessori School, an independent progressive community-based school.  Prof. Batt has been a champion of bringing science to the general public  especially young students and making difficult concepts approachable.  He led a team that developed a series of exhibitions that share the excitement of emerging technology with the general public.  The first exhibition, ‘It’s a Nanoworld’ is currently on tour in the United States and has made stops including a six-month stay at Epcot in Walt Disney World.  The second exhibition, ‘Too Small to See’ is on tour having opened in Epcot in 2007.  “Nanooze Labs” was in Disneyland from 2010-2013.  “Take a Nanooze Break” has been at EPCOT in Walt Disney World continuously since 2010.