This course focuses on the biophysical, biochemical, molecular and physiological processes by which plants absorb mineral nutrients from the soil, translocate these nutrients throughout the plant, and utilize the nutrients for growth and development. Selected lectures will focus on the relation between the nutrient status of plants and human nutrition and health. Guest lectures will be given by Cornell Professors, the experts in soil-plant interactions, in the role of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in phosphorus nutrition of plants, in the role of specific micronutrients and interaction of essential and non-essential metals. In addition, students will be exposed to the state-of-art techniques that are used for analyses of mineral status of plants.