A college student in Queens has been charged with conspiring to support a foreign terrorist organization after a monthslong investigation found that he was planning to attack various New York City landmarks on behalf of the Islamic State, according to the authorities.

The student, Munther Omar Saleh, 20, who was studying electrical circuitry at a college specializing in aeronautics in Queens, was arrested on Saturday when investigators said he ran toward an undercover law enforcement car that was following him. The criminal complaint says that Mr. Saleh translated Islamic State propaganda into English, criticized Al Qaeda as “too moderate” and tried to learn how to build an explosive device.

Mr. Saleh, a United States citizen, searched online for materials required to build a pressure-cooker bomb and looked at images of city tourist attractions in the hope of carrying out an attack, according to the complaint, which was prepared by an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and filed in Federal District Court in Brooklyn.

In September, Mr. Saleh posted a message on Twitter that said Al Qaeda was “getting too moderate,” and in February, a message praising the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, “for their high end videos, great weaponry and quality fighters,” according to the complaint. He also expressed support on Twitter for the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack in Paris and the attack in May outside a cartoon contest in Garland, Texas, the complaint says.