Undergraduate Fellowships

Fellowship in Environmental & Sustainability Communication: From the Lab to the World

NOTE: This program will not be running for the Spring 2024, Fall 2024 cycle. Please refer back to this page later on information for 2025.

Open to Juniors and Sophomores in communication or sustainability-related fields

From Thought to Action

Translating knowledge into application is often a big leap. How do we take what we have learned in courses and apply it in real-world situations? This is the test of a true education. Our partners are leaders in the environmental and sustainability arena seeking to improve the world. They need help decoding and solving pressing communication challenges. This 7-month fellowship program will provide you with the theoretical foundation, and the necessary skills, to create effective solutions to concrete communication issues in our local and national community.

Our Leadership Team

This fellowship is led by a team of communication faculty, campus sustainability leadership, and national and local environmental and sustainability organizations. Partner organizations include the Cayuga Lake Watershed Network, Environmental Defense Fund, Wildlife Conservation Society, The Nature Conservancy, Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability, Lab of Ornithology, Office of Campus Sustainability, and the Environment and Sustainability major.

Engaged Learning

Students gain classroom and hands-on experience with new and traditional media, including understanding and applying effective messaging that bolsters pro-environmental attitudes and engagement, developing sustainability messages to reach audiences with diverse backgrounds and viewpoints, and crafting social media strategies for the modern digital age.

Fellowship and Coursework

All students take a seminar in the spring semester that integrates theory and skills related to specific challenges faced by our organizational partners. Students can apply for the portion of the program that matches them with a leading regional or national organization for a paid internship during the summer. Students who already have an internship lined up for summer with an environmental or sustainability organization can take the course to learn applicable communication theory and skills but will not be placed in an additional internship.

COMM 3080/3081 - 2-credits Environmental Sustainably Communication Seminar (Spring); plus paid internship (Summer); 1-credit TED-style talk in the fall (Fall).