The Environmental Studies Program places a high value on experiential education.
We strongly encourage students to engage in internships, independent study and research, supervised field studies, and practicum projects as an integral part of their undergraduate education. Whether credits are earned, or not, we endorse hands-on learning through extra-curricular activities, volunteer or paid positions, workshops, and apprenticeships. Exposure to different activities, people, work settings, mentors, and skills practiced and applied is useful and rewarding.
Latest Internships Opportunities
OurLand Thailand Internship
Supervisor: Amy Seidl
Student: Phoebe Grupper (she/they)
Title: OurLand Thailand Internship
Summer of 2022, Phoebe had the honor and privilege of taking on an intern position with OurLand, one of Thailand’s first privately-owned wildlife reserves right outside the southern tip of the Western Forest Complex- a world-renowned biodiversity hotspot region- to fulfill her ENVS senior capstone. During her time there, Phoebe acted as a general team member, sustainability educator, assistant to a co-founder of the organization, and representative for the organization, taking part in a wide assortment of endeavors from translating surveys for human-elephant conflict needs-based assessments to reforesting in partnership with Kui Buri National Park and facilitating youth sustainability education programs. Phoebe discovered this internship independently, but it was made possible through the ̽̽ Summer Internship Scholarship and the ̽̽ ENVS JEDI Award, which collectively covered her travel and living expenses. Phoebe feels this opportunity was a culminating experience for her, allowing her to take all that she learned at ̽̽ and apply it in service of a local community-based organization working towards meaningful and equitable change while simultaneously reinvigorating her love of learning and deepening her understanding of environmentalism and self. Phoebe is incredibly grateful for this opportunity and hopes to use all she gained from this experience to pursue a career in the environmental field.
Undergraduate Research Opportunities
Ecos - Economics, Conservation, and Other Stuff
Faculty Name: Brendan Fisher
Research Description: ECOS has three main foci – Ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation; ecosystems and human health; human behavior and sustainability. In short, we carry out applied research to link how the functioning of ecosystems affects human well being and how human behavior, in turn, affects ecosystems and biodiversity.
Examining plant diversity in the eastern Cordeiro of the Colombian Andes. This habitat provides a range of ecosystem services but is also highly sought after to convert to agriculture.
CCALL - Climate Communication, Action and Literacy Lab
Faculty Name: Amy Seidl
Research Description: CCALL‘s mission is to foster the conversation around the grand challenge of climate change and to create effective change through collaboration, interdisciplinary connections, and research; to find purpose, direction, community, and resilience in the midst of crisis.
Students attending VT Energy and Climate Conference and touring an efficient model home
The Roman Villa Project
Faculty Name: Mark Usher
Research Description: Le Mole sul Farfa is a modern agriturismo (farm and farm stay/bed and breakfast) featuring an attached olive grove that preserves substantial remains of an ancient Roman villa currently being excavated. Le Mole hosts guests throughout the year and makes estate olive oil from 1,500-year-old trees, on which grow varieties of olives DNA-tested as “unknown” (i.e., pre-modern). The food served (vegetarian) is “farm-to-table,” authentic regional Italian cuisine prepared by the proprietors themselves.
Professor Usher on his farm in Shoreham.