Life at the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
Educational Facilities
Kroon Hall, the ultra-green home of F&ES, expresses in physical form the School’s best traditions, values, and aspirations. The building, which opened in January 2009, achieves its remarkable energy savings from a host of design elements and technical strategies molded to fit the building’s New England weather and climate. Located in the area of the University known as Science Hill, Kroon Hall is named for the family of benefactor and Yale College alumnus Richard Kroon, B.A. 1964. With its high barrel-vaulted gable ends, simple lines, and curved rooftop, Kroon Hall is a modernist blend of cathedral nave and Connecticut barn.
The $33.5 million building was designed by Hopkins Architects of Great Britain in partnership with Connecticut-based Centerbrook Architects and Planners, and holds the highest rating—platinum—in the green-building certification program, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). Kroon Hall provides 56,467 square feet and is designed to use less energy than a comparably sized modern building. Its tall, thin shape and east-west orientation play a big role in heating and cooling. The lowest floor is set into a hillside, with only its south side exposed, providing thermal insulation, minimizing northern exposure, and increasing the amount of natural light that enters the building from adjacent courtyards. The long south facade maximizes solar gain during the winter, and Douglas fir louvers covering glass facades on the east and west ends keep out unwanted heat and glare. The building’s shape, combined with the glass facades, enables daylight to provide much of the interior’s illumination. Light and occupancy sensors dim artificial lighting when it is not needed.
Kroon Hall provides office space for fifty faculty and staff members and has three classrooms. The 175-seat Burke Auditorium is used for lectures and classes, and commands beautiful views of West Rock and the David S. Ingalls Rink across the street. The Knobloch Environment Center is meant for socializing, but students have also embraced it as a study space. The Ordway Learning Center on the ground floor also has ample space for quiet study.
A 100-kilowatt rooftop array of photovoltaic panels provides 24 percent of the building’s electricity. Four 1,500-foot-deep wells use the relatively constant 55-degree (F) temperature of underground water for heating and cooling, replacing the need for conventional boilers and air conditioning. Four solar panels embedded in the southern facade provide hot water. Exposed concrete walls and ceilings provide thermal stability by retaining heat in winter and cold in summer. Instead of air being forced through overhead ducts, an energy-saving displacement ventilation system moves warm and cool air through an air plenum and multiple diffusers in elevated floors. Low-velocity fans in the basement keep the air circulating throughout the building. In winter, the ventilation system also transfers the heat from exhaust to incoming fresh air, and in summer, air handling units spray water on incoming fresh air, reducing its temperature by up to 18 degrees through evaporation. In mild weather, Kroon’s occupants assist in the ventilation by opening windows in response to an electronic, color-coded prompt system.
A rainwater-harvesting system channels water from the roof and grounds to a garden in the south courtyard, where aquatic plants filter out sediment and contaminants. The gray water, held in underground storage tanks, is used for irrigation and pumped back into Kroon for flushing toilets. The system is designed to save 500,000 gallons of potable city water annually and to reduce the burden on city sewers by lessening the amount of storm runoff. Half of Kroon Hall’s red oak paneling—15,000 board feet—came from the 7,840-acre Yale Myers Forest in northern Connecticut, which is managed by the School. The building’s pale yellow exterior, composed of sandstone from Ohio, echoes other Yale buildings. The north and south courtyards were constructed to create a community from disparate buildings on Science Hill. The south courtyard, landscaped by Olin Studio of Philadelphia, is a raised platform, with a green roof of soil one foot deep and surrounded by twenty-five varieties of native plantings. Underneath the courtyard is a service node, centralizing all pickups for trash and recycling and deliveries for the southwest corner of Science Hill and accessible by a single driveway off Sachem Street.
Sage Hall, a four-story building located at 205 Prospect Street and a gift of William H. Sage, B.A. 1865, in memory of his son, DeWitt Linn Sage, B.A. 1897, was completed in 1923. Administrative, doctoral program, development, alumni, and program offices of the School are housed in Sage Hall, along with three classrooms. Sage Hall is home to a microcomputer center for students, with thirty-seven IBM computers, each with GIS capabilities. Sage also houses a 490-square-foot student lounge, appointed with a large table and comfortable couches, which students use for studying, special events, and weekly social events. Bowers Auditorium is designed to handle large lectures and seminars as well as small group projects. Bowers, which has a seating capacity of over 110 with tables and chairs, was built onto Sage Hall in 1931 with funds provided by the bequest of Edward A. Bowers, B.A. 1879.
Facilities for research and instruction in silviculture, natural resource and forest economics, forest policy, and biometry are in Marsh Hall at 360 Prospect Street in the Marsh Botanical Garden. This large, four-story mansion was originally the residence of Professor Othniel C. Marsh, B.A. 1860, a distinguished paleontologist and Western explorer of the nineteenth century. He bequeathed the building to the University in 1899, and for twenty-five years it housed the entire Forest School. Marsh Hall was designated a National Historic Landmark by the United States Department of the Interior in 1965.
The William B. Greeley Memorial Laboratory at 370 Prospect Street, named in honor of William Buckhout Greeley, M.F. 1904, houses a classroom and eight laboratories for research into the ecology and management of landscapes and ecosystems, urban sustainability, the biology of trees, and environmental chemistry. Adjacent to the Greeley lab is a 3,800-square-foot greenhouse, which is used for hands-on learning and research. Greeley Laboratory and its greenhouse were built in 1959 with funds from the forest industries, the John A. Hartford Foundation, and other benefactors.
The Class of 1954 Environmental Science Center at 21 Sachem Street is dedicated to the Class of 1954 in honor of the $70 million the class donated in 2000 to support new science buildings and other major University priorities. It is an interdisciplinary facility built by the University with the aim of further fostering leadership in teaching and research of science and engineering. The building was designed to encourage collaboration among faculty and students pursuing environmental studies. The dean and four natural-science faculty members from F&ES have their laboratories in the Environmental Science Center, which also houses research laboratories for the Yale Science Departments of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Geology and Geophysics, and Anthropology as well as the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies.
The restored former residences at 301 Prospect Street and 380 Edwards Street house the offices of many of the School’s faculty and staff, as well as doctoral student offices; each building has a classroom.
Library Collection
The Henry S. Graves Memorial Library Collection for the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, one of the oldest and largest collections of forestry publications in the United States, is located in the Center for Science and Social Science Information (CSSSI) in Kline Biology Tower (http://csssi.yale.edu). The collection is named in honor of the School’s first dean, Henry S. Graves, who purchased the initial collection of German forestry books and continued to support a strong library serving the School’s graduate forestry program.
Current holdings in the Graves Collection consist of more than 100,000 books, documents, technical reports, and serial publications dealing with forestry, forest science, natural resource management, and environmental sciences and management. The collection receives more than 100 print journal, periodical, and other serial publication titles. Older materials in the Graves Collection are housed in the Library Shelving Facility. All materials are accessible through the Yale Library electronic catalog, ORBIS.
The Graves Collection is committed to acquiring whatever books and journals are needed to support the School’s teaching and research activities. In addition, students have access to the enormous holdings of the Yale University Library, described below.
Reference and information services are provided locally, with the F&ES librarian having an office in Sage Hall, while additional aid is available from reference librarians in the nearby CSSSI. Access to electronic databases covering the wide range of subjects of interest within the School (e.g., ProQuest Environmental Science Collection, CAB Abstracts, BIOSIS, and Web of Science) is provided through the library’s Web site at www.library.yale.edu. These research tools and others, on such subjects as international affairs, water, soils, fish, wildlife, policy affairs, and law, are accessible throughout the campus. As a part of Yale University Library system, the Graves Collection participates in all library services offered to Yale patrons: paper-based, electronic, local, and through interlibrary loan services.
Computer Resources
The mission of the Office of Information Technology is to support all aspects of computing for every member of the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, and to provide training in the fundamental use of computers in educational and administrative applications. Because it is our policy to focus on supporting individuals rather than specific user configurations, we use and support multiple platforms, including IBM/Windows, Apple Macintosh, and Sun/Unix. Students are encouraged, but not required, to bring their own computers, and they may contact the director of Information Technology for advice on the selection of appropriate hardware and software. We currently encourage strongly the purchase of Apple Macintosh laptop computers. A robust campus network provides wireless access at all F&ES buildings and elsewhere throughout Yale.
The F&ES IT department (F&ES-IT) maintains a student-computing cluster in Sage 39, with twenty-eight iMac computers, which feature 21.5-inch displays, NVidia 9400 video cards, 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processors, and 4 GB of system RAM. The cluster iMacs dual-boot in both Macintosh OS and Windows 7-64 bit OS.
The student printing room in Sage 38 contains three high-capacity black-and-white printers and one high-capacity color printer. Additional wireless student printing is available in the Ordway Learning Center with one high-capacity black-and-white printer.
F&ES-IT also loans, on a strictly enforced one-week basis, laptop computers, GIS units, digital cameras, walkie-talkies, and compact audio recorders.
Information Technology Services (ITS) is the central organization at Yale for the support of all educational and administrative computing. It offers support to all members of the Yale community. The Yale library is also very active in the integration of information resources in digital format. Students and faculty have online access to a comprehensive variety of journals and databases, and the Sterling Memorial Library Map Collection now employs a full-time GIS librarian who is available to assist students in obtaining and working with GIS datasets to support their work in any part of the globe.
The School participates in two centers of the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies that have established specialized computing facilities. These are the Center for Earth Observation (CEO) and the Center for Computational Ecology (CCE).
The CEO provides its users with access to an SGI Challenge 1 Server and hard-disk archive with nine SGI workstations; four SGI workstations in the four sponsoring departments, including one in Marsh Hall; network connections to any Unix-based workstation on campus; a ten-user license for Earth Resource Mapper, a multipurpose software package for image analysis; and a small but growing collection of Landsat MSS and TM data and GOES weather satellite data. A small staff of consultants assists users in the selection, procurement, and analysis of satellite images.
The CCE, housed in Osborn Memorial Laboratories, has a full-time computer programmer to assist in developing programs for research at the center. The center has seven state-of-the-art workstations to facilitate development of computational software and ecological simulation programs.
The Center for Science and Social Science Information (CSSSI), a collaboration between Yale University Library and Yale ITS, offers an array of digital media technologies and operates several important digital resources, including the ITS StatLab and a variety of software and databases that are not normally available on campus, such as a Bloomberg Terminal. It is located in nearby Kline Biology Tower.
Faculty members have also developed many special computer applications for their projects, and some of these are available for student use in the Sage computing facilities.
School Forests
The Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies owns 10,900 acres of forestland in Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont that are managed by the School Forests Program. The program manages seven discrete forests that were donated to the School between 1913 and 1986 that range in size and geography from the 75-acre Crowell Ravine in Vermont to the 7,860-acre Yale Myers Forest in Connecticut. The composition of the Yale Forests reflects a latitudinal gradient ranging from a central hardwood cover type in Connecticut to a northern hardwood cover type in New Hampshire and Vermont. Extensive stands of pine and hemlock exist in both regions. The area encompassed by the forests includes almost all of the topographical and soil conditions, site classifications, and cover types found in New England.
The management goals of the Yale Forests are to provide educational, research, and professional opportunities for the faculty and students and to serve as an asset to the School’s investment portfolio. Faculty and students use the Yale Forests as a laboratory for teaching, management, demonstration, and research. While a member of the faculty serves as director and a University staff member serves as the manager, graduate students working as interns or coordinators carry out the bulk of the on-the-ground management and administration. The forests are maintained as working forests, and thus the tasks include selling timber and nontimber forest products from the land. The Yale Myers Forest is the largest and most heavily utilized parcel managed by the School Forests Program and is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.
Students working on the Yale Forests receive training that covers aspects of forest ecology, silviculture, forest operations, and sociology in order to prepare them for careers as foresters and land managers. Every summer six to eight students are chosen for the apprentice forester program at the Yale Forests, which includes hands-on training in maintenance of infrastructure, property boundary research and delineation, timber inventories, and the design and implementation of silvicultural prescriptions. Several students from the apprentice program are selected to work for the School Forests Program the following academic year, where they receive additional training in geographical information systems (GIS) and in the administrative aspects of forest management.
Research performed at the Yale Forests is conducted under the supervision of any faculty member of the School and encompasses forest ecology, silviculture, aquatic and terrestrial wildlife ecology, hydrology, and economic, legal, and social studies. The forest is used for both doctoral and master’s student research, the latter performed either as an independent project or in conjunction with student involvement with existing forest management.
The Yale Forests are used for both academic field trips and workshops held for professional or community organizations. Field trip and workshop topics include forest certification, wildlife habitat manipulation, ecosystem restoration, prescribed fire management, timber harvesting best management practices, silvicultural research, and pathways of forest stand development.
In addition to the forestland owned and managed by the School, close working relationships exist with other forests that are also used for education and research by faculty and students: the 6,800-acre Great Mountain Forest in northwestern Connecticut is available to the School through the courtesy of Edward C. Childs, B.A. ’28, M.F. ’32, and his family; and the 20,000-acre forestland owned and managed by the South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority in New Haven County is one of the oldest managed forests in the western hemisphere. The University also owns approximately 370 acres of ecological preserves that are available to faculty and students.
Communications
The goal for the School’s strategic communications is, in part, to contribute to public understanding and discourse on environmental issues and to encourage the integration of environmental issues into strategies for business, international development, government, and nongovernmental organizations.
The communications office publicizes faculty and student research and School-sponsored events through press releases, by promoting faculty and students as experts to the major media, and in the production of Environment: Yale magazine (www.environment.yale.edu/envy) and video. For more information, contact Bethany Zemba, Assistant Dean for Strategic Affairs, Communications, and Research, at 203.432.2616 or bethany.zemba@yale.edu.
Other major communications vehicles include the School’s Web site (www.environment.yale.edu); the award-winning online magazine Yale Environment 360; the newsletter Yale Environmental News; Yale Environment Review; newsletters and reports from the School’s centers and programs; and the student-edited Sage Magazine.
Yale Environment 360 features reporting, analysis, and opinion on global environmental issues from leading writers, scientists, policymakers, and journalists in the field. Launched in 2008, Yale Environment 360 has established a broad global audience and received numerous awards and honors, including the 2010 National Magazine Award for Digital Media for Best Video. Accessible at www.e360.yale.edu.
Yale Environmental News is published in cooperation with the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies and the Peabody Museum of Natural History. Accessible at www.yale.edu/yibs/yen_current.html.
Yale Environment Review is a new online publication that provides a forum for producing and disseminating concise summaries of peer-reviewed research from around the world that is of general interest to those engaged in the fields of environmental and natural resource management. The weekly commentaries are joined by a forum for moderated comments, questions, and links to related content.
For newsletters and reports of the individual programs and centers, see their Web sites, accessible through the main F&ES Web site at www.environment.yale.edu.
Sage Magazine is produced twice a year and contains a mix of reporting, short features, editorials, art, and prose. Accessible at www.sagemagazine.org.
The School also maintains a presence on Facebook (www.facebook.com/#!/YaleFES), Twitter, Linked-In, and other social media channels in order to reach its audiences around the world.
Student Organizations
The School has many student-run interest groups. Current student groups include the Outdoor Recreation SIG; Asia (ASIA) SIG; the Coalition for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (CAFÉ); the Climate Change SIG; Environmental Justice at Yale (EJAY); Environmental Media & Arts; the Forestry Club (FC); Fresh & Salty SIG; Greening the Vote; the Industrial Environmental Management and Energy Group (IEME); a student chapter of the International Society of Tropical Foresters (ISTF); the Latin American SIG (La SIG); the Multi-Ethnic Student Association (MESA); Risk Reduction, Adaptation, and Disaster Student Interest Group (RRAD); SCOPE; Ethnobotany and Economic Botany Student Interest Group (STIGMA); Lucy-StUDS; Walk the Talk (WTT); WESTIES; Yale Environment Women (YEW); Yale Environmental Health Group (YEHG); International Development and Environment (IDE); a student chapter of the Society of American Foresters (SAF); the Yale chapter of the Society for Conservation Biology (CONBIO); Religion, Spirituality and Nature; Africa SIG; Energy SIG; Environmental and Social Entrepreneurship Club (ESEC); Fire Ecology & Management; Out in the Woods; Reptile and Amphibian Naturalist Alliance; and the Student Advisory Committee (SAC). The activities of these groups include sponsoring guest and student lectures, organizing field trips, sponsoring workshops, organizing social events, holding conferences, and interacting with regional divisions of their respective societies.
Funding for Master’s Student Projects and Activities
Master’s students often seek funding for scholarship, research, professional activities, and social events. Sometimes the request is for individual activity, sometimes on behalf of a group. Our School and Yale University have many funds to which students can apply. Among the most useful are the Master’s Student Travel fund to support attendance at a conference or symposium at which a student is giving a talk; MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies, which can help bring international visitors to Yale for a lecture or a conference; grants and contracts to faculty and centers for research; and the School’s Student Affairs Committee (SAC), which supports activities by our many student interest groups (SIGs).
Alumni Association
The F&ES Alumni Association, led by a board that holds regular meetings to conduct the business of the association, hosts regional gatherings around the country and around the world, especially at annual meetings of the Land Trust Alliance, the Ecological Society of America, and the Society of American Foresters. The board functions both as a committee of the whole and through several standing committees; officers of the board welcome inquiries from F&ES alums who want to be considered for seats on the board or any of its standing committees. Standing committees oversee nominations of officers and of recipients of the Distinguished Alumnus Award, host the annual reunion and regional gatherings, and assist staff with the Annual Fund and other fundraising initiatives. The School’s Web site, an emerging set of shared interest Web sites, and a quarterly newsletter, in addition to e-mail blasts, keep alumni/ae throughout the world in touch with each other and with the School.
The F&ES Alumni Association is also affiliated with the Association of Yale Alumni (AYA), which serves all alumni/ae of Yale University. The F&ES Office of Development and Alumni Services works directly with the AYA on several critical services for F&ES alumni/ae, including the Virtual Yale Station (e-mail forwarding), Online Alumni Directory (secure access contact database), and the Yale Career Network (professional profiles). Alumni/ae are encouraged to contact the Office of Development and Alumni Services at alumni.fes@yale.edu.
Job Search Skills Development
Career Development Office
The mission of the School’s Career Development Office (CDO) is to educate, empower, and support students as they actively seek internships and employment to advance their career visions, and to develop linkages with organizations to enhance the hiring of the world’s future environmental leaders.
One of the overall goals of the CDO is to equip students with excellent job search skills and assist them in charting a course leading to a professional career fitting their interests, skills, and abilities. Our diverse resources and services enable users to learn about themselves, determine how their accumulated experiences translate into meaningful career goals, and conduct effective job searches.
CDO conducts programs and provides Web-based resources geared toward supporting the development of students’ career and job search skills. Programs include:
- Introduction to Environmental Careers with expert Kevin Doyle
- Job Search Skills Intensives: Half-Day Programs:
- • Jumpstarting the Job and Internship Part 1: Focus on strategies, résumé, cover letter, and networking
- • Jumpstarting the Job and Internship Part 2: Focus on interview preparation, interview skills, and salary negotiations
- How to Work a Career Fair
- Success Stories: Job and Internship Search Strategies
- Writing the Personal Statement
- Applying for the Ph.D. Workshop
- Using Optimal Resume
- Using GeO: eRecruiting at F&ES
- U.S. Business Etiquette for International Students
- How to Launch an International Career
- Cover Letter Writing for International Students
- Writing the Cover Letter
- Writing the Résumé
- Salary Negotiations
- Interview Skills
- Networking at Yale and Beyond
- Interview Palooza: Mock Interviews with the Experts
- Job Search Discussion Groups
Internships and Summer Research
Internships and summer research have long been an important part of the educational program at Yale. They provide a unique opportunity to combine academic knowledge with practical experience, to enhance skills, and to gain professional confidence.
Students are assisted by the Career Development Office, faculty, alumni, and other students in their search for internships and summer research experiences. Attention is given to students to help them locate opportunities that meet their individual needs and interests.
Given the School’s strong ties with natural-resource, environmental, and conservation organizations worldwide, internship and research possibilities are virtually unlimited. Typical internships and research projects occur between the first and second years of the program; occasionally, however, they last for longer periods.
F&ES 006, Summer Internship/Research 0 credits. The summer internship or research project is an important opportunity for students to apply knowledge and skills gained during their first year of study, to gain professional experience and build networks, and to investigate potential career paths. Consists of a research project or internship experience between ten and twelve weeks, typically between the summer of the first and second years of the program. Students have latitude in designing a summer practicum closely aligned with individual academic and career goals. Students are responsible for securing their own internship or developing a relevant research project with appropriate faculty supervision, applying for and securing their own summer funding, and filing appropriate paperwork with the Career Development Office before and after the internship or research experience in order to receive course credit. Required for all master’s candidates.
Summer 2011 Internships and Research Projects
The following list shows the rich and diverse experiences that F&ES students had during a recent summer. Data for other years is available online at www.environment.yale.edu/careers/data.
Business and Industry
- Access: Wind, Researcher, Kenya
- BBMG, Strategy Engagement Team, Summer Strategy Associate, N.Y.
- Carbon Credit Capital, LLC, Business and Development Intern, N.Y.
- Corporate Eco Forum, Deputy Editor/Intern, N.Y.
- DBL Investors, Summer Associate, Calif.
- Eileen Fisher, Social Consciousness/Sustainability Summer Intern, N.Y.
- EnerNOC, Utility Solutions, Summer Associate, Mass.
- Environmental Banc & Exchange, Intern, Md.
- Except Integrated Sustainability, Summer Trainee, Netherlands
- Except Integrated Sustainability, Intern, Conn.
- Flagship Ventures, Summer Associate, Mass.
- Fortis 17 Corporation, Intern, Calif.
- GE, Corporate Environmental Programs Division, Supplier Intern, Conn.
- Hara Energy & Environmental Software, Chief Green Officer & Client Services Team, Efficiency Researcher, Calif.
- Hinge, Intern, Va.
- IBM, Intellectual Property-Patent Law, Researcher of Patent Law/Science Innovation, N.Y.
- IBM, Intern, Belgium
- McDonald’s Corporation, Sustainable Supply Chain, Intern, Ill.
- Meister Consultants Group, Energy Intern, Mass.
- J.P. Morgan, Investment Banking, Summer Associate, N.Y.
- NRG Energy, Inc., Environmental Business, Environmental Business Intern, N.J.
- RES Americas, Development Intern, Tex.
- SOS Metals, Intern, Calif.
- Tetra Tech, Intern, Va.
- Tri-Ocean Energy Carbon Trading and Renewable Energy, Intern, Egypt
Education
- FGV Direito, Program of Law and Environment, Environmental Consultant, Brazil
- Inter-University Program Beijing, Student Researcher, China
- Lake Tahoe Community College, Green Sustainable Education Program, Adjunct Faculty/GSE Program Developer, Calif.
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Researcher, Sweden
- Worcester Academy, Business Office, Intern, Mass.
- Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy, EPI Project, Intern, Conn.
- Yale Entrepreneurial Institute, Cofounder of UNIcq, Conn.
- Yale–The Forests Dialogue, Program Assistant, Conn.
- Yale School Forests, Apprentice Forester/Researcher, Conn. (3)
- Yale Urban Resources Initiative (URI), Greenspace, Community Forester/Community Greenspace Intern/Intern, Conn.
Government and Public Sector
- California Air Resources, Office of Climate Change, Intern, Calif.
- Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI)/Clinton Foundation, Zimbabwe Country Team Analyst/Intern, Zimbabwe
- City of New Haven, Office of Sustainability, Intern, Conn.
- Department of Justice, Environment & Natural Resources Division (ENRD), and Department of Energy, Natural Resources Section/General Counsel, Legal Intern, Washington, D.C.
- Elwha Research Consortium, Researcher, Wash.
- Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Office of Energy Policy and Innovation (OEPI), Graduate Intern to the Chief Economist, Washington, D.C.
- NYC Parks & Recreation, Sustainability Initiatives Team, Intern, N.Y.
- Permanent Mission of the Republic of Maldives to the United Nations, Advisor/Intern, N.Y.
- Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations, Social and Economic Affairs/Environment Division, Intern, N.Y.
- Town of Cheshire, Water Pollution Control Department, Researcher, Conn.
- United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), Intern, France
- U.S. Congress, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Intern-Global Climate Change Functional Area, Washington, D.C.
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Strategic Environmental Management, Sustainable Enterprises Intern, N.Y.
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 2/Chief Financial Office, Intern, Washington, D.C.
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Pollution Prevention Division, Environmental Protection Specialist, Washington, D.C.
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, Wilderness Fellow, Alaska
- USDA Forest Service (USFS), Rocky Mountain Research Station, Human Factors and Risk Management, Social Science Intern, Mont.
- USDA Forest Service (USFS), Fire Sciences Lab, Intern, Mont.
- USDA Forest Service (USFS), Deschutes National Forest, Sisters Rangers District, Student Career Experience Program Pre-Sale Intern, Ore.
- White House Council on Environmental Quality, Land & Water Ecosystems, Intern, Washington, D.C.
- White House Council on Environmental Quality, Policy Outreach, Intern, Washington, D.C.
NGOs and Other Not-For-Profit Groups
- ACORE, Biomass Coordinating Council, Intern, Washington, D.C.
- Connecticut Fund for the Environment, Green Infrastructure Intern, Conn.
- Ecoinvent Centre, EMPA Division, Intern, Switzerland
- ELI Africa, Intern, Mauritius
- Environmental Law & Policy Center, Law Intern, Ill.
- Equinox Center, Volunteer Intern/Researcher, Calif.
- Forest Trends, Policy Analyst, Washington, D.C.
- Gardens for Health International, Intern, Rwanda
- Global Greengrants Fund, Programs, Intern, Calif.
- Institute for Sustainable Solutions and Ecotrust, Intern, Ore.
- International Labour Organization, Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Intern, Thailand
- International Red Cross, Climate Centre, Intern/Researcher, Panama
- International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Fundraising and Development Intern, Washington, D.C.
- IPAM- Amazon Environmental Research Institute, Researcher, Brazil
- Kohala Center, Hawai’i Island Energy Sustainability, Researcher, Hawaii
- Kohala Center, Researcher, Hawaii
- Ladakh Ecological Development Group (LEDeG), Intern, India
- Lama Foundation, Summer Steward, N.Mex.
- Land Trust Alliance, Community Conservation Intern, Conn.
- Mega-Cities Project, Research Intern, Brazil
- The Mountain Institute, Andean Program, Climate Change Adaptation and Watershed Management Research Assistant, Peru
- National Forest Foundation, Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, Intern, Ill.
- Natural Resources Defense Council, Federal Transportation Policy, Policy Analyst Intern, Washington, D.C.
- Natural Resources Defense Council, Climate and Energy Policy/Beijing Office, Intern, China
- The Nature Conservancy, Colorado River Program, Intern, Colo.
- The Nature Conservancy, Lower Connecticut River Watershed Program, GIS Spatial Analyst, Conn.
- Proyecto de Conservacion de Aguas y Tierras, Researcher, Colombia
- Public Interest Research Group, Environment Connecticut, Summer Campaign Advocate, Conn.
- Quebec-Labrador Foundation, Researcher, Maine
- Regional Plan Association, Stamford Office, Research Intern, Conn.
- RESOLVE, Intern, Washington, D.C.
- Rocky Mountain Institute, Boulder/Electricity Practice, Intern, Colo.
- Royal Society for the Protection of Nature, Intern, Bhutan
- Selway-Bitterroot Frank Church Foundation, Intern, Mont.
- United Nations, CEPAL, Economic Growth in Chile and Environmental Sustainability, Chile
- World Resources Institute, Climate and Energy Program, Intern, Washington, D.C.
- World Resources Institute, Markets & Enterprise Program, Intern, Washington, D.C.
Independent Non-U.S. Research
- Drivers of land use change and impacts on water resources and biodiversity, and community outreach with Paraná Pine Forest Project, San Pedro, Misiones, Argentina
- Political ecology of fire regimes in the Andean-Patagonian region, Argentina and Chile
- Assessing relative performance of native species as it relates to canopy closure and surrounding light conditions of saplings, southern Bahia, Michelin Ecological Research Station, Brazil
- Ecophysiological and anatomical traits of native tree species used in restoring the Atlantic Rainforest, Michelin Ecological Reserve, Brazil
- Traditional agriculture in protected areas: Caiçara Management of Fallows in the Estação Ecológica de Juréia-Itatins, São Paulo, Brazil
- Current industrial symbiosis situation of the photovoltaic industry and future scenario predictions, China
- Dai Holy Hills: sanctuaries of biodiversity in Xishuangbanna, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Gardens, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, China
- Understanding the role of specialized environmental courts in fostering governance, promoting public participation in environmental decision-making, and advancing China towards a path of sustainable development, China
- Examining the Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) policy-making process, titled “Walking under the shade: Social analysis of the national Payment for Environmental Services policy in agroforestry and coffee systems,” Costa Rica
- Biomass equations for estimating aboveground biomass of an exotic teak timber species (Tectona grandis), Ghana
- Impact evaluation of microloans for green energy products, Energy in Common, Ghana
- Evaluating artificial glaciers as a water harvesting technique in Ladakh, Leh Nutrition Project, India
- Relocation narratives, Madhya Pradesh, India
- Changing coastlines: a historic approach to mangrove management in South Sulawesi, Indonesia
- Developing silvicultural management regimes for reducing northern Israel’s vulnerabilities to catastrophic wildfire and climate change, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael, Israel
- Botanical investigation of socioeconomic differences in Amman, Jordan
- Case study analysis of the costs and benefits for smallholders participating in the Western Kenya Smallholder Agricultural Carbon Finance Project, Vi Agroforestry, Kisumu, Kenya
- Investigating human-lion conflict, livestock predation, and retaliatory killings threatening lions (Panthera leo), Ewaso Lions, Kenya
- Sediment fingerprinting in the Mara River Basin: uncovering relationships between wildebeest, tourism, and non-point source pollution, National Museums of Kenya, Masai Mara, Kenya
- Perceived fairness, integrated conservation and development investments, and lemur conservation, Andapa Region, Madagascar
- Developing a Web-based geographic system to identify urban consumers with net-metering potential at current energy and technology prices, ITESO, Guadalajara, Mexico
- Environmental predictors of forest presence and species distribution, Hovsgol Province, northern Mongolia
- Translating conservation and development policy into practice: The Namibian Protected Landscape Conservation Areas Initiative, Windhoek & Otjiwarongo, Namibia
- Disaster management policy in Nepal: a case study of the 2008 Koshi Flood, Kathmandu, Nepal
- A valuation of a river downstream from a future mine site, Lima, Peru
- Population structure of the Amazonian fruit camu camu (Myrciaria dubia) after decades of harvest, Jenaro Herrera, Peru
- Adapting forest restoration approaches to local contexts: case studies from Thailand and the Philippines, RECOFTC and Visayas State University, Nakhon Ratchasima and Baybay City, Leyte, Philippines
- Species-site matching for native species reforestation in the Visayas region, Institute of Tropical Ecology, Visayas State University, Baybay, Leyte, Philippines
Independent U.S. Research
- Assessing best management practices for Natural Play Areas, Blacksburg, Va.
- Assessing potential for collaborative wind farm development in Puerto Rico, Windmar Renewable Energy, Culebra, Puerto Rico
- Control of precipitation events on dynamics of disinfection byproduct formation potential, Brookfield, Conn., and Catskill Mountains, N.Y.
- The effects of forest management treatments on understory deer herbivory in the northeastern United States, Union, Conn.
- Endocrine disruptors and the obesity epidemic: how racial and socioeconomic groups differ in their susceptibility to phthalates, New Haven, Conn.
- Evaluation of ground story floristics in relation to time since overstory harvest, Forest Crew Apprentice and Researcher, Union, Conn.
- Examining the effects of temperature and nitrogen fertilization on soil carbon dynamics, New Haven, Conn.
- Gene flow and dispersal of moriche (Mauritia flexuosa) among palm swamps in western Amazonia: implications for biogeography and habitat fragmentation, Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies (YIBS), New Haven, Conn.
- Harvest impacts soil carbon in a northeastern Connecticut oak-hickory forest, Yale-Myers Forest, Conn.
- Impacts of climate change on crop choice in the United States, New Haven, Conn.
- Impacts of human land use change and development on coastal watersheds in south central Connecticut from pre-colonial times to present, titled “The Ecological History of Coastal Connecticut,” New Haven, Conn.
- Interviewing diverse participants in elk management in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem to understand and explain the complexities of the contentious current elk management framework, Jackson, Wyo.
- Investigating a case study of planning and fiscal responses to sea level rise, The Nature Conservancy’s Coastal Resilience Project, Guilford, Conn.
- Investigating the effect of exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals on the reproductive function of amphibians in the wild, New Haven, Conn.
- Issue papers related to U.S.-India Cooperation on Climate Change and Energy, NRDC International Initiative, Intern, San Francisco, Calif.
- Linking plant performance to ecosystem responses: the impacts of Microstegium vimineum on nitrogen cycling and mycorrhizal communities, New Haven, Conn.
- Measuring VOC emissions flux from hydraulic fracturing activities in the Louisiana Haynesville Shale, Bossier City, La.
- “Modeling across scale: does a regional vegetation model accurately predict local distribution of red spruce (Picea rubens) on Mt. Moosilauke accounting for phenotypic plasticity?,” Warren, N.H., and New Haven, Conn.
- Performing a benefits transfer analysis to assess the value of conserved lands in Virginia, Piedmont Environmental Council, Charlottesville, Va.
- Using life cycle assessment to evaluate the environmental impacts of a land management project—the PlaNYC Reforestation Initiative in the Kissena Corridor Park reforestation project, New York, N.Y.
- Variance in Chamaecyparis thyoides leaf photosynthetic properties along a latitudinal gradient in Eastern USA, New Haven, Conn.
The above list was compiled by the Career Development Office, Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. For more information, please contact Peter Otis, Director, at 203.432.8920 or peter.otis@yale.edu
The School and its students thank donors, host organizations, and supervisors for making these valuable professional experiences possible.
Immediately Following Graduation
Each year our graduates enjoy employment success in environmental science, policy, and management within the United States and around the world, or they pursue admission for further academic study. Details including salary information can be found on the most recent as well as previous classes at www.environment.yale.edu/careers/data.
Summary data from the class of 2011 master’s graduates six months after graduation (108 of 110 reporting): 22 percent went into the private for-profit business/law sectors; 13 percent went into private for-profit environmental consulting; 15 percent entered the public sector/government; 24 percent entered the NGO not-for-profit sector; 15 percent are working in education; and 11 percent have pursued further study.