Wellesley College
ER-18: Sustainability Research Incentives

The following sustainability-focused courses require students to participate in research. The topics of student research varies, and students work may work independently as well as in groups depending on the class. ES101 Fundamentals of Environmental Science with Lab. ES203 Cultures of Environmentalism ES250 Research or Individual Study ES299 U.S. Environmental History ES350 Research or Individual Study ES300 Environmental Decisionmaking ES312 Seminar: Environmental Policy ES381 US Environmental Politics ES315 Environmental Geochemistry with Laboratory ECON228 Environmental and Resource Economics Students undertaking a thesis and/or 300-level independent study projects may apply to the Environmental Studies Program for funds up to $350 per semester. In order to receive funds, students must submit a detailed budget to the Program Director, who will bring it to the ES Advisory Faculty for approval. The ES Program also supports a summer student to work on a faculty-led project at the intersection of environmental studies fields (humanities, social sciences, sciences) with an interdisciplinary group of professors. Interested professors will collaborate to develop a multi/cross-disciplinary summer project, which they will propose to the ES Advisory Faculty. Once a project is selected and approved, a call for applications will be made to ES students, typically in late February. While this is primarily a faculty-led program, it is possible for students to approach professors with an idea in the fall and gauge their interest in pursuing the project. Additionally, the Environmental Studies Program encourages students to take part in conferences and other events related to their academic work in environmental studies. To support such initiatives, the program will fund student registration fees for conferences up to $50. There are several limits to this program: students must take advantage of early registration discounts; funding is limited to one conference per year; support is limited to students majoring or minoring in Environmental Studies and first year students intending to major or minor in ES. In some cases, the program may make exceptions to the above stipulations.

The College's Sustainability Certificate Program (a joint program with Babson and Olin Colleges) has funding available (including an innovation fund) for faculty to develop cross-campus programs.