Students | Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability

The Next Generation of Sustainability Experts

Cornell Atkinson supports the next generation of problem solvers – graduate and undergraduate students – to transform their discoveries, expertise, and commitment into real-world sustainability solutions. A wide range of young scholars has engaged with Cornell Atkinson’s internship, grant, fellowship, and professional development programs, enabling a generation of sustainability scholars to shape the conversation, work with diverse stakeholder groups, craft policy, and advance science-based solutions to the most urgent problems facing our planet and its inhabitants.

Opportunities for Graduate Students

Made Adityanandana working on a river in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

Graduate Research Grants

Graduate Research Grants provide direct funding for periods of 12-24 months to students in any doctoral graduate field at Cornell (or terminal degree in fields that do not offer the Ph.D.) in support of innovative research that aligns with our four priority areas. [Applications are accepted each year in the fall.]

2024 SBF recipient Jeferson Amaral tests drainage water for sewage

Sustainable Biodiversity Fund

The Sustainable Biodiversity Fund supports innovative research on the most pressing questions in protecting biodiversity. Cornell graduate students from all disciplines are encouraged to apply to pursue interdisciplinary projects that will help preserve biodiversity, its global ecosystem services, and four billion years of irreplaceable evolutionary history. [Applications are accepted each year in the fall.]

Grad students working on a group project

Semlitz Family Sustainability Fellows

The Semlitz Fellows Program is designed to bring together early-career researchers and business students to prepare for careers in sustainability leadership. Through a combination of coursework, professional development, and experiential learning, they learn to make informed choices about where and how to apply sustainability-related decision-making to impact our most pressing challenges.

Join Our Grad Student Mailing List

Learn about events open to all, as well as future calls for funding proposals.

Graduate Research Highlight

Certain Communities of Pond Plants May Increase Greenhouse Gases

“A lot of public and privately owned water bodies can be heavily managed, based on what people want,” said Meredith Theus, a 2025 Graduate Research Grant recipient, researching the effects of plant biodiversity on wetland greenhouse gas emissions.

Opportunities for Undergraduate Students

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Summer Internships

In collaboration with Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), Cornell Atkinson sponsors summer internships for Cornell students who want to fully immerse themselves in project teams working at the intersection of science, policy, community, and the private sector.

Kavya Mittha ’26, left, and Aisha Brundan ’25 prepare to submerge and test their bobbing buoy wave energy converter at the DeFrees Hydraulics Lab.

Summer Undergraduate Mentored Research

This program supports faculty-led summer opportunities for undergraduates conducting sustainability research, structured as a pair of undergraduate researchers mentored by a graduate student and faculty principal investigator.

Four Cornell students at 2025 Climate Week NYC event

Student Club Collaborations

Cornell Atkinson partners with student clubs on applied research opportunities. Don’t know where to start? Check out the Cornell Environmental Collaborative (ECO), a platform where 30+ associated clubs organize and communicate their interests to the rest of Cornell’s sustainability community.

Undergrad Student Highlight

Student Summer Research Lays Path for Future Scientists

Cornell Atkinson’s Summer Undergraduate Mentored Research Grant program gives students the chance to explore critical sustainability challenges — from reducing methane emissions on dairy farms, to strengthening food security in Hawaii, to studying climate impacts on flooding and drought, to examining how soils and plants influence greenhouse gas emissions.

Discover How Undergraduates Made a Real-world Impact

Michael Belfer ’28, Allasandra Avril Valdez, a Ph.D., Eli Barrett-Learn ’28 on ranch in Florida with Prof. Jed Sparks