CITRIS Sustainability Champion Awards for Undergraduates
Project Leads: Jason Trager, Jacqueline Hsu, Paul Wright
Sponsor: CITRIS
TGIF Grant: $20,060
Project Theme: Education & Behavior Change
2012 Application Submission
Status: In Progress
Project Description: This grant will fund five student internships during summer 2013. Interns will be mentored by graduate students and partnered with environmentally-related companies to complete hybrid research-job training internships.
Goals: Assist undergraduate students gain employment in industry sectors with skills relevant to the world’s biggest challenges in the sustainability and environmental sectors. Demonstrate the utility of having individuals, who are trained in sustainability assessment and implementation, on staff in corporate environments, and do so through a combined education and internship promotion process. Place the program-accepted undergraduates into a year-long process of training, solving problems on campus, and interning on sustainability-related project at a corporate partner. Conduct a graduate student-led Sustainability Boot Camp, where the undergraduates will learn about several subject in sustainability business and policy assessment, as well as costing, accounting, and engineering principles associated with sustainability. Solicit corporate partners who will provide the sustainability internship and take-over funding the internship once TGIF funding has been expended.
2012-2013 Accomplishments
- Advertised the program to UC Berkeley students. Hired four students for the positions.
- Jacqueline Hsu hired as the Co-Coordinator and Lead Intern.
- Distributed flyer with a call for companies and non-profits to host CITRIS Sustainability Champions for summer 2013 employment.
- Four interns and four employers were matched:
| Intern | Employer |
| Jacqueline Hsu | Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory |
| Jenny Tang | Brush with Bamboo |
| Crystal Sun | KW Engineering |
| Camilla Gardiner | Awesome Bars |
- CITRIS posted an article regarding its partnership with the program.
- Each intern completed a 10-page report as part of the spring training program, in preparation for summer employment.
- All interns completed a 12-week internship.
- Rohit Kumar, co-founder of Brush with Bamboo, wrote about CITRIS Sustainability Champions in his article “Why UC Berkeley is emerging as leader of sustainable business”.