In addition to accepting applications for its 14th group of sustainability interns, the Office of Sustainability is accepting applications for its first group of 2020 Sustainability Scholars until Tuesday, Sept. 15.
Roughly 15 freshmen and sophomores will be selected to research with a faculty mentor under the new 2020 Sustainability Scholars program.
“The internship program has a research component, but the 2020 Sustainability Scholars program is purely a research program,” Andrew Predmore, associate director of sustainability, said. “And it’s targeted toward freshmen and sophomores, whereas the internship program is open to undergraduates and grad students, but, typically, it’s juniors, seniors and grad students.”
Predmore said it’s important for freshmen and sophomores to have an opportunity to research as well.
“What the research shows is that, if freshmen and sophomores get exposed to an experience in research early in their career, it can change their trajectory in really positive ways, and they tend to, a lot of times, stay working with that professor in some capacity as juniors and seniors,” he said. “And that’s what we want.”
Predmore added that while students in the internship program are paired with Office of Sustainability working groups, students in the 2020 Sustainability Scholars program will be matched with faculty members.
“And the faculty members are doing all kinds of research,” he said. “Sometimes it’s research all over the world. Sometimes it’s something right here in Bloomington, whereas our interns are working on projects here.”
Hilary Smith, project coordinator with the Office of Sustainability, said the 22 projects have a wide range of topics, adding that there’s even a project that studies the waste stream of theatrical production at the Department of Theatre and Drama.
Applicants will list their top choices of projects, Predmore said. Once staff members from the Office of Sustainability narrow down the list of interested students, they will give a list to each faculty member, who will then list their top choices of applicants.
“And some of our best faculty have stepped up and decided to be mentors for this,” he said. “You walk on campus and you get really close contact with a world-class faculty mentor. Some of our faculty mentors are really at the top of their fields, which is really cool. Typically, undergrads meet those faculty members in a class of 100.”
In addition to researching, scholars will take a class with Predmore and Sarah Mincey, associate director of the Integrated Program in the Environment,” Predmore said. The class will advance the students’ research skills.
Predmore estimates that scholars will invest between eight and 10 hours each week.
The 2020 Sustainability Scholars Program is kind of a small part of a larger effort called the 2020 Transitions Lab, Predmore said. The emerging 2020 Transitions Lab uses campus operations — such as buildings, energy systems, food systems and transportations systems — as a lab for teaching, learning and doing research on sustainability.
The Bicentennial Strategic Plan for IU-Bloomington calls for an increase in high-impact practices at IU-Bloomington.
“And the 2020 Transitions Lab engages faculty, staff and students in a relationship that cultivates and promotes high-impact learning,” Smith said.
