Summer Experience Funding Sources
CPD coordinates and hosts information sessions for students completing their summer experience requirement, acts as liaison with YSE and campus partners annually, administers the YSE Supplemental Summer Fund, processes award distribution, and coordinates donor stewardship.
Information and deadlines on the following funds are updated early in the spring semester.
250+ Grants & Fellowships Available
A comprehensive, searchable list of student grants and fellowships funded and/or administered by Yale. Most of these are available from Yale’s schools, departments, programs and councils and are open only to Yale students, while others are national competitions to which Yale nominates candidates. For more information, please visit the Yale Student Grants and Fellowships Database. Deadlines to apply vary based on the award/fellowship process.
The YSE Supplementary Fund provides partial funding to Yale School of the Environment students to support their required (ENV 006) summer experience. These supplements are made possible by a handful of donors and are administered through a Yale School of the Environment committee consisting of faculty and staff.
Students can apply for this support through the Yale Student Grants Database.
The deadline to apply for the YSE Supplementary Fund is Wednesday March 27, 2024, 4 p.m. EST (unless otherwise noted). Application can be completed as soon as a summer experience in accepted. We encourage students to apply as early as possible. Please note that while the YSE Supplementary Fund application does not require a advisor / faculty recommendation letter, it DOES require digital approval from an academic advisor or faculty supervisor through the Student Grants Database application portal. Please plan to submit your application well before the deadline and provide your advisor/supervisor at least 1-2 weeks of lead time to when you request their required approval. Delay in advisor approval may impact funding allocation.
(YSE supplementary funds include, but are not limited to those listed in the Yale Students Grants Database. Questions? Please e-mail Kevin Doyle at kevin.doyle@yale.edu).
The Yale Center for Environmental Justice awards student fellowships to support Masters and Doctoral research focused on environmental justice. Grants of up to $5000 are awarded competitively each year to eligible students. Recognizing that the field of environmental justice is broad and multidisciplinary, we welcome proposals from students across disciplines interested in researching a range of issues significant to social and environmental justice. Environmental Justice Student Research Fellowships are open to Masters or Doctoral students at the Yale School of the Environment or a joint program with YSE. 11
Applications due Monday, March 11, 2024 by 1 p.m. EST through Yale Student Grants Database.
Funding is provided to Yale School of the Environment students with a focus in engaging new communities in conservation; expanding the conservation toolkit; and ensuring the permanence of conservation gains. Preferred locations in U.S. land conservation organizations.
The average award is $9,000, and up to 7 students may be awarded. The award process is managed by the Office of Career and Professional Development. Please download the Berkley Scholars Internship Award Application to learn more.
How to apply: This application is NOT posted in the Student Grant Database. Please send the completed application to maya.sanyal@yale.edu.
The deadline to apply for these funds is Friday, March 1, 2024, 4 pm EST. The application can be completed as soon as a summer experience is accepted.
For Application Instructions, please download and use this form:
APPLICATIONS ARE NOW BEING ACCEPTED FOR THE 2024 NRDC/CAMERON SPETH FELLOWSHIP. Application deadline: NRDC: March 1, 2024.
Summer Stipend: $10,000.
Applications are now being accepted on a rolling basis, and YSE students are encouraged to apply immediately. Application details are on YSENext. Applications are submitted directly to the NRDC contact named in the JD.
The Cameron Speth Fellowship provides funding for students from developing nations and Japan to carry out summer internships at the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the World Resources Institute (WRI), two institutions founded by former YSE Dean Gus Speth. Speth received the Blue Planet Prize from the Asahi Glass Foundation of Japan in 2002 and donated part of his award to the NRDC and WRI in honor of his wife, Cameron.
One student at each organization will be awarded a fellowship for a 10 to 12 week internship over the summer. Fellowship award amounts are determined by and paid by each host organization.
Candidate eligibility and selection criteria:
- Master’s degree students are to come from developing countries or Japan.
- Likely to contribute to environmental policy and program development in developing countries, and (have the) potential to reach others through future teaching and research, or as policymakers and/or program managers.
Please review application details via YSENext as well as in attachment above.
NRDC/WRI fellowship details: TBA.
Please note that both positions require direct applications, and are not through the Students Grants Database.
The Hixon Center offers funding to YSE students that have a preferred focus in natural and social science research, education, & outreach projects on urban ecosystem restoration, urban forestry, and project related to pollution of air, water and soil in urban areas. Domestic is preferred.
Awards range from $5,000 – $7,000 and up to 7 awards are given. The process is managed by Colleen Murphy-Dunning.
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Yale Environmental Protection Clinic jointly organize the Moran Environmental Fellowship, which supports a paid summer internship with the NRDC, and is open to students at the Yale School of the Environment. This fellowship funds summer work across NRDC. The Moran / NRDC Fellowship stipend for 2024 is $10,000. $4,000 with be paid by NRDC; $6000 will be paid through YSE.
The job posting for the 2024 Moran / NRDC Fellowship is now posted on YSENext, and applications are being accepted until an offer is made. Please note that application to the role is directly to the NRDC contact (please read the job description on YSENext).
Once a YSE student has accepted the Moran / NRDC 2024 fellowship, the fellow must apply for the YSE part of the summer fund through the Yale Student Grants Database.
The deadline to apply for YSE funding is Friday, March 15, 2024, 11.59 pm EST. Please email Maya Sanyal at maya.sanyal@yale.edu or Kevin Doyle at kevin.doyle@yale.edu with questions.
The MacMillan Center’s Fellowship, grant and award opportunities are available to Yale graduate students and are typically grouped by geographic area of proposed summer experience, with some exceptions. Application deadlines are based on the award and begin in mid-February. Students can apply through the Yale Student Grants Database.
The Mobley Family Environmental Humanities Program in YSE is pleased to invite proposals for student research projects to be carried out in Summer 2024. These grants are intended to support research on the humanistic dimensions of human-environment relations, which might otherwise not be supported by funding sources either within YSE or elsewhere on campus. Projects involving film, photography, performing arts, visual arts, audio/podcasts, online communication, etc. also will be considered. The Program typically awards a half dozen fellowships of $2,000 – $4,000. Applicants are expected to apply to other funding sources as well.
The deadline to apply is Thursday, February 15 2024, 11.59 p.m. EST. Proposals are accepted through the Yale Student Grants Database. Please contact Michael Dove (Michael.dove@yale.edu) or Kristin Floyd (kristin.floyd@yale.edu) with questions.
DEADLINES AND SUBMISSION: This application is NOT posted in the Student Grant Database. Please submit your proposal, budget, and recommendation letters as one .pdf file via e-mail to Maya Sanyal (maya.sanyal@yale.edu) no later than 5:00 pm EST on Thursday, February 22, 2024. Please include “Rosemary Ripley Family Fund Award Application, 2024” in the email subject line.
PURPOSE: The Rosemary Ripley Family Fund Internship promotes both business and conservation goals by enabling one or more Yale graduate and professional students to engage in a summer internship after their first year of study at Yale. Applications will be submitted in proposal form and may range widely in terms of purpose, place, and process by which the effort will move forward. Besides the general requirement to incorporate business and conservation/environment elements, these internships must also have a clear international component, i.e., conducting study in another country, with a preferable focus on emerging markets.
ELIGIBILITY: Any Yale graduate and/or professional student having at least one year of course work yet to complete. Open to all students, with preference given to students from emerging nations who wish to eventually return to their home countries for work.
AMOUNT OF AWARD: One grant of $7,500 to support a summer internship. Funding can be used for travel, living, research, or other purposes associated with the proposed project. Under the terms of the award, the recipient will initially receive 80% of the grant. Once the post-project requirements are met (see attachment), the student will receive the 20% balance.
TRI’s Endowed Fellowship Program provides funding for currently enrolled YSE masters and doctoral students to conduct research in tropical countries. These projects are interdisciplinary in nature and cover a wide range of issues that surround the study, management, and conservation of tropical resources. TRI supports both natural and social science research projects.
Awards range from $2,000 to $5,000 and approx. 20-30 awards are granted each cycle. The award process is managed by Simon Queenborough.
Additional fellowships are available that are dedicated to particular tropical regions. For more information go to the TRI Fellowships webpage.
URI offers paid Greenspace and GreenSkills internships for graduate students at the Yale School of the Environment, as well as for New Haven high school students and ex-offenders. Enriched through group discussion, these community forestry internships provide job training and real-world practice while making positive changes in New Haven communities.
Basic requirements are:
- Ability to complete physically demanding tasks
- Commitment to leadership
- Team-oriented spirit
- Willingness to make positive change
For more information and to apply email our Associate Director, Chris Ozyck (christopher.ozyck@yale.edu)
This fellowship is a student-driven query involving research, an internship, or management project during the summer. Ucross High Plains Stewardship Initiative at YSE provides fellows with a financial award, logistical assistance, and mentorship to aid with a summer experience that will have a high impact on conservation, stewardship, or management of natural resources in the Rocky Mountain or High Plains regions. This program supports Yale graduate and undergraduate students completing a summer work that will provide them with practical experience, leadership skills, and/or research experience that will prepare fellows for their future careers. A financial award of up to $8,000 will be granted to each fellow. Fellows will actively participate in peer mentoring with other fellows and will receive guidance from UHPSI staff during the summer.
Please visit the Highplains Stewardship website (please scroll down to the “Summer” section) to learn more about student expectations, application materials, and evaluation criteria.
Funding is provided to YSE plus Yale “at-large” graduate students that have a preferred focus in land conservation in the following locations: Intermountain West; Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, and Oregon.
The number of awards are 2 plus 1 ‘at large.’
Students can apply directly through the Yale Student Grants Database.
Please contact Lisa Bassani in Development and Alumni Relations for more information.
The Global Food Fellowship sponsors the academic and extracurricular study of food systems beyond Yale University’s campus. It offers the opportunity to bring place-based practice and participant observation into examining multiple levels of food systems.
All Global Food Fellowships should be grounded in a guiding question, which seeks to explore ideas that could overturn the ecological, social and economic deficiencies of today’s predominant food systems. Inquiries should engage critically with approach and methodology, reflect upon the student’s positioning in the research, acknowledge the context-dependency of the place and topic, and prioritize “principles over recipes” for food systems solutions.
Recipients are required to write a one-page reflective essay and present their work as a part of the YSFP’s knead 2 know series. Graduating seniors who cannot return to campus will prepare a 10-slide photo essay, or other agreed upon deliverable in lieu of a presentation. All fellowships come with mentorship and support from YSFP staff and our extended community of friends and alumni.
Fellowship applications are open from January 1st through March 16th. All Yale undergraduate and graduate students, including graduating seniors, are welcome to apply. To do so, please search “Global Food Fellowship” in the Yale Center for International and Professional Experience Student Grants Database.
For more info about Yale Sustainable Food Program, visit their website.
Questions? Please contact Jacqueline Munno (Jacqueline.lewin@yale.edu)
Outside Resources for Summer and Other Funds
The YSE External Funds Database website has hundreds of external funding opportunities for students at the School.