SUNY ESF
ESF Career Fellows
Betsy and Jesse Fink Career Development Program
These fellowships are made possible through donors to the ESF College Foundation, specifically The Fink Family Foundation (Betsy ’79 and Jesse ’79 Fink), ESF Alumni Association in memory of Robert M. Sand ’50, Clara and Wilton B. Griffiths ’51, and Douglas and Susan Cotton. Student awards ranged from $325 to $6,000.
Hannah Brown (BS in Sustainable Energy Management '24)
Hannah will be pursuing her LEED Certification through a required course and exam. Hannah is interested in working in energy auditing and consulting for residential and commercial buildings, creating more energy efficient and affordable infrastructure for our cities, and this certification will help her in reaching these goals
Emme Christie (Ph.D. in Environmental Science: Human Dimensions of the Environment '24)
Emme will be interning with Equality for All Foundation (EFAF), Jamaica’s foremost LGBTQ+ rights advocacy organization that is now including climate change considerations. Emme will develop a plan to engage public audiences about the impacts of climate change on historically excluded and marginalized communities and train EFAF to conduct climate justice research and implement advocacy projects. This experience will enhance Emme’s skills in public engagement, conflict management, working with vulnerable groups, and environmental policy development.
Conner Grant (BS in Aquatic and Fisheries Science '23)
Conner will be interning with the Department of Aquatic Resources, Swedish Institute of Agricultural Sciences (SLU-Aqua), a world-class research group that monitors of the status of Sweden’s fishery resources, in Öregrund, Sweden. He will be working on projects analyzing the accumulation of radionuclides and impacts of warming climate within a nuclear power plant outflow. The opportunity to travel abroad and gain experiences and perspectives from the top fisheries researchers in Sweden will support a successful transition into the professional world of fisheries science upon graduation.
Emily Jones (MPS in Environmental Biology '23)
Emily will be interning with the Onondaga Environmental Institute (OEI) in Syracuse, NY. The goal of the internship will be to provide GIS analysis support and recommendations for environmental restoration initiatives for the headwaters of Onondaga Creek in the Tully Valley to the Onondaga Nation. This project with OEI will allow Emily to gain valuable professional experience as an ecological restoration practitioner, including developing plans, monitoring, and using GIS tools that will be used to inform critical restoration project decisions.
Jade Nguyen (BS in Environmental Studies: Policy, Planning, and Law '23)
Jade will be interning with the Syracuse Urban Food Forest Project in Syracuse, NY. The long-term goal of the project is to create an edible food forest throughout Syracuse’s canopy-deprived Southside, which will increase human nutrition and improve stormwater retention. Jade will conduct research on foraging laws and codes and develop a policy proposal draft for the city of Syracuse regarding their current laws around foraging. This experience will allow Jade to conduct relevant research and analyze policy implications for their future career.
D.R.I.V.E. Research Group (Tatum St. Louis, Chloe Smith, Lucienne Snyder Robertson, Georgia Crawford, Rebecca Bonner, and Hillary Suzuki, BLA in Landscape Architecture '25 and '26)
This group will be using a mixed-methods approach as a form of inquiry to survey hazardous pedestrian zones within a transect of Syracuse, NY. As a result of their work, they will create a framework that can be applied to Syracuse and other geographic locations to inform community members on how to make their communities more walkable and less car dependent. This project will support their future career goals in landscape architecture, helping communities, and making spaces more accessible.