Cornell Atkinson – EDF Sustainability Leadership Program

Cornell University / EDF

Our Sustainability Leadership Program helps Cornell Atkinson and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) postdocs and graduate students develop into leaders who prioritize listening, responsivity, respect, and equality in their research and collaborations with government, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), private-sector organizations, and communities. Designed in partnership with EDF, the program helps sustainability scholars develop essential skills in interdisciplinary, cross-sector, and community collaboration as well as science communication, policy development, career design, and leadership.

“Researchers working on sustainability are aware of the urgent challenges facing us globally, but they face a number of institutional barriers when attempting to design, implement, and report research for both the academic and nonacademic worlds. Taking knowledge to action effectively requires a range of skills in the areas of collaboration across disciplines and sectors.”
David Lodge, The Francis J. DiSalvo Director of Cornell Atkinson

Department/Institute/Unit: Cornell Research Division, EDF Office of the Chief Scientist

Institution: Cornell University / EDF

City: Ithaca / Washington, DC

Country: United States

State/Province: South Carolina

Program Leader(s): Carrie Young and Rainer Romero

Point(s) of Contact: Carrie Young

Contact Email(s): cey26@cornell.edu

Year Initiated: 2018

Currently Active: Yes

Program Scale: National

Participant Model: Cohort Based

Participant Eligibility: Postdoc

Time Commiment for Participants: 11-20 hours

Requirements for Participation: 2 x 2 day workshops and 2 x 2 hour workshops per year for each year of their 2 year fellowships.

Application Frequency: Rolling

Application Process: Those who have been offered Postdoc Fellowships at Cornell Atkinson and EDF are enrolled, we also recently enrolled a cohort of Yale Postdocs

Program Recruitment Strategies: N/A

Cost to Participant: No

Funding or Support Available to Participants: N/A

Amount or Types of Support Available to Participants (if applicable): Travel funding and we are developing additional research funding (for projects that support/apply the skills learned in the program)

Mentorship Model: Postdocs who participate mentor graduate students in our Graduate Research Fellows group; Postdocs are mentored by faculty and workshop facilitators

Number of Participants in Program: 20-29

How Program is Funded: Internal

Other Program Partners: Bruce Bailey recently joined as a funder and expert

Number of Program Staff: 1

Is the Program Credit Bearing or Credentialing: Yes

Is there a Program Evaluation Conducted: Yes

Type(s) of Evaluation(s) Conducted: Pre- and post-surveys; or post surveys of participants for each workshop