Georgetown Graduates are Landing their Dream Jobs in Environment & Sustainability
Georgetown University is helping to create a new generation of sustainability professionals to meet global environmental challenges. Graduates from the new Master of Science in Environment and Sustainability Management (MS-ESM) program have already begun making a difference as they enter their dream careers.
The MS-ESM program is a novel approach to sustainability education, where students take an equal blend of environmental science courses, taught by The Earth Commons Institute through the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, and business courses, taught by the McDonough School of Business, with interdisciplinary courses throughout. The 10-month degree focuses on building transferable skills and a broad knowledge base of current issues that students can immediately bring into diverse career paths. We followed up with some graduates working in their dream careers to learn about how the program prepared them to make a positive impact.
What do you do now in your dream job?
Brittany Gallahan (MS-ESM ’24) is now the Regenerative Agriculture Specialist at Elevated Foods: “I work directly with farmers to help them transition to regenerative agriculture practices – including cover cropping, no till/low till, nutrient management, and soil amendments. Our goal is to de-risk the transition to regenerative agriculture and provide farmers with a broad suite of tools to make their operations as sustainable as possible.”
Amy Dorfman (MS-ESM ’24) is now the Decarbonization Program Manager at The Trustees of Reservations: “The Trustees is the largest and oldest land trust in Massachusetts. In my role as the Decarbonization Project Manager, I’m working to reduce emissions from physical assets such as the buildings within The Trustees care through tech and nature-based solutions to meet our decarbonization goals.
Anders Croft (MS-ESM ’24) is now a Policy Analyst at the Federal Aviation Administration: “I manage projects under two FAA programs; ASCENT, a program that funds sustainable aviation research at universities, and FAST, the Fueling Aviation’s Sustainable Transition, a grant program which funds projects on enhancing and developing sustainable aviation technologies. The broader goal of my position is to help the United States reach the goals of the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge, launched by the Biden administration in 2021.”
Chloë Carton (MS-ESM ‘24) is now the Senior Manager of Sustainability Technology at Ernst & Young Ireland, and she supports her clients in bridging the ESG-data divide for regulatory compliance and sustainability performance management. She works on client proposals, events, go-to market strategy, thought leadership, delivery programming and recruitment.
Maya Burney (MS-ESM ’24) is now the Senior Investment Officer at Calvert Impact: “Calvert is a US-based investment firm that finances lenders, fund managers and other intermediaries around the world that are a critical part of the infrastructure necessary to build localized market solutions. My responsibilities include a mix of strategic execution, ecosystem partnership building, deal sourcing and underwriting, and portfolio management within Calvert’s flagship Community Investment Note portfolio.”
What makes the MS-ESM program special?
All of our graduates emphasized that the cohort model in the program—where all students take each of their courses together as a single group—created social, educational, and career value. Brittany told us, “Learning and growing alongside the same people for 10 months is a really special and unique experience. It’s amazing to think back to our first group presentations, halfway through the commodity project, and how nervous everyone was. By the end of the program, everyone was more confident, articulate, and so much more evolved than that first module. It’s a unique gift to have 52 professional contacts in this small field so early in my career. We’re practiced at being each other’s thought partners, cheerleaders, and co-workers, and I hope to continue to tap into this network for the rest of my career.”
What experiences from the program supported your success in your job search?
Amy used her deliverables from coursework constantly in her job search. “The cases we did with Professors Yucel and Agrawal… helped me talk about building decarbonization in my [job] interview. Dr. Carfagno’s goal of having us listen to each other’s capstone projects so we could talk about those topics absolutely paid off, as I was asked about my knowledge of HVAC systems in this interview and was able to talk about the HVAC group’s work and how it gave me a literacy…I didn’t possess prior. Maybe most importantly, our data visualization class was hugely helpful in landing this job. ‘Data analysis and visualization as a mode of effective communication to diverse audiences’ was listed in the job description for this role. For my third interview, I annotated and printed my final presentation for our data visualization class, describing why we used the graphs we did and how they could be adapted for the audience and projects at this organization.”
The program emphasizes communication with diverse audiences and solution-oriented thinking grounded in science. Some students came into the program with backgrounds in business and hoping to develop scientific expertise. Maya told us “I am grateful for the science-based perspective the program offered, particularly when it comes to understanding the complexities of climate and ecosystems change.” Chloë also works with data every day on the job, and emphasized that data analytics and visualization, and applied environmental science, taught by Dr. Griffiths, were critical to her success.
Some graduates brought up how the demanding schedule of the program and the group-based deliverables created new opportunities for them to develop an efficient work ethic with diverse teams. “The number of group projects and live presentations…not only upped my confidence in those areas but gave me an almost endless supply of anecdotes to use in interviews—both on the wide array of topics covered and presented on, but also for the myriad of group dynamics navigated and diversity of working styles accommodated for,” said Amy Dorfman.
What skills or knowledge from the program do you now apply in your new role?
Brittany uses her newly acquired business acumen daily with her clients. “I came into the program already well versed in regenerative agriculture and soil health. The program gave me the financial terminology that I use in my consulting work.”
Several graduates emphasized the case-based nature of the program, focusing almost exclusively on relevant sustainability challenges facing the world right now. Maya told us, “Case-based courses were particularly critical, as they combined real-life and often recent events with new strategies and business models for sustainability.” Chloë Carton’s role as the Senior Manager of Sustainability Technology at Ernst & Young Ireland benefited from the case-based approach, and she’s currently working with a company on using GIS for soil health and biodiversity mapping for supply chain management – each of which she directly tackled as part of her deliverables in environmental science courses.
Anders’ critical thinking and communication skills have made him a leader in his new job: “With the many research projects during MS-ESM, I read a staggering number of papers, so I became adept at locating important information and figures and navigating the network of related research. At my current job, I read a number of scholarly papers every week on topics that I am unfamiliar with, so this skill has been a game-changer for me. Another skill I honed was my ability to create and critique presentations. I am able to give constructive feedback to my coworkers…using the knowledge that I gained from courses in the program. The training you receive throughout the program on presenting is essential and will make you quickly stand out from others when you enter the workforce.”
Do you have any advice for new MS-ESM students seeking their dream jobs?
Almost all of our graduates took their time in the job search process, and almost all of them declined job offers or removed themselves from interview processes part way through to focus only on the best jobs for themselves. They also all emphasized networking while at Georgetown, and some have specific advice to offer new students:
“If you’re excited by all things sustainability and are business-curious, and need some direction in your career journey, I can’t recommend the program more highly, said Amy Dorfman. “Not having one concrete goal I wanted to get from the program allowed me to say yes to a wide array of topics, opportunities, and projects, all of which shaped my views on sustainability and what I got from the program.”
Anders Croft emphasized taking every opportunity presented by the MS-ESM program. “This can go beyond simply showing up to events, showing up to class, etc. Every time there is a discussion in class, you have the opportunity to present your opinion and practice your ability to convey information and persuade an audience. Every time a guest speaker comes to the school, you have an opportunity to speak to someone who is in a position you wish to be in one day and learn from them. In my case, I took the opportunity to pursue a capstone project concept that excited me, and bring it to the program, which eventually led to my dream job.”
Maya Burney agrees. “Have as many conversations as you can,” she says, “not from a place of need, but from a place of genuine curiosity and passion for the field of sustainability. Make friends with your professors—they are geniuses!”
Brittany Gallahan sums it up best.“You have to be a dreamer to get a dream job,” she reflects. “What does the future look like in your mind? Where can you go to make that a reality—who can you connect with that can see what you see? Does going back to school make that dream more likely? I wouldn’t use a graduate program to figure out where I want to go—the woods are free and better at that. If you go into a graduate program, let it sharpen your skills, build your network, and give you the foundation to build your dreams on.”
Interested in learning more about the MS in Environment & Sustainability? Request more information today!