Students in this Institute will be provided with foundational training in environmental science and sustainability. Skills-based workshops, debate-style conversations, panel discussions, immersive fieldwork in local ecosystems, and authentic scientific communication will be interwoven among coursework, experiential, and research components of the Institute.
Georgetown students participating in our Planting Party at the Hoya Harvest Garden.
The Georgetown University Summer Institute in Environment & Sustainability on-campus summer program is designed to provide currently matriculated Georgetown undergraduate students with an elite-level academic experience while offering a packaged price.
In this Institute, Earth Commons faculty will provide students with foundational training in Environmental Science and Sustainability, preparing our students to advance and translate major issues affecting the future of this planet through expert lectures, application-based exercises, communication, and research. All Institute students will design and deploy independent research projects in locally meaningful Environmental Science, with support from instructors, mentors, and fellow students. Skills-based workshops, debate-style conversations, panel discussions, immersive fieldwork in local ecosystems, and authentic scientific communication will be interwoven among coursework, experiential, and research components of the Institute.
Schedule
The Georgetown Summer Institute in Environment & Sustainability is a 10-week, 12-credit, in-person undergraduate program. The Institute will take place from Monday, June 3 to Friday, August 9, 2024. Coursework credits completed in this Summer Institute may be applied to diverse pathways of Georgetown undergraduates, including a novel ‘on-ramp’ into the Joint Environment and Sustainability Program Degree (JESP), an immersive inquiry-based experience for students pursuing the Environmental Studies minor, and exposure to and engagement with novel research methods for any student seeking to gain quantitative, experimental skills while exploring meaningful environmental questions. If you are an undergraduate student interested in a career in the environment, love the outdoors, and are seeking to engage in coursework in innovative and experiential ways, this Institute is designed for you.
ENST 1011 (Env. Sci. and Sustainability Lab) is a required co-requisite for this course.
This course is the first in a two-semester series and will examine the scientific process, principles, and methodologies required to understand the interrelationships of the natural world; we will identify and analyze environmental problems and evaluate potential solutions for resolving or preventing these issues. Specific topics will include human population growth, ecosystem services, biogeochemical cycles, ecology and evolution, biodiversity and conservation, food resources, and climate change.
ENST 1010 (Env. Sci. and Sustainability) is a required co-requisite for this course. This Experiential Component of this Institute includes students conducting exercises in diverse local ecosystems, collecting and analyzing real environmental data from natural and disturbed settings (both aquatic and terrestrial habitats), and interacting with environmental practitioners in the area dealing with local and regional problems. Lab will meet in varied locations during the 5-week term, including short activities in campus and local campus greenspaces, and additional visits to regional sites that could include Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary, the Smithsonian National Zoo, and locations on and around the Chesapeake Bay. Field sample processing, analysis, and discussion will occur in modern laboratory classrooms.
In the Opening Interruption, students will be introduced to concepts such as “ecological belonging,” which is a way of thinking about our deep interconnectedness with the environment, and how we are influenced by the stories, patterns, and paradigms that shape society. These influences are often invisible to us in our daily lives. Making them visible is a first step in an ongoing practice that connects our inner relationship to the environment with the outer forces that define and shape our world.
In this course, we investigate the ethics of human interaction with the world around us. What is nature? What is wilderness? Is there such a thing? How should we design our parks, our cities, our agricultural systems—according to what values? Who should design these systems, manage them, and so on? How do we weigh environmental values when they conflict? How do we maintain a responsible hope in the face of existential environmental threats? Topics in the course will include environmental justice, biodiversity, animal ethics, climate change, consumerism, suburban sprawl, zoning, food ethics, and more.
The Closing Integration is meant to offer students a space to put what they have learned over the course of the Institute into practice through simulations, collaborative exercises, and other immersive experiences.
The research course will involve field-based projects with teams of students addressing interrelated questions about how anthropogenic light and sound influence urban wildlife communities. Teams will develop hypotheses, conduct the research data collection (field and lab work), complete data analysis, and integrate data across teams to write up a final scientific report to be presented to the Earth Commons community via a concluding Summer Institute Symposium.
Program Participation
You must participate in all scheduled Institute programming. You may not partially participate in the Institute. Any outside commitments you may have—including but not limited to summer internships—cannot conflict with either class meetings or experiential components. Students who wish to take one of the courses à la carte may do so through the Georgetown School of Continuing Studies, space permitting. However, ENST 3301 (Authentic Research Experience in the Environment) is only available to students fully enrolled in the Environment & Sustainability Summer Institute.
If you’ve already taken one of the courses for this Institute, please reach out to Summer Institute in Environment & Sustainability Institute Director, Dr. Orissa Moulton at orissa.moulton@georgetown.edu with your specific questions regarding courses and participation.
Apply Now
Student applications to the Institute must include:
A 150-200 word Statement of Interest explaining why you would like to participate in 2024 Summer Institute in Environment & Sustainability
Most recent copy of the student’s unofficial academic transcript
Honor Council violation explanation (if applicable)
Contact Us
For academic questions, please contact the Summer Institute in Environment & Sustainability Institute Director, Dr. Orissa Moulton at orissa.moulton@georgetown.edu.
For pricing and operational questions, please contact Main Campus Associate Project Manager, Braysia Hicks at Braysia.Hicks@georgetown.edu.
