Schneider Summer Fellowships: Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) - Summer 2024
Through the Schneider Fellows program, Stanford students work at leading U.S. nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the sustainable energy field. Schneider Summer Fellows spend a summer quarter tackling the world’s economic, environmental, social, and technical challenges associated with harnessing energy resources to deliver energy services.
Fellows receive a stipend of $10,000 for a 12-week summer fellowship. In addition, additional funding of up to $1500 is available for fellowship-related travel.
NRDC (the Natural Resources Defense Council) works to safeguard the earth—its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. NRDC combines the power of more than 3 million members and online activists with the expertise of some 700 scientists, lawyers, and other environmental specialists to confront the climate crisis, protect the planet's wildlife and wild places, and to ensure the rights of all people to clean air, clean water, and healthy communities.
Check out the seven summer fellowship positions available to Stanford students below. Applicants can rank up to three fellowship positions. All NRDC Schneider Summer Fellows are expected to begin work on June 17, 2024.
Fellowship 1: Bloomberg American Sustainable Cities Fellowship
Office: New York, NY or Washington, D.C. (Hybrid 2-3 days onsite)
Program/Project: People & Communities Bloomberg American Sustainable Cities Project
NRDC is seeking a fellow to work with a dynamic, cross-cutting internal team to implement an ambitious grant-funded initiative to support city-level action on climate and racial wealth equity.
The Bloomberg American Sustainable Cities Initiative (BASC) is a Bloomberg Philanthropies funded program that will support cities and communities around the country tackle two urgent challenges of our time: racial wealth inequity and climate change impacts. The initiative intentionally will work at the intersection of building Black wealth and climate action, leveraging the influx of federal funding and putting those most impacted by the impacts of the climate crisis at the center.
In this year, the initiative will be just starting its implementation, supporting 25 cities across the country. NRDC is the climate lead and will be focused on building communities of practice, coordinating technical assistance, and supporting cities pursue federal funding opportunities, among other activities.
The Fellow will support BASC in a number of ways, which will be determined as cities start to ramp up their work. Specific work may include curating or conducting research on a variety of climate action best practices as they relate to city implementation; preparing cities to participate in learning communities by developing agendas, creating presentations, and liaising with external partners; supporting with in-person city convenings; conducting analyses of climate action impact and climate risks for participating cities. Further, the Fellow will play a key role in the coordination of the internal team – ensuring smooth internal communication, collaboration, and accountability. Work products and deliverables include internal and external memos, presentations, and blog posts.
Desired skills and qualities of the Fellow include: coordination, communication, collaboration, accountability, and attention to detail.
The BASC team welcomes a Fellow who is adaptive and agile, a team player, a strong communicator, and eager to learn. The project is rapidly ramping up and the Fellow will be joining in the program's first year of implementation, so would like someone who won't hesitate to lean in and support. The Fellow should be committed to the values of equity. Experience or exposure to local government would be great, but not necessary. The current team (which actually may change by the time the Fellow starts) is made up of subject matter experts, regional experts, and equity professionals from across the organization (and across the US!). We are human -- we respect each other's expertise and their personal time. We help each other out when it's needed. Above all, our values are aligned: we strongly believe in the goals of this project to build racial wealth equity while combating climate change.
Fellowship 2: Soil Fellowship
Office: Washington, D.C. or Santa Monica, CA (Hybrid 2-3 days onsite)
Program/Project: Nature Program
Team Soil would like to request a Schneider Fellow to help with our team’s burgeoning work on reducing US nitrous oxide emissions from agricultural fertilizer application.
Nitrous oxide is both a potent greenhouse gas, and the largest uncontrolled source of ozone-depleting emissions. Over 75% of domestic N2O emissions are associated with agriculture (79%, or 319.5 MMtCO2e, 2021). Of those, over 50% comes from fertilizers used to support crop production (55%, or 174.5 MMtCO2e, 2021). 17% (29.3 MMtCO2e) of the crop-related N2O emissions are a result of nitrogen fertilizer that was not taken up by plants, enters waterways, and volatizes into N2O downstream, while 78% (137.3 MMtCO2e) are on-farm emissions and 5% (7.9 MMtCO2e) are emissions associated with the production of synthetic fertilizers. These anthropogenic N2O emissions from soil occur due to excess nitrogen addition as soil microorganisms naturally transform nitrogen through the processes of nitrification and denitrification into N2O, and this process is accelerated when excess nitrogen is present.
This overapplication of nitrogen fertilizer also has huge impacts on energy consumption worldwide, as fertilizer production consumes about 2% of the global energy supply. Given that an estimated 1% of nitrogen applied to cropland is emitted as N2O, and that global agricultural systems apply about 60% more nitrogen than crops actually need, reducing excess nitrogen in soils through more precise nitrogen management can minimize the application of fertilizer without affecting yield. Improved nitrogen management is seen as one of the main strategies for reducing agricultural N2O emissions globally and can result in up to 50% reductions in N2O emissions in Midwestern corn farms while simultaneously reducing nitrate pollution of surface and groundwaters. Another strategy is reducing nitrogen losses to the environment through plant uptake, which involves promoting practices such as cover cropping, agroforestry and residue retention.
We are currently hiring a consultant to explore further opportunities to reduce the impact of fertilizer production and application nationally, including potential regulatory options through the Montreal Protocol and funding options through the Farm Bill. We hope to assess the sources and emissions of agricultural N2O, identify decarbonization levers, and roughly quantify the emissions reduction potential from those decarbonization levers. Our team would like to request a Schneider fellow to help us strategize and conduct outreach. This includes activities such as researching and writing on the topic, holding discussions with NGO and private groups, advocates, and agricultural scientists to align on N2O emissions reduction strategies and policy asks, organizing a webinar on agricultural N2O mitigation strategies, and identifying a champion legislator or agency leader, at the state or federal level, to put in place mitigation strategies to address agricultural N2O.
Desired skills and qualities of the Fellow include: collaboration, attention to detail, critical thinking, problem solving, communication, research, adaptability, and networking
We are looking for a student that is self-motivated, organized, brings their own ideas and lived experience, and is passionate about protecting the environment. The type of work we’ve had students do is to dive into a set of topics, develop their own expertise, then outline the ideas or trends that emerge from that deep dive, and propose solutions to address those trends. Our team is small (only 5 people) so we have rapidly incorporated student interns as peers and colleagues in the past, and encouraged them to contribute their own innovative and exciting ideas to our advocacy.
Fellowship 3: Lands Sector Fellowship
Office: San Francisco, CA (Hybrid 2-3 days onsite)
Program/Project: Nature Program, Lands Sector
NRDC’s Lands Sector is seeking a Fellow to help develop a deep understanding of the financial barriers to renewable energy and transmission grid development both of which are essential to a clean energy future; and how grid finance systems can be improved to incentivize environmentally responsible development. We are seeking to better understand the interplay of the financial factors with other barriers to appropriate development, in order to encourage environmentally responsible approaches to buildout. The fellow would work closely with the members of the Lands Sector’s energy permitting and siting team, and would collaborate cross-programmatically with staff from Climate and Clean Energy and the FERC project.
NRDC has advocated extensively for many years for the buildout of renewable energy projects such as wind and solar. Part and parcel of that advocacy is encouraging concomitant expansion of the transmission grid, which is currently inadequate to handle power generated from not just proposed and expected but also existing renewable energy projects, many of which are currently queued up waiting for grid interconnection. Frustrated with the amount of time it takes to bring generation facilities online, many advocates and political leaders alike have been focused on the system for permitting renewable energy and transmission facilities, on the assumption that the delays are being caused by onerous bureaucratic requirements. This approach undercuts the important role of environmental review in protecting communities and natural resources, and sidesteps a conversation about ways resource and community impacts can be mitigated.
In the Lands Division, we are focused on ensuring that renewable energy and grid buildout occurs in a manner that maximally protects both natural resource and community interests. Hence, we consider it essential to identify accurately all barriers to buildout and causes of delay, to ensure that policy solutions do not needlessly sacrifice protections based on false assumptions about the cause of the delays; and to consider proactively ways to ensure sufficient financial resources for mitigation of impacts.
For these reasons, we are seeking a fellow who can conduct a deep analysis into current and historical issues around financing large-scale transmission projects in the United States, as well as the implications, several years in, of infrastructure investments and new and changed federal financing tools for transmission infrastructure. This work would include interviews with utilities, merchant transmission developers, staff and intervenors at state public utilities commissions, financing parties and the Department of Energy and FERC. It would also involve reviewing dockets at public utility commissions and offtake agreements for merchant lines; conducting financial research into SEC filings and trade journals and publications; reviewing and analyzing federal infrastructure legislation and the programs and changes associated with the Bipartisan Infrastructure law; and taking a deep dive into reviewing materials and interviewing stakeholders involved with projects that have successfully used new or enhanced federal financing tools.
In particular, the fellow will engage in the following:
- Analysis of rate-Based or Competitive Rate -Based Transmission Lines: Reviewing dockets at cost-allocation proceedings at Public Utilities Commissions and interviewing staff at developers, utility commissions and FERC, to understand the role that ratepayer concerns and cost-allocation issues play in project delays and failures, including for multi-state transmission lines; and how the system could be improved to incentivize responsible buildout.
- Review of Merchant Transmission Projects: Identifying the financing structures for merchant transmission projects, and specific barriers and opportunities related to financing merchant lines, with the goals of identifying any policy recommendations to facilitate merchant transmission development. The review would include interviewing merchant developers, corporate and other off-takers, financing parties, and private investors; and reviewing trade publications, SEC filings, power purchase and off-take agreements, other financing documents, and PUC proceedings.
- Analysis of Federal financing tools: Identifying the range of new federal financing tools to accelerate transmission deployment, with the goal of identifying what further policy changes may be needed to federal financing tools and programs to make them more successful. Reviewing federal legislation and federal financing tools and programs, as well as identifying and reviewing transmission projects that have been successful in obtaining federal financing of some kind. Based on this information, interviewing project developers, tribal nations, and states who have successfully obtained financing, as well as other investors involved in these projects, to understand the process, potential policy changes, and how federal financing tools might have ultimately led to project success. Also interviewing, to the extent possible, DOE, USDA, and FERC staff involved in these financing models to understand experiences in administering the new financing models. Based on these findings, identify what further policy changes may be needed to federal financing tools to make them more successful.
Desired skills and qualities of the Fellow include: Critical Thinking, Data analysis, Financial analysis, Reporting, Research, Regulatory Compliance, Technology proficiency
The Nature Program Lands Sector team consists of policy advocates, scientists, and lawyers who work together on energy and other issues that affect the health of the land and people who depend upon it. We work in fluid collaboration, sometimes working in teams and sometimes independently and entrepreneurially, but staying in close communication with one another to maximize opportunities to work together. We are ideally seeking a fellow who ideally has interest and expertise in economics and finance and/or energy systems analysis, but would welcome any student dedicated to environmental protection with an interest in understanding the potential and complexities of a clean energy buildout.
Fellowship 4: California Climate & Clean Energy Fellowship
Office: San Francisco, CA (Hybrid 2-3 days onsite)
Program/Project: California Climate & Clean Energy Program
NRDC's California Climate and Energy (CE) team is seeking a Fellow to assist with ongoing California regulatory and legislative work associated with advancing the state’s power and cement sector decarbonization goals. The fellow will primarily work alongside the California CE team, with opportunities to collaborate with other teams depending on interest.
NRDC’s California CE team works with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), the California Energy Commission (CEC), the California Air Resources Board (CARB), and the Legislature to advance and implement policy that equitably and cost-effectively helps transition the state to a net-zero greenhouse gas emission economy. The Schneider Fellow will be an integral part of our team, developing technical resources, shaping public comments, researching electric sector or industrial sector decarbonization pathways, and more, that will contribute to our climate advocacy at the state level.
Fellows typically work on one to two long-term projects over the course of their fellowship, with opportunities to assist with shorter-term assignments complementary to their in-depth work product. Project scopes are developed in consultation with the fellow to gauge interest and skill set.
Potential long-term fellow projects include:
- Developing comments for CPUC proceedings on electricity system planning;
- Researching cement decarbonization pathways to help meet the goals of California’s landmark law requiring all cement used in California to be net-zero by 2045;
- Developing public communications materials like blogs or maps;
- Research related to offshore wind in California and the transmission, port development, procurement, and supply chain development needed for the industry to develop
Shorter-term projects may include assisting with the development and review of other CE advocacy products, such as blogs, public comments, testimony to the legislature, and consultant reports.
Our ideal candidate will be at the graduate (or advanced undergraduate) level and have significant research, analytic, and writing skills. Experience working in the electric sector or cement/concrete sector would be nice but is not required. The fellowship tasks can be tailored to align with overall interests and skillset to some extent so an eagerness to learn is important.
Our team culture: we have a broad larger team of power sector, transportation, and industrial decarbonization colleagues we work with. Our immediate California-focused team that the fellow would be working with on a day-to-day basis is around 5 people. Everyone is warm and welcoming. We have nice lunches and all like each other, like learning new things, and like talking to new people.
Fellowship 5: Dirty Fuels Project and Transportation Fellowship
Office: New York, NY or Washington, D.C. (Hybrid 2-3 days onsite)
Program/Project: Nature and Climate & Energy—Dirty Fuels Project and Transportation team
NRDC’s Dirty Fuels and Transportation teams are seeking a Fellow to assist with research and policy design encompassing issues related to energy transition mineral supply chains. The scope of work will cover everything from upstream mining policy and practices to midstream mineral processing, to end-of-life reuse and recycling.
NRDC’s Dirty Energy Project focuses on a number of issues related to energy and energy production on federal public lands. Core work involves advocating for the phase out of fossil fuel leasing, development, and production on federal public lands; advancing renewable energy siting, development, and production on federal public lands; advancing a Just Energy Transition in fossil energy reliant regions; and advocating for responsible mining practices in support of the clean energy transition.
NRDC’s Transportation team focuses on policies that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and pollution burdens from the transportation sector by broadening access to electric vehicles, cleaning up freight and goods movement with community-led policies, building out electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and improving mass transit, biking, and walking infrastructure. As part of this work, the Transportation team also focuses on mineral supply chains for advanced batteries and circular economy practices that can yield steady supplies of the key materials needed to electrify the transportation sector and reduce the demand for mining and processing of virgin mineral feedstocks.
Fellows typically work on several longer-term projects over the course of their fellowship, with opportunities to assist with shorter-term assignments complementary to their in-depth work product. Project scopes are developed in consultation between managers and the fellow to gauge interest and skill set.
Prospective projects for this fellowship include:
- Survey major domestic mining proposals and develop a set of metrics for understanding, among other things: total mine area and types of surface/subsurface disturbances; proposed mine practices including how ore bodies are accessed and how waste will be managed; types and quantities of minerals to be extracted; nearby community perceptions and concerns; economic performance including anticipated job numbers, local hiring commitments, and other expected positive or negative economic impacts.
- Write a memo on the current state of Direct Lithium Extraction technology commercialization and its environmental benefits as well as potential risks or harms for surrounding ecosystems and communities. Use existing proposed projects such as the Salton Sea in Imperial Valley as cases for research.
- Identify legislative and/or regulatory strategies to allow the Bureau of Land Management to undertake a “smart from the start” directed development approach—like that used by the agency to designate Designated Leasing Areas for utility scale solar projects across eleven western states—that could also be applied to early identification of sites for battery mineral and other energy transition mineral mines.
Other projects could involve:
- Conducting research and writing a memo on current U.S. supply chains for energy transition minerals, including a specific focus on countries with which the U.S. has free trade agreements or which whom the U.S. may be pursuing free trade agreements
- Conducting research and writing a memo on policy opportunities and policy gaps for establishing a robust circular economy/supply chain of energy transition minerals
- Exploring opportunities to incentivize the most efficient and safest battery recycling and mineral processing through related grant programs at DOE (both through BIL or other programs)
- Researching existing technologies, best practices, and any existing standards for limiting metallic/toxic emissions from manufacturing facilities and protecting workers at those facilities
Desired skills and qualities of the Fellow include: Conducting research, research analysis, identifying legislative strategies, identifying regulatory strategies, writing memos, project management, setting metrics, adaptability.
We’re seeking a student with deep interest in the subject area coupled with strong research, writing, and analytical skills. Previous experience with mining and supply chains for energy transition and battery minerals is welcomed but not at all required. The fellow will be asked to undertake original research on complex topics and produce memos and other work products that distill their findings into easily understood form. A good fit for this fellowship is someone who is excited to research new and niche topics that are at the intersection of many environment and climate change related topics, share their findings with their colleagues as well as public audiences, and think critically about how new information should influence NRDC’s work.
Fellowship 6: India Program Fellowship
Office: Washington, D.C. (Hybrid 2-3 days onsite)
Program/Project: India Climate Change and Clean Energy – International
NRDC’s India Program is seeking a Fellow to work with its team focusing on analysis, report development, and advocacy aimed to maximize NRDC’s strategic priority areas on climate change, health & cities and international climate policy. The Fellowship project is part of the international program and works with experts both internally and externally with expertise in climate change, extreme heat, health, sustainable cooling, energy efficiency, climate finance and air pollution. The Fellowship will provide an excellent opportunity to investigate major barriers and potential solutions to clean energy access, sustainable and energy efficient cooling solutions, air quality, and greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goals. The Fellowship includes analysis of India’s renewable market, cooling, energy efficiency, climate adaption focused on heat stress, air pollution, and implementing the country’s climate commitments. Work products may include stand-alone documents or memos that will be incorporated into NRDC reports, factsheets, blogs, briefings, and presentations. The Fellow will have the opportunity to engage with other stakeholders and policymakers. In addition to the fellow's primary project assignment, the fellow will have opportunities to contribute to other, smaller projects based on interest and capacity.
Desired skills and qualities of the Fellow include: Adaptability, critical thinking, research analysis, data analysis, collaboration, communication, project management, cultural competence, problem solving
We are seeking a highly motivated and a collaborative student, who is passionate about the climate challenge particularly in the context of a developing country. The student will support the team on ongoing projects of the India program with secondary research, data analysis and stakeholder consultation on clearly identified objectives from the topics of cooling and energy efficiency, clean energy access, electric mobility, extreme heat and global climate policy. The work of the fellow will directly feed into reports, memos, presentations and blogs. The student will also have the opportunity to research and provide strategic inputs to new areas of work that the India program is exploring. India program is a fast growing team and will offer the fellows the opportunity to learn and contribute in shaping our work in India. Students work as part of the team and will actively participate and contribute in team meetings.
Fellowship 7: Climate Test Fellowship
Office: Washington, D.C. (Hybrid 2-3 days onsite)
Program/Project: Nature Program
NRDC’s Climate Test Team is seeking a fellow to join them in Washington D.C. this summer on innovative research, analysis, and development tasks aimed at helping to guide policymakers toward more sustainable energy resource management decisions. Central to this team’s portfolio is the continued development and extension of their flagship product, the NRDC climate test tool, designed for use in federal agency decision-making contexts and beyond. The climate test is a recently-published analytical methodology for evaluating the state and degree of compatibility - or incompatibility - of individual energy projects with climate goals, and these conclusions are informed by energy and emission data from realistically-modeled pathways. The Climate Test Team also supports NRDC’s Land Division advocacy efforts more broadly, contributing research, analysis, and much-needed tool development to questions of climate in land management and natural resource policies proposed by congressional or agency actors. The unifying theme of their work is mobilizing interdisciplinary science toward climate and energy resource policy issues and filling in key gaps in energy modeling capabilities by focusing on supply-side.
This team’s fellowship projects will remain flexible. When onboarding, the selected fellow will have the opportunity to work collaboratively with the NRDC team to select a relevant project that is aligned with their interests and skills as well as the institution’s priorities. Potential projects include:
- Extending the climate test tool to apply to non-fossil energy projects, such as renewables, hydrogen, or power transmission infrastructure;
- Continuing development of a companion economic climate test that evaluates the market need and profitability of a proposed energy infrastructure project in the context of relevant climate goals;
- Development of a web tool user interface for the climate test;
- Contributing to advancement of a supply-side, bottom-up energy model to support rapid-response policy analysis asks, and to inform or vet substitution assumptions being made by agencies in net emissions scenarios analyses.
While the fellow’s primary work would center on an extension of the Climate Test tool, the fellow would additionally have opportunities to contribute to other analysis and advocacy efforts as they arise over the course of the fellowship. These opportunities may be related to a variety of areas of focus within the Nature program, including fossil fuel use and impacts, land use impacts associated with various forms of energy, climate and emissions analysis, and critical mineral supply chains. The fellow will additionally have opportunities to participate in external collaborations with NGO, academic, and community partners as appropriate, as well as to communicate and share their work through presentations, blog posts, and contributions to the NRDC Climate Test report.
The Climate Test Team is looking for someone with strong math and science skills to contribute to their portfolio of highly technical and interdisciplinary work. A degree of familiarity with climate science and energy supply chain basics are preferred, but comfort with working across disciplines and learning new things quickly will be essential. Prior experience with any of the following specialized skills are especially desired, however they are not required to be considered:
- Integrated assessment modeling
- Economic modeling, preferably as applied to energy or environmental topics
- Advanced Excel
- Programming (languages of interest include R, Python, javascript, etc.)
The Climate Test Team at NRDC is made up of two staff scientists who closely collaborate on all team tasks. We have a flexible but closely intertwined collaboration style that involves working through problems and brainstorming ideas in person together, virtual or in-person co-working on separate tasks, as well as working independently, depending on our schedules, energy levels, and project needs. Both of us live in the DC area and come into the office 2-3 days a week. Because of the nature of our team, we would love to work with someone who can be independently driven but enjoys collaboration and group brainstorming to solve problems and build out ideas. We are open to people with different working styles as well, but self-awareness and willingness to communicate needs will be very beneficial.
Eligibility:
For complete eligibility requirements, please review our program policies in its entirety.
Undergraduates and graduate students from all academic disciplines are encouraged to apply, and applicants may vary in academic interests, public service involvement, and experience. Priority will be given to students who have completed fewer than two previous Cardinal Quarter opportunities.
Requirements:
Selected Fellows are expected to begin service on June 17, 2024 for a summer fellowship. All fellows are required to work with their community partners full-time (35-40 hours) for twelve consecutive weeks at their placements. Other commitments include the following:
Quarter before fellowship
- Complete an online program orientation.
- Complete the Engaging in Ethical and Effective Service workshop or worksheet.
- Attend Schneider Fellows cohort session(s)
- Identify and meet with an academic mentor at least once.
- Design a personal learning plan and share the learning plan with site supervisor and academic mentor.
- Complete all required pre-orientation forms.
During fellowship
- Submit a brief preliminary report.
- Submit a final report, complete a program evaluation, and correspond with fellowship donor(s) as requested by fellowships program staff.
Quarter after fellowship
- Meet with academic mentor at least once.
- Participate in outreach activities to share the experience and help publicize the program.
Selection Process:
For those who seek assistance, advising is available at the Haas Center to help students develop their applications.
This fellowship is intended for individuals whose application, references, and interview demonstrate
- an integration of the fellowship experience with applicant’s academic, personal and/or career goals
- prior demonstrated interest or involvement in the subject area, including related coursework
- a compelling match between applicant’s skills and interests and an organization’s work and needs
- strong potential for the fellowship experience to deepen a candidate’s understanding of an identified community issue or challenge
Complete applications are screened, finalists interviewed, and fellows selected by our partner organizations with the intention to award fellowships within six weeks of the application deadline. Applicants should respond promptly (within 48 hours) via email to a fellowship offer, or the offer will be rescinded. Once an applicant accepts a fellowship offer, the student should promptly notify all other Stanford and non-Stanford programs to which they have applied that they have accepted another offer and to withdraw their candidacy.