Sustainability Fellows

Undergraduate Sustainability Research Fellows Program

The Undergraduate Sustainability Fellows are a cohort of undergraduate students from diverse academic disciplines who engage in a year-long learning, research, and action program that seeks to make measurable progress in addressing a sustainability issue on campus. The Fellows work with Robert Orttung and the Office of Sustainability to identify topics that they want to address over the course of the year. The Fellows work in teams and have the support of faculty and staff to design and implement solutions. The GW Sustainability Research Institute provides financing to support student research efforts and carry out the solutions as needed.

During the 2022-23 Academic year, Sustainability Fellows worked to increase the level of composting on campus and to improve green space on campus. Storymaps describing their experiences are here: 

• The Woonerf group: GW Sustainability Research fellows propose improvements to campus urban design
• Story Map using ArcGIS

During the 2023-4 academic year, Fellows are working on projects that develop the Sustainability Minor, improve energy efficiency, increase recycling, and reduce plastic waste on campus. Below are the students' reports from this year's projects:

• Empowering Energy Efficiency: Reducing Energy Consumption in Student Housing at George Washington University
• Shadow Box to Increase Composting in District House