Funding your master's education and gaining practical experience

The following fellowships are available to help make education more affordable for current NRSD students.

Also, below are some examples of organizations offering internships of interest to NRSD graduate students. For students in the NRSD program, a summer internship is often a central feature of their Master's experience; students can choose to spend several months working intensively on aspects of sustainable development. 

Though the home base of Costa Rica and UPEACE connections offers great access to Latin American opportunities, each year NRSD students also venture to other continents to pursue their internship requirements. Recent internships have included working with the Ministry of Environment in Quito, Ecuador to develop a system for evaluating protected area management to meet Convention on Biological Diversity requirements; producing concept proposals on topics ranging from rights-based conservation to indigenous community climate change adaptation at the IUCN's office in Costa Rica; working on sea turtle conservation and rescue on the Costa Rican coast; and teaching sustainable development to Tibetan refugee children in Ladakh, India.

Fellowship Opportunities

Presidential Management Fellows

The Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) Program was established by Executive Order in 1977 to attract to the Federal service outstanding men and women from a variety of academic disciplines and career paths who have a clear interest in, and commitment to, excellence in the leadership and management of public policies and programs. By drawing graduate students from diverse social and cultural backgrounds, the PMF Program provides a continuing source of trained men and women to meet the future challenges of public service. Students apply to the PMF program the year before graduation.

EPA STAR Fellowships

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, is offering Graduate Fellowships for master's- and doctoral-level students in environmentally related fields of study. Master's-level students may receive support for a maximum of two years. The fellowship program provides up to $42,000 per year of support.

WCS Research Fellowships Program

With the highest award of $20,000, RFP seeks to support the field work of graduate level students who will work with Wildlife Conservation Society staff in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and in special cases, North America. Collectively, the professionals receiving RFP grants will apply field-tested conservation science to the challenges facing the natural world.

Gloria Barron Scholarship

The $10,000 per recipient Gloria Barron Wilderness Society Scholarship supports qualified graduate students' research and preparation of a paper on wilderness conservation. Additional funding will be provided to pay travel expenses for the recipient to work with staff members of the Wilderness Society on this project, and for the publishing and publicizing the final paper as well.

Windstar Environmental Studies Scholarship

As an annual environmental studies scholarship program launched by Windstar Foundation, Windstar Environmental Studies Scholarship is awarding one $1000 scholarship for graduate students entering their second year of graduate school.

Education for Sustainable Energy Development (ESED)

Scholarships are available to outstanding students from developing countries and economies in transition. The Education for Sustainable Energy Development (formerly e8) scholarship is to support outstanding students pursuing advanced studies in sustainable energy development and to encourage meaningful contributions to the collective body of knowledge about this subject.

Boren

NSEP Boren Fellowships support students pursuing the study of languages, cultures, and world regions that are critical to U.S. interests (including Africa, Asia, Central & Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America & the Caribbean, and the Middle East). Study of the countries of Western Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand is excluded.

Annie's Sustainable Agriculture Scholarship

Annie's Homegrown Sustainable Agriculture Scholarship assists undergraduate and graduate students who are pursuing studies in Sustainable and Organic Agriculture. Each year, it awards monetary scholarships ($2,500 and $10,000) to its recipients. Both US citizens and International students who study at a US school are welcome to apply.

RHS McLaren Horticultural Scholarship

The RHS McLaren Horticultural Scholarship provides a ten-month noncredit work/study program in Great Britain. Opportunities are available for study, research and practical work at The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and Edinburgh and gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society and the National Trust. Internships at the Eden Project and an optional semester at Reading University or Sheffield University may also be arranged. The scholarship provides funding for transportation, housing, tuition and an allowance for personal needs.