The New York Climate Exchange and The Exchange at Georgia Tech are offering a unique opportunity to live and work in New York City this summer! Georgia Tech will sponsor two paid summer internship position for students (June 10 - August 9) available via The Exchange and The Exchange at Georgia Tech. Opportunities are available across a variety of local community partner organizations, plus design, engineering, and construction firms advancing sustainability in the natural and built environments. Don't wait! APPLICATION DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 28TH.
OVERVIEW
The New York Climate Exchange (The Exchange) is a new not-for-profit climate solutions center designed to build community, foster collaboration, advance climate knowledge, and empower marginalized communities through cross-disciplinary networking, impactful programming, and cutting-edge facilities. While The Exchange will have a physical presence on Governors Island, its spirit and influence will extend beyond the island into New York City and across the country and world. Our diverse coalition of partners—committed and prepared to collectively disrupt the status quo—incorporates local and global perspectives on climate change from academia, the private sector, and community-level organizations. As the first of its kind, The Exchange will unlock integrated and scalable approaches to sustainability, ultimately serving as a global model for sustainable positive change.
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
The Exchange seeks to recruit an inaugural cohort of undergraduate interns for Summer 2024. Interns will:
- Conduct project-based work with one of The Exchange’s non-profit community partners based in New York City. Participating partners include Solar One, Beam Center, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Green City Force, and Harvestworks.
- Participate in educational and professional skills development programming, hosted by The Exchange in collaboration with partners that may include Georgia Institute of Technology, New York University, Pace University, and Stony Brook University.
- Attend field trips to other members of The Exchange’s community partner network, which will include educational and hands-on engagement.
- Deliver a cohort-wide capstone project to present at a final showcase for the cohort, participating non-profits and academic partners, and external visitors.
The role is full-time from June 10, 2024 until August 9, 2024. Applicants should expect to work in-person in the New York City area.
PROGRAM MISSION
The Exchange’s Summer 2024 internship program will mobilize a diverse cohort of cross-disciplinary students from various universities around community-based climate work in New York City. Maximizing exposure to climate non-profits and project-based learning, the program will challenge interns to expand and assess their perspective on addressing climate issues at the community level.
Specifically, the cohort's work will revolve around three topics:
- Citizen Science: Connecting climate research and the public, encouraging broad-based participation in scientific discovery
- Climate Literacy: Promoting knowledge of climate change, its impacts, and proposed solutions in pursuit of an informed society
- Resilience: Empowering individuals, communities, and ecosystems to recover and adapt to the impacts of climate change
COMMUNITY PARTNER WORK
The Exchange will match each intern with a non-profit host based on their experience and interest. Interns will work with the non-profit 4 days per week (Monday-Thursday). This work is expected to be in-person but may have a virtual component depending on the host’s working arrangement. Participating non-profits include Solar One, Beam Center, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Green City Force, and Harvestworks. Interns will also engage with other Exchange non-profit community partners through occasional field trips and will learn from the experiences of fellow cohort members who have been paired with other non-profit organizations. Internship activities that fall outside the scope of the interns’ non-profit project work will occur on Fridays.
Paired with a non-profit host, each intern will have the opportunity to engage in one of the following roles across one of the following dimensions of climate. The Exchange will work alongside selected interns to determine the placement that makes sense for them.
Available roles
- Events production and management
- Finance and accounting
- Marketing and communications
- Operations
- Program administration and management
Climate dimensions
- Art
- K-12 education
- Solar
- Workforce development
EDUCATIONAL AND PROFESSIONAL SKILLS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMING
Throughout the summer, The Exchange will host educational and professional skills development programming for the full intern cohort. Sessions will be conducted in collaboration with Exchange partners that may include Georgia Institute of Technology, New York University, Pace University, and Stony Brook University. Topics will span climate education, career development, and skills training. These sessions will occur on Fridays, when interns are not on-site with their non-profit hosts.
The internship capstone project will also support educational and professional skills development opportunities for the cohort. Additional information about the capstone will be shared as the program nears.
INTERN COHORT
The Summer 2024 intern cohort will consist of approximately 10 undergraduate students total, representing students from the following universities: City University of New York, Duke University, Georgia Institute of Technology, New York University, Pace University, Rochester Institute of Technology, and Stony Brook University. Interns will work individually for 4 days per week (Monday-Thursday) but come together on Fridays for educational and professional skills development opportunities. In some instances, multiple interns from the cohort may be placed at the same non-profit organization for their Monday-Thursday work.
PAYMENT
The selected GA Tech Summer Intern 2024 will receive $ 6,000 payment for the internship period, which includes travel, payment and other cost of living except housing.
HOUSING AND TRAVEL
As needed, The Exchange will sponsor intern housing in Lower Manhattan and travel to NYC for non-local interns. These accommodations will be determined on an individual basis. Accommodations needs will not influence the intern selection process.
For questions and additional information, please contact Professor Ingeborg Rocker at irocker3@gatech.edu.