Environmental Management Fellows Program

In partnership with the RI Department of Environmental Management, URI Cooperative Extension has established the Environmental Management Fellows Program (EMFP) for students at URI and the Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) seeking career pathways  in environmental protection, resource management and climate resilience. The program creates linkages between industry workforce needs and students engaged in academic programs in natural resources science, geosciences, landscape architecture, civil and systems engineering, communications and marketing, finance, business administration and more. 

For students, the EMFP provides:

• A year-long, 500 hour experiential learning opportunities with a public or private sector professional working on real-world environmental management projects;
• Three credits of academic coursework and training in professional development topics, taught by URI faculty and staff;
• Robust professional networking opportunities.

For mentor organizations, the EMFP provides:

• Recruitment, screening and onboarding of intern(s) to support existing organizational projects; and
• A strong talent pipeline of well-trained candidates seeking early- to mid-level positions in environmental management.

We are seeking organizational mentors to join the Environmental Management Fellows Program team in 2026! If you are interested in helping us to foster the creation of high quality, well-paying jobs that support a resilient Rhode Island economy and environment, please contact Kate Hardesty at kate@uri.edu or complete the form linked in the box below.

Become an Environmental Management Fellow Mentor

Interested in exploring how the Environmental Management Fellows Program can help your business or organization?

Click to access the Information Packet and Expression Form