Join us

Applications for student community fellows are now closed. Please check back next year in May 2026 for a new call. However, all are welcome to attend our community events regardless of selection as a fellow.

 

The text from last cycle is preserved below.

​

2025 Call​​

We are seeking student community fellows at the University of Pennsylvania who will commit to working on this initiative during the 2025-2026 academic year. Student fellows will be trained in environmental sampling and analysis for emerging contaminants during an intensive week-long workshop prior to the start of the fall semester and then allowed to design their own research projects to be implemented throughout the academic year. Eligible undergraduate or graduate students may come from a variety of departments on campus including Earth and environmental science, chemistry, public health, engineering, or any other related field. For more details on potential projects and the plans for our research community, please see the blog post announcing the kick-off of our initiative.

 

Student community fellows will be awarded a small stipend of $1,000 to support their time commitment and will be expected to (1) participate in the entire training workshop to be held in August 2025, (2) select 10 locations around Philadelphia and complete sampling and environmental analysis of water quality at those locations, (3) participate in monthly community meetings, and (4) prepare a final report detailing their findings that can be publicly shared. 

 

To apply, please prepare your academic CV and a cover letter describing your interest in the opportunity, any relevant experience, what sites you would potentially be interested in studying, and what impacts you hope your project will have. Applications will be assessed based on academic background, research interests, and alignment with the objectives of the research community. For consideration, please submit your application materials as pdfs via email to sammcb@seas.upenn.edu by midnight on June 30th. 

​​

FAQS

• Is this opportunity only for Penn students?

  • For now, yes. In the future we may be able to expand our community to other universities and potentially to high school students as well

• ​When will the training workshop be? 

  • The tentative plan is to hold the workshop in August the week before classes resume, but we will work with selected fellows to identify an ideal time

• What is the expected time commitment?

  • During the academic year, we expect you to participate in monthly meetings, conduct your sampling and analysis, and prepare your final results. This will likely add up to approximately 5 hours/week on average