On Feb. 7, the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society hosted the Climate Careers Exploration Fair, specially geared toward professional development opportunities for students interested in climate-related fields.
The event — hosted in partnership with the Center for Career Exploration, the Office of the Provost, the Watson Institute and the Climate Solutions Lab — was the first of its kind at Brown.
The career fair hosted 18 employers, including representatives from both nonprofits and private sector companies.
Jim Amspacher, the assistant dean of the Careers in the Common Good program, told The Herald that he hoped students would consider climate and sustainability career opportunities at a variety of organizations.
For EcoRI News, a nonprofit news organization that covers local environmental challenges, Friday’s event was the first career fair they’ve ever tabled at. Joanna Detz ’96, the publisher and co-founder of EcoRI News, expressed her excitement in helping students find opportunities in climate journalism.
The event also featured 21 Brown alumni, who shared their career journeys with students interested in climate careers.
IBES Director Kim Cobb said she hoped to create a tangible opportunity for students to connect with alumni who can mentor students through the early stages of their careers through the fair.
Michael Burger ’96, one of the alumni who attended the fair, noted the importance of an interdisciplinary education within the climate workforce.
As an undergraduate student at Brown, Burger concentrated in English and religious studies. But after attending law school, he developed a passion for environmental advocacy and worked on legal efforts to address climate change.
Burger is now the executive director of the Columbia Climate School’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. The center “develops legal techniques to combat the climate crisis and advance climate justice,” according to its website.
At the fair, Burger advised students to “look to their summers as real opportunities to demonstrate their commitment to the field, to develop networks and communities of support and expose themselves to different aspects of the work.”
When talking to interested students, Marieke Spence ’01 emphasized the importance of diverse perspectives in climate investing. Spence is the executive director of Impact Capital Managers, a trade association of private capital impact funds focused on climate sustainability issues.
“You can’t have a conversation about climate in a vacuum,” she said. Spence said she was “astounded” by the level of sophistication and curiosity of the students who were in attendance.
Students also found the fair to be beneficial.
Finding a career in climate science has been “a little bit difficult,” Kiki Ko ’27 told The Herald. Ko recently declared a concentration in environmental science and attended the fair to further explore the field.
“In practice, I want to be able to envision my future life a little bit more clearly,” she added.
Last year, IBES reached out to the career center to begin planning the fair, Amspacher said. The center has collaborated with other Ivy League institutions to organize the annual all-Ivy climate-centered career fair at Columbia. The all-Ivy fair will be hosted for the 22nd time later this month.
While Friday’s fair was the first of its kind at Brown, Cobb hopes the conference will become an annual event.
