Field Experience

The SBE program takes pride in making hands-on, field-based learning opportunities available to our students at every available opportunity. These experiences typically take two forms. The first is within the DCP 4942 Field Experience in Sustainability, an optional elective course. The second is within the DCP 3210 and DCP 3220 required core courses .

Tutelage | DCP 4942

In this four minute SBE Senior Capstone Public Service Announcement (PSA) vignette, Denise Tran (Summer 2020 SBE Interdisciplinary Specialization) describes her field experiences as a summer intern in the Smart Infrastructure offering within Siemens. She shares some details in how smart sensors are used to improve indoor environmental quality within green buildings. Thanks Denise!

The SBE program views supervised field experience as an effective method for students to network with professionals, meet deliverables on a project, and apply the knowledge obtained in their classroom academic settings to meaningful moments in work environments they are likely to see post-graduation.

The DCP 4942 Field Experience course provides students with a unique experiential learning opportunity through internship with an institutional sponsor addressing challenges of sustainability and the built environment. The specific sponsor and their institution may be self-selected by an SBE student or through placement in any other approved competitive internship opportunities.

Course Components

  1. Connect
    • Faculty mentor connects and collaborates with sponsor institution to create mutually beneficial student-to-supervisor field experience
    • SBE student connects to faculty mentor to establish a support network
    • SBE student collaborates with the sponsor institution supervisor on an agreed upon and manageable project
  2. Explore
    • SBE student observes and participates in projects with their supervisor and multidisciplinary staff in the sponsor institution
  3. Reflect
    • SBE student reflects and shares observations and experiences with faculty mentor to reinforce learning
    • Faculty mentor provides tools, technologies, strategies, and related guidance to support student success

Course Objectives

  • Explore a specific sector of sustainability and the built environment
  • Understand professional practice through a targeted project
  • Learn to think and act critically and creatively, both independently and within team settings
  • Gain real world, direct field experience

Trips | DCP 3210 & DCP 3220

A critical component in the broader SBE student experience is getting beyond the classroom and exploring the application of sustainability and the built environment in the field. Within both DCP 3210 and DCP 3220, SBE students have an opportunity to visit campus and community destinations, as well as trips to locales further afield. See where we’ve been…and where you might go.

Natural Capital > Ecological Systems & Services

Infrastructure > Building Systems

Infrastructure > Blue & Green Systems

Infrastructure > Mobility Systems

Safe Operating Spaces > Planetary & Social Justice

Safe Operating Spaces > Community Resilience

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