Consulting Practicum

(3 Credits)

Students in this course will gain practical, applied experience working on a real-world sustainability project of critical importance for a high-profile client to tackling a sustainability issue. In this course, students will work as external consultants to an industry or government partner who will provide them with a question or challenge. Topics to be covered include developing a scope of work, preparing a proposal, identifying sources of direct data, including conducting literature reviews and external data sets used by leading consultancies, assessing data reliability and validity, preparing deliverables, and reporting results. The Sustainability Consulting Practicum allows students to work closely with a leading company or government agency on actionable research that benefits the company/agency, the students, and society alike. Students work together with the faculty directors of the Sustainability Master’s program to conduct significant academic research with the deliverables in the form of a report or white paper, including a set of practical recommendations. The project culminates with a presentation to the client summarizing the key findings.