Sustainable Futures Fellows

Imagining and Implementing Sustainable Solutions for Society

About the Sustainable Futures Fellows Program

Tackle Sustainability Challenges. Shape A Sustainable Future.

NC State students eager to imagine, explore and develop sustainable solutions are encouraged to apply to the Sustainable Futures Fellows program. Through the redesign of the United Parcel Service (UPS) Foundation Endowment agreement between the UPS Foundation and NC State Continuing and Lifelong Education, the Sustainable Futures Fellows program engages interdisciplinary student teams in a unique 15-week exploration of the sustainability challenges and opportunities across key sectors of the economy, such as energy, agriculture, forestry, manufacturing, transportation and more.

This year, teams will work with their faculty mentors to envision, explore and analyze the short, medium and long term futures of their selected sectors (10, 50, 100 years) while identifying the research, education and collaboration elements necessary to achieve the best of those futures.

Eligibility

Full-time undergraduate or graduate students pursuing any course of study.
Open to national and international students.
Students applying as interdisciplinary teams of four, with at least two of NC State’s academic colleges represented on each team.

Reasons to Apply

Sustainable Futures Fellows will receive a number of benefits:

Join a community of futures thinkers
Build your portfolio and skills in critical thinking, problem-solving, interdisciplinary team building, and science communication
Receive a $1,600 scholarship stipend for the Spring semester
Potential to apply for supplemental funding to continue work through research or experiential opportunities in the summer
Great networking opportunities across campus and beyond
Under the guidance of a mentor, explore the sustainability challenges and opportunities across key sectors of the economy

Program Requirements

During the spring semester, all teams will:

Meet with their faculty mentor*
Attend the kickoff event and orientation (January 2027)
Attend Envisioning Urban Futures (March 2027)
Complete a Futures thinking workshop hosted by the Long View Project
Attend biweekly SFF cohort meetings (February, March, and April)
Present their work at NC State’s Celebration of Sustainability event (April 2027)
Submit a final report and/or product (May 2027)

*Fellows are expected to work in their teams for five hours each week, receiving a $1,600 stipend for the semester. The stipend is classified as financial aid and students are required to enroll in direct deposit. International students must also complete a tax assessment to receive payment.

Program Timeline

Applications Open: September 30, 2026
Application Deadline: November 15, 2026, at 11:59 p.m.
Acceptance Letters: December 9, 2026
Program Begins: January 11, 2027
Program Ends: April 27, 2027

Selection Process

The program only accepts student applications as complete four-person teams.
A team letter of support from a staff or faculty member committing to serve as the team mentor is strongly encouraged, but not required as part of the application process. At minimum, teams should include the name(s) of potential mentors who may have expertise in the area the team seeks to explore on their application.

Faculty Mentors

Each team must have a faculty mentor, who will receive a $2,000 stipend for the semester. Teams are strongly encouraged to reach out to faculty mentors before the application deadline and include a letter of support from the faculty. Faculty members who have an interest in serving as a mentor are welcome to email Dawn Rodriguez-Ward ([email protected]) about potentially being matched with a team.

Interested in learning more?

Click here to watch our 45-minute information session. Passcode: sYgw.*3h
Learn more about past teams, topics, and mentors:
- 2026 Cohort
- 2025 Cohort
Reach out to Dawn Rodriguez-Ward ([email protected]) with any questions.

Applications

Applications for the 2027 cohort are now open!
Deadline to submit your team application is:
November 15, 2026.

Apply here

Phones and Healthy Trees

August 28, 2026
Read about the Sustainable Futures Fellows Urban Forestry Team’s summer extension experience as their imagined future became a reality. Learn how Alejandra Betancourt, Maggio Laquidara, and Abbygale Pearce developed a digital community urban forestry tool for volunteer residents to use to measure tree health in Durham.

Sustainable Futures Fellows Imagine Pathways to Sustainable Industry

June 15, 2026
Conducting deep research and engaging their imagination, NC State’s 2026 Sustainable Futures Fellows discovered that the sustainable futures they want are possible with the right research, education, and collaboration along the way.

Are Flying Cars The Future? These Honors Students Don’t Think So

May 11, 2026
Austin Burton, Sienna Hackshaw, Liam Ryan, and Kenna Talhelm, four University Honors Program students that were accepted to the 2026 Sustainable Futures Fellows cohort for the spring semester, have confidently declared that, “the future of transportation is multi-modal, safe, efficient, equitable and community-oriented.”

What if Trash was Actually Valuable?

Feb 6, 2026
Most people think of trash as the end of the line. Once something is thrown away, it is out of sight and out of mind. But a group of engineering management students at NC State are asking a different question. What if waste was not the end of the story but the beginning of a smarter system?
That question is at the heart of the work being explored by Sustainable Futures Fellows.

Sustainable futures fellows students pose for group photo.

Reimagining Sustainable Futures: Second Cohort Announced

Feb 26, 2026
Twenty undergraduate and graduate students have been selected as the second cohort of NC State’s Sustainable Futures Fellows.
This year’s teams are examining the short, medium, and long-term futures of energy, manufacturing, transportation and urban forestry. Together, they represent six academic colleges and include both undergraduate and graduate students from 11 disciplinary programs.

Sustainable Futures Fellows Year-in-Review

Aug.15, 2025
Explore the program’s impacts listed in our annual report and read about the transformative nature of interdisciplinary collaboration, the complexity of sustainability, and the personal growth of students and mentors that occurred along the way. Each teams’ spotlight summarizes their work, objectives, key partners and contributors, and main findings. We end our report with reflections on lessons learned and what we can do to strengthen the program moving forward.

NC State Continuing and Lifelong Education Celebrates Sustainability Champions

April 29, 2025
NC State marked Earth Day 2025 with its annual Celebration of Sustainability, recognizing the people, projects, and ideas making a difference across campus.
Here we highlight the Sustainable Futures Fellows final projects and presentations at the event.

First Inaugural Cohort of Sustainable Futures Fellows Announced

Jan. 24, 2025
Twenty students have been selected for the inaugural cohort of the Sustainable Futures Fellows program, which engages interdisciplinary student teams in a unique 15-week exploration of the sustainability challenges and opportunities across key sectors of the economy.

New Fellows Program Invites Students to Envision Sustainable Futures

Sept. 24, 2024
To work toward a more sustainable future, one must first reimagine that future. Beginning this spring, a new program at NC State will engage student teams in doing just that.