Kenneth Foster, Director of Sustainability, received funding from the Environmental Defense Fund’s Climate Corps fellowship program to host a summer fellow. EDF’s Climate Corps is a “hands-on summer program” matching graduate students with top companies and nonprofit organizations to advance climate and energy goals.

EDF Fellows gain real-world experience, help their respective organizations make meaningful impacts, and launch their own environmental careers within a larger Climate Corps network. Vassar has hosted multiple EDF summer fellows since 2014, and they have conducted useful studies for the College.

Vassar’s Summer 2025 fellow will be contributing to the development of Vassar’s next Climate Action Plan by developing a set of actionable recommendations for building-level interventions that can reduce energy consumption. In doing this, the fellow will make use of electric sub-metering data (available through an online platform), utility billing data, steam plant operational specifications, and building-specific infrastructure information.

Recommendations may include relatively minor infrastructure changes, but the focus will be on the intersection between building systems and human behavior and on questions such as: How can Vassar calibrate infrastructure systems so that they facilitate positive student/employee engagement that results in decreased energy consumption? How can we increase occupants' awareness of how their choices impact energy use? The fellow will work with the Offices of Sustainability, Facilities Operations, and Residential Life.