The Fund for Excellence

In accordance with the Bren School’s vision to be the preeminent leader in graduate education and research for environmental science and management, a Fund for Excellence has been initiated to ensure that the School has the necessary resources to seize the opportunities, meet the challenges, and address the demands that arise in advancing the reach and impact of our faculty and students.

Financial flexibility is critical for any organization where important opportunities to expand and develop often arise unexpectedly, at a time when existing resources are stretched to meet an array of competing needs. Having immediate access to funds allows the Dean to act decisively and embrace one-time opportunities that can propel the enterprise to the next level.

By supporting the unique academic and research endeavors of our students and faculty, The Fund for Excellence will provide a crucial margin in the areas of scholarship, research, and administration, allowing the Bren School to retain and expand its standing as a world-class graduate school for environmental science and management. Small sums strategically targeted to meet a critical need can have a transformative impact on the life of a young faculty member or student, and can be leveraged to secure additional funds and generate new opportunities. Yet, these essential funds are often the most difficult to secure.

The Fund for Excellence is exceedingly important to the School, and gifts of all sizes are welcome and encouraged. In accordance with University Policy and Presidential approval, we will be pleased to acknowledge some endowed gifts by naming selected prominent spaces in Bren Hall to honor the vision and generosity of our donors and reflect our gratitude in perpetuity.

Environmental Modeling Laboratory

The Bren School seeks to attract the finest scholars and graduate students from across the nation and around the world. Once here, they are empowered to conduct leading-edge, solution-centered teaching and research in the greenest laboratory facility in the United States.

The Environmental Modeling Laboratory (EML), a 950-square-foot facility on the third floor of Donald Bren Hall, supports the Bren curriculum in computational modeling, geographic information systems (GIS), and environmental information management. It is home to 32 advanced GIS workstations, all of which offer state-of-the-art graphics, visualization, and data-processing capabilities and are linked to large-format, high-resolution color printers and scanners. Students store their extensive research and lab data on a 4-terabyte file server. Screens, projectors, a podium, DVD and VCR capability, audio inputs, and a computer with Internet connection provide for a full range of audio-visual needs.

Computer modeling has become an indispensable tool for many resources managers and policy makers. Models that integrate information and images can play a key role in understanding Earth's natural systems. Such models enable researchers to map the world’s water resources and predict the effects of global warming over the next few decades, thus enabling governments to develop water management policies today to address water challenges fare into the future.

A world-class teaching and research facility is essential for attracting and retaining eminent scholars in the field of environmental science and management. The EML is such a facility, and because it is also the "central nervous system" of the Bren School's extensive desktop computing capability, its state-of-the-art hardware and software are updated annually. After a year of use, EML technology cycles to the Student Computing Facility for general use by Master's students, and to the Davidson Student Commons, where second-year Master's students use the computers to conduct Group Project research. Bren faculty and staff then benefit from the technology before it is passed to other units on campus or donated to the community. To ensure continued technological excellence in the EML and at the Bren School as a whole, we are seeking an endowment that will support the laboratory in perpetuity.

In accordance with University Policy and Presidential approval, we would be pleased to name the EML to permanently reflect our deep gratitude and honor a donor’s vision and generosity.

Career Development Program

The Donald Bren School has an excellent, comprehensive Career Development Program designed to help students become highly sought-after applicants and effective environmental professionals. The Career Development Program provides workshops on job search training and interview skills. One of the main components of the Program is to assistant students in locating national and international internships within a variety of sectors. 

Internships are an excellent way for Bren students to apply what they have learned in the classroom to real world situations and settings.  As a result, all Bren students are encouraged to complete summer internships between their first and second year of study.  The results are outstanding. Ninety-nine percent of the class of 2005 completed internships during the summer of 2005. 

With the goal of developing successful environmental problem solvers and placing Bren students in positions where they will have considerable impact on businesses and the environment, the Bren School Career Development Program is seeking ways to offer students more internship funding.  As our program expands and we continue to produce quality students, it is essential that we are able to break into key organizations that have been difficult in the past due to a lack of internship funding.  When students have funding opportunities available to them, they can approach any corporation, government agency, or non-profit organization and develop new and exciting internship opportunities.  They are no longer restricted to pursue paid internships.  The focus is now on the company and the quality of the internship. 

Funding will help with more than just developing new internship opportunities.  There are many excellent “existing” international and non-profit internship opportunities that are unpaid.  Without some form of funding, many students are unable to take part in these exciting and broadening experiences.