CHEFS (Charting Emissions from Food Services) Fellowship in Portsmouth, NH!!

Clean Air-Cool Planet (CA-CP) is inviting applications for our competitive Climate Fellowship program. CA-CP is an action-oriented nonprofit that works with corporations, campuses, communities and science centers to find and promote solutions to global warming. We provide practical solutions that demonstrate the economic opportunities and environmental benefits of climate leadership. CA-CP’s Climate Fellowships pair outstanding students with challenging, important projects that will propel the US toward a low-carbon future. CA-CP

Climate Fellows receive supervision, mentorship, unique networking opportunities, and a stipend.

The Project: Charting Emissions from Food Services (CHEFS)

While agriculture and land use change is estimated to contribute one-third of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, few tools exist to aid institutions in measuring and managing the emissions associated with their dining service programs.  We have thus embarked on an innovative venture to create a new tool: CHEFS- Charting Emissions from Food Services.  Not only does CHEFS allow users to estimate their dining-related carbon footprints, but we are also 1) creating momentum within corporate foodservice providers to green their own operations, and 2) contributing to the body of life cycle data for food production in North America. 

We have completed a first phase of piloting the new tool, but will be undertaking further pilot testing with the online Beta version of the tool throughout 2011.  The fellow will be responsible working with the Carbon Accounting Manager to support the pilot schools through the process of using the CHEFS tool, create outreach or user support materials based on the pilot program to further the CHEFS program, and update the CHEFS database with any newly published life cycle assessment (LCA) studies.  This effort will include tasks such as providing phone and email training or problem solving support to the pilot schools, distilling the experiences of the pilot schools and writing (and potentially designing) user support or outreach materials, reading LCA studies and selecting the best data for the CHEFS tool, and analyzing the aggregate purchasing data collected by the pilot institutions to answer questions about the average make-up of food service purchases within higher education. The fellow’s efforts will move the program forward significantly, and eventually he or she will see their contribution in a nationally deployed tool.

Project Goal and Desired Outcomes:

Overall goals are to improve upon the existing CHEFS application and supporting materials; to facilitate successful completion of the data gathering and analysis process for our 2011 pilot schools; and to synthesize priority research needs in the arena of dining services supply chains.

At the conclusion of the project, this fellow will:

-          Have project management experience

-          Relationships with a variety of institutional partners

-          Knowledge of the highly specialized field of life cycle analysis, and familiarity with institutional dining service supply chains

-          Experience working independently

-          Experience with quantitative data analysis

-          Portfolio: graphs and other data analysis work, a blog post, outreach materials and templates, and a white paper outlining priority research needs in the dining service sector

Location: CA-CP offices, Portsmouth, NH

Time commitment: Full time, 10 weeks (between May and August)

Compensation: $5000 stipend

Desired Qualifications:

1.         Enrolled in a B.S./B.A. or M.S./M.A. Degree Program

2.         Knowledge of climate change science required

3.         Ability and previous success working independently required

4.         Professional phone and email skills required

5.         Exceptionally organized and dedicated to following through with individual tasks

            required

6.         Experience working within a large corporation or organizations preferred

7.         Experience with life cycle analysis preferred. 

CA-CP Climate Fellowship program eligibility:

Graduate students, exceptional undergraduate students, and recent graduates are eligible. We will encourage, but not require, an academic sponsor or reference for each fellow, and where possible we will ask that course credits are awarded. In order to attract the highest-quality applicants and to enable students to take advantage of these opportunities regardless of their financial situation, fellows will be awarded competitive stipends, provided by CA-CP.

Supervision, Training and Mentoring

This fellow will receive day-to-day supervision and mentoring from Clean Air-Cool Planet’s Carbon Accounting Manager, Claire Roby and from CA-CP’s Director of Program Planning. 

Fellows in each session will be expected to participate in two events:

            ♦Midterm project presentations to CA-CP staff and relevant project partners

            ♦ A summative evaluation and feedback session at the end of their placement.

These workshops and other post-fellowship communication mechanisms ensure that CA-CP

Climate Fellows will belong to a network of passionate students and professionals,

and will be able to collaborate and continue learning even after the project has ended.

To apply, please submit a letter of interest and resume addressed to Claire Roby at croby@cleanair-coolplanet.org.