Internships
The School of Environmental Sustainability connects students with internships that provide valuable hands-on experience in the environmental field. We offer internships on campus and partner with premier Chicago-area organizations to provide opportunities beyond the university. Most of the following SES internships are paid positions supported primarily by donor gifts. In addition, students can find many more outside internships in the Chicago region, providing an expansive range of experiences in environmental jobs.
Current SES Internship Openings
SES Searle Biodiesel Lab Internship
The School of Environmental Sustainability’s Biodiesel Program is seeking qualified student interns to operate the Biodiesel Program in the Searle Biodiesel Lab. The Biodiesel Program was founded as and continues to be a student-designed, student-driven program. All aspects of the program from biodiesel fuel production and equipment design, to project management and brainstorming are run in part by ÎçÒ¹AV students. This opportunity is open to students of every level and from every discipline.
Application deadline:
- Summer/fall internship (July 7, 2025 - December 6, 2025): Apply by April 6, 2025
- Academic year internship (September 15,2025 - April 24, 2026) : Apply by September 1, 2025
- Spring internship (January 12, 2026 - April 24, 2026) Apply by November 9, 2025
Review position details here: Biodiesel-Internship-Info
Current SES Internships with External Organizations
SES partners with external organizations to offer internships on a per-semester basis. Job descriptions and schedules vary based on the needs of the host sites. Selected students will commit to working with host sites for a minimum of 10 hours per week, at a rate of $16.20 per hour, for up to a maximum of 140 hours ($2,268.00) for the internship duration. (Wages may vary slightly based on state minimum wage rate increases). The internship is funded by ÎçÒ¹AV University (hours are logged in KRONOS), and the total number of weekly hours for all ÎçÒ¹AV positions combined cannot exceed 19.5 hours. Please note: Students can apply for multiple positions but can only hold one external internship position at a time.
To apply, students must submit a one-page resume including relevant courses and experiences and a cover letter outlining how this internship could help them advance their goals and enrich their ÎçÒ¹AV experience. Send materials to Karen Schauwecker at kschauwecker@luc.edu by 12 pm on Monday, March 24, 2025. Note the following instructions:
- Please combine the resume and cover letter into one PDF document before submitting it.
- Name the document “last name_first name_name of organization.”
- If you are applying for multiple sites, please submit separate applications.
- Email the materials to kschauwecker@luc.edu using the subject line “External Internship application materials.”
Applications will be shared with the host organizations, and their staff members will contact students regarding interviews. Please email kschauwecker@luc.edu with any questions.
Positions available:
One Year for Earth (1y4e) Internship - Summer 2025
One Year for Earth (1y4e) is a resource hub and online program designed to help individuals answer the question: "how much can you do to fight climate change in just one year?" This internship directly supports 1y4e’s mission to empower individuals to take meaningful climate action by contributing to the refinement of existing resources, such as current articles or downloadable offerings, and/or expanding 1y4e’s reach through outreach and engagement.
Position details: Summer 2025 1y4e Internship
Chicago Council on Science and Technology Internship - Summer 2025
Chicago Council on Science and Technology is a non-profit organization in Chicago that provides science and sustainability programs throughout neighborhoods in Chicago. This SES internship at C2ST will provide a student with skills in science communication, marketing, event planning and promotion, volunteer organization, and general community outreach. The intern will also develop science communication content for the C2ST website and social media channels. The internship position at C2ST is mostly virtual, with some in-person components.
Position details: Summer 2025 C2ST internship
Institute of Cultural Affairs Internship - Summer 2025
The Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA) promotes a just and equitable society by catalyzing sustainable communities and demonstrating sustainable practices to reverse the negative human impact on the planet. ICA seeks dedicated and driven student interns who are taking coursework in the sustainability field(s) and are interested in community and human development.
Position details: Summer 2025 ICA internship
Environmental Law and Policy Center Internship - Summer 2025
The Environmental Law & Policy Center (ELPC) is the Midwest’s leading environmental legal advocacy organization. ELPC offers several policy and science internships for undergraduate and graduate students. Applicants should have a strong academic record, excellent writing and analytical skills, and a demonstrated interest in and commitment to public interest and environmental advocacy.
Position details: Summer 2025 ELPC internship
Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum Collections Internship - Summer 2025
Under the supervision of Collections staff, the intern will assist with processing botanical specimens into the herbarium, with a focus on scanning specimens, updating catalogue records in Arctos, and collection reorganization. Other duties may include preservation repairs to herbarium specimens, cataloguing, or documentation research. The intern will complete one blog post about their internship experience to share with museum audiences.
Position details: Summer 2025 PNNM Collections internship
Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum Animal Husbandry Internship - Summer 2025
This internship involves working with animals in the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum (PNNM) conservation programs, such as Blanding’s turtles and smooth green snakes, as well as all animals in the Living Collections, including snakes, amphibians, fish, box turtles and aquatic turtles, birds, and invertebrates. Activities will include feeding, cleaning, and handling.
Position details: Summer 2025 PNNM Animal Husbandry internship
WasteNot Compost Internship - Summer 2025
WasteNot Compost invites SES students to join their internship program to learn more about the commercial composting industry.
Position details: Summer 2025 WasteNot Internship
Partners in the Chicago Food System Internships
As a continuation of our 2024 Schreiber Innovation Grant program, SES will support local organizations to increase food sovereignty in Chicago communities by providing skilled labor through paid internships that foster students' professional, personal, and civic development. Please review the specific position descriptions below.
Bronzeville Neighborhood Farm Internship - Summer 2025
The Bronzeville Neighborhood Farm values local heritage, health, and diversity. This organization strives to be a hub for healthy food, nutrition education, sustainable environmental and economic practices, and heritage awareness. Programs and projects include growing and selling nutritious, locally grown food for the Bronzeville community at reasonable prices, providing meaningful work with reasonable compensation for one or two individuals in the community, convening the community to learn about healthy food choices and lifestyles, as well as share and learn about urban sustainability in a historically underserved community.
Position details: Summer 2025 Bronzeville Neighborhood Farm internship
Glenwood Sunday Market Internship - Summer 2025
Three Glenwood Market internship positions will be available for the Summer/Fall 2023 semesters with the Rogers Park Business Alliance. Internship start date is June 1 and the end date is October 28, 10-15 hours per week, at a rate of $15 per hour. Students can take the internship for Experiential Learning/Internship credit (ENVS 395).
Application deadline: Closed. Check back for future openings.
St. Thomas Food Pantry/Soup Kitchen/Production Gardens Internship - Summer 2025
Mary, Mother of God Parish is located on the northside of Chicago in the Uptown/Andersonville neighborhood and is comprised of three church campuses (St. Thomas of Canterbury, St. Ita, St. Gregory). The parish houses food production spaces at St Thomas and St Gregory, as well as the St. Thomas food pantry and soup kitchen program which aim to provide supplemental food for local residents in need.
Position details: Summer 2025 St Thomas Food Pantry internship
Additional SES Internships
SES Urban Agriculture Internship: Summer-Fall 2025
Internships in the SES Urban Agriculture program are aimed at providing an entry level hands-on learning experience in agricultural production and food systems for LUC students. Student Interns will develop skills and knowledge of aquaponics food production and maintenance, hydroponics systems, outdoor food production using Organic methods, mushroom cultivation, sales and distribution in local markets, data collection and analysis, pest management practices, plant health and soil fertility, and more.
Application deadline: March 10, 2025
Learn more and apply: Urban-Ag-Internship-Summer-Fall-2025
SES Urban Agriculture Team Leader: Summer-Fall 2025
Team Leaders support the Urban Agriculture program goals and lead small teams of students in the maintenance and operations of the aquaponics and hydroponics systems, Greenhouse Lab, mycology lab, farmers market, plant sales, and outdoor food production. Team leaders will be assigned management-level responsibilities in these areas with reporting requirements and weekly meetings. This position is aimed at LUC students with previous experience in food production, current SES sood systems and sustainable sgriculture (FSSA) majors, graduate program students, and third and fourth year undergraduate students.
Application deadline: March 10, 2025
Learn more and apply: Urban Ag Team Leader Summer-Fall 2025
SES Lab Assistant
The School of Environmental Sustainability is seeking a qualified undergraduate student assistant to contribute to the mission of the SES through the maintenance of research and teaching labs. This position will work closely with the SES Analytical Lab Manager on cleaning and organizing the labs, maintaining inventories, preparing solutions, etc.
Application deadline: Closed. Check back for future openings.
SES Communications Internship
Two internship positions will support communications efforts for ÎçÒ¹AV’s School of Environmental Sustainability. Key focuses of the position are writing, social media, and website content management. Depending on the interests and skills of individual interns, activities may also include graphic design or video production.
Application deadline: Closed. Check back for future openings.
SES Program Assistant (Graduate Student)
The School of Environmental Sustainability is seeking a qualified graduate student to join the team as a program assistant to contribute to the mission of the SES through the implementation of special projects and events. This position will work closely with the SES Director of Strategy and Planning on the implementation of special projects and events, including the annual Climate Change Conference/Symposium, the Abrams Sustainable Business Challenge, curricular mapping, strategic planning, and other projects as needed.
Apply by sending your resume/CV and a cover letter describing your interest in the position, including the contact information for two references, to shokenmaier@luc.edu.
Application Deadline: Closed. Check back for future openings.
Office of Sustainability Internship, Fall 2024 - Spring 2025
The Office of Sustainability seeks qualified student interns to contribute to ÎçÒ¹AV’s campus sustainability programs. Sustainability reaches into many corners of the University and involves partnership building to set strategies and goals to create a sustainability culture through action. Interns will work in a team capacity (Student Sustainability Engagement team or Sustainable Materials Management team) with each other and staff to support data collection, conduct outreach, and have a leadership role with events and projects related to waste reduction, transportation, energy, and other campus sustainability initiatives.
Application deadline: August 8, 2024
Learn more and apply: Office of Sustainability Internships 2024-2025
Office of Sustainability Graduate Internship - Communications and Engagement
The Office of Sustainability is seeking qualified student interns to contribute to ÎçÒ¹AV’s campus sustainability programs. Sustainability reaches into many corners of the University and involves partnership building to set strategies and goals in creating a culture of sustainability through action. The graduate intern position will work closely with Office of Sustainability staff as well as the larger undergraduate intern team to develop communications materials, conduct outreach, and have a leadership role with events and projects related to waste reduction, transportation, energy, and other campus sustainability initiatives.
Application deadline: Closed. Check back for future openings.
Office of Sustainability Graduate Internship
The Office of Sustainability is seeking qualified student interns to contribute to ÎçÒ¹AV’s campus sustainability programs. Sustainability reaches into many corners of the University and involves partnership building to set strategies and goals in creating a culture of sustainability through action. The graduate intern position will work closely with Office of Sustainability staff as well as the larger undergraduate intern team to collect and analyze campus sustainability data, conduct research, and have a leadership role with events and projects related to waste reduction, transportation, energy, and other campus sustainability initiatives.
Application deadline: Closed. Check back for future openings.
Healing Earth Internship
The Healing Earth (HE) Student Worker supports the HE team in administration, organization, research, outreach, communication, translations (if applicable), and miscellaneous tasks that are associated with the Healing Earth project. Healing Earth is a free, online environmental science textbook for upper-level secondary school students, beginning college students, and adult learners.
Application deadline: Closed. Check back for future openings.
Delta Institute Internship
The Delta Institute is a nonprofit organization formed in 1998 that works in partnership with business, government and communities in the Great Lakes region to create and implement innovative, market-driven solutions. Delta works to build environmental resilience, economic vitality, and healthy communities. You can learn more about the Delta Institute at www.delta-institute.org.
Depending on the specifics of the individual intern, interns provide a variety of different services in areas like writing and content development for social media and web platforms, and providing support for events, fundraising initiatives, and project communications. Delta values the diverse perspectives our interns bring to our work, and interns are invited to our staff meetings and any relevant project meetings during their internship.
Application deadline: Closed. Check back for future openings.
Edgewater Environmental Coalition Internship
EEC is a coalition of community members and environmental stewards. The organization is looking for an energetic, community-minded individual to assist non-profit leaders in managing neighborhood-based advocacy, projects, and other organization priorities. This position includes a combination of project management, public, and volunteer communication, marketing and public outreach, and administrative tasks.
Application deadline: Closed. Check back for future openings.
Environmental Law and Policy Center Internship
The Environmental Law & Policy Center (ELPC) is the Midwest’s leading environmental legal advocacy organization. EPLC offers several policy and science internships for undergraduate and graduate students. Applicants should have a strong academic record, excellent writing and analytical skills, and a demonstrated interest in and commitment to public interest and environmental advocacy.
Application deadline: Closed. Check back for future openings.
Stein Learning Garden Internship
A fall semester 2023 internship is available at Stein Learning Gardens, located at 7840 Sout Racine in Chicago. The student will work at least 10 hours per week, at a rate of $16 per hour, for up to 140 hours ($2,240) for the internship duration. The student can take the internship for experiential learning/internship credit.
The intern will play a crucial role in supporting the organization's mission by assisting with community engagement and helping to plan educational programming. This internship offers a unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience in urban farming, environmental education, and community development while positively impacting the community.
Application deadline: Closed. Check back for future openings.
External Internships
The Chicago area is home to diverse businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies that provide exceptional environmental internships. We strongly encourage all our students to seek early work experience by participating in one or more internships during their undergraduate careers. Internships help students understand various environmental careers and provide valuable work experience that will help new graduates get hired. ÎçÒ¹AV students can find internships and jobs outside SES on Handshake.