In an effort to attract students to hands-on environmental work, the UNC Institute for the Environment took a face-to-face approach.
The ultimate goal is to involve students in on-the-ground research, and officials began promoting just that Monday at Wilson Library.
Co-sponsored by the Curriculum for the Environment and Ecology, the event served as a faculty-led information session for about 40 environmentally conscious students.
The institute provides learning opportunities through field site networks, undergraduate research opportunities and internship programs, said Larry Band, the institute’s director.
He said the program has become less classroom-based and more centered on hands-on experience since its founding in 1998.
Band pointed towards the Environmental Field Site Network, which offers locations across North Carolina and abroad in places like Thailand and Cambridge, as an opportunity for students to organize semesters around their work.
He also encouraged students to consider a Capstone course, which allows students to work on interdisciplinary teams for environmental issues.
The institute also helps a variety of student groups connect .
Representatives from some of those groups, including the Sierra Student Coalition and the environmental affairs committee of student government, attended the meeting to recruit new members.