Groups and Organizations
Student programs at the Earth Institute help students across the campus to connect and engage with the scientists and the research they conduct at the Institute. In addition to having an exciting array of research assistant and internship programs, we host events and panels that illustrate the issues our researchers face. We also work with student groups to help host events and campaigns focused on the issues and research we at the Earth Institute are engaged in.
To learn more about how students can connect please check out the links below. Click here to see a full list of student groups involved with the Earth Institute. For more information or to sign up for regular announcements about EI student programs, please email Louise Rosen at lar46@columbia.edu.
Students can also connect with nationwide campaigns to support the MDGs:
Learn more about Environmental Stewardship at Columbia Universityand how students can become involved.
Affiliation: CC/SEAS/GS/Barnard
Mission: Columbia Global Justice, the Columbia-Barnard chapter for the Student Global AIDS Campaign, is a student group dedicated to promoting health, human rights, and sustainable economic development globally by raising awareness, inspiring effective advocacy, and engendering student political will throughout the Columbia community.
Membership: Open to all students
Contacts: Kim Sue kls2014@columbia.edu
Sustain US
Affiliation: CC/SEAS/GS
Mission: SustainUS is a national network of young people organizing around the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in their schools and communities. SustainUS is committed to increasing youth participation in sustainable development issues, demanding government accountability to its citizens and adherence to international agreements, and working with all stakeholders to establish sustainable development practices.
Membership: Open to all students
Society for International Education (SIE)
Affiliation: Teachers College
Mission: The goal of SIE has been to promote an academic, professional, and social network for students and alumnae within the communities of Teachers College and Columbia University who share a special interest in the field of International Education Development, Comparative Education, and Human Rights.
Membership: Graduate Students
Contact: Leah Mason lmm2119@columbia.edu; Christine Pagen cmp2106@columbia.edu
Columbia University Partnership for International Development (CUPID)
Mission: CUPID is a student-led effort across graduate schools at Columbia University to facilitate collaborative multidisciplinary dialogue, awareness, and action. CUPID strives to transcend the myopic mistakes of past international development initiatives, and synthesize innovative and holistic solutions for disadvantaged populations.
Membership: Graduate Students
Contact: Susan Ilyin sai2102@columbia.edu
Microfinance Working Group
Affiliation: School of International and Public Affairs
Contact: Dan Green, drg2131@columbia.edu
Affiliation:
Contacts: Iris Reyes, icr2103@columbia.edu; Sashti Balasundaram, sb2696@columbia.edu
Engineers Without Borders
Affiliation: SEAS
Mission: Engineers Without Borders is an organization that partners with developing communities worldwide in order to improve their quality of life. The main goal of EWB is sustainable development through engineering practices. The
Contact: Rohini Sengupta, rs2366@columbia.edu
Amnesty International
Affiliation: Columbia University
Mission: AI is a non-partisan, volunteer-driven, global organization which works towards the vision of a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and other international human rights standards.CUAI seeks to keep the Columbia community informed about human rights violations around the world and to promote student actions aimed at ending and preventing them. Our actions include letter-writing and petitioning, hosting speakers, showing relevant films, facilitating discussions, posting information around campus, building coalitions with other student groups, and fundraising through various events. This semester, CUAI's focus is on ending torture, war-on-terror related abuses, and child soldiers.
Contact: Shlomo Bolts, smb2165@columbia.edu
African Studies Working Group
Affiliation: Teachers College
Mission: The African Studies Working Group (ASWG) is a group of students committed to promoting awareness of challenges facing the state of education in Africa and the African Diaspora. ASWG is open to Teachers College community members with a personal, research, and/or professional interest in Africa and the African Diaspora. We are devoted to debate, dialogue, collaboration and social opportunities to build alliances for relevant education research and practice throughout the United States and abroad.
Contact: Gerald Alolod, gpa2102@columbia.edu
Green Umbrella and Eco-Reps
Mission: The Green Umbrella is a group of administrators, faculty, staff, and students dedicated to the design and implementation of sustainability-raising initiatives in the Columbia community. The Eco-Reps are a group of students working in partnership with Columbia’s department of Housing and Dining in order to make Columbia’s campus more environmentally sustainable in order to make the Columbia campus more environmentally responsible. Their work entails:
- publicizing available environmental services
- serving as a bridge of communication between students and the administration
- facilitating campus projects for a reduced university ecological footprint
Contact: Hannah Lee, hsl2103@columbia.edu
Social Enterprise Club
Affiliation: Business School
Mission: The Social Enterprise Club empowers students to create social value in private and public enterprises. The Club provides networking opportunities and educational experiences for a range of social enterprise careers including: nonprofit management and consulting, corporate social responsibility, for-profit entrepreneurial endeavors, venture philanthropy, government and public finance, microfinance, and community and international development. Our members share common visions and values that support lasting personal and professional relationships.
Contact: Cai Steger, CSteger08@gsb.columbia.edu
Energy Club
Affiliation: Business School
Mission: The Energy Club is committed to educating Columbia Business School students about the energy industry, increasing awareness regarding career opportunities, and helping members take advantage of those opportunities. The Energy Club periodically hosts panel discussions and speakers on topics that are shaping the future of the energy industry. We also offer a symposium and speaker series each Spring. To assist our members in their job searches, we distribute a resume book for first- and second-year students and invite prospective employers to host on-campus presentations. Finally, we strive to create a network of students and alumni who are committed to working in the energy industry through the Columbia Business School Energy Network.
Contact: Pedro Rachadell, PRachadell08@gsb.columbia.edu
Postbac Premedical Association Global Medicine Group
Affiliation: General Studies
Mission: The Global Medicine Group is an organization for premedical students interested in global health and social justice. The GMG is committed to promoting health and human rights among aspiring medical professionals. Through activism, education and collaboration the GMG hopes to contribute to humanitarian causes both globally and locally while helping members pursue their unique interests in international medicine.
Contact: Robert Tessler, rat2109@columbia.edu
Human Rights Working Group
Affiliation: SIPA
Mission: The Human Rights Working Group is comprised of three subcommittees: Human Rights in Practice, Events and Education and Curriculum. The Human Rights in Practice committee is working to inject practical elements into the SIPA human rights education, such as by creating opportunities to do volunteer work with HR orgs in the city during the school year and by preparing fieldtrips to human rights organizations in the area. The Events and Education committee is working to "educate to liberate." it is responsible for putting on panels, movies, brownbags, and other educational events. the group also has an outreach/ACTION component working toward engaging the SIPA human rights community with the broader Columbia and New York community through action and education, and by becoming a strong channel for dialogue, support, and activism. The Curriculum Committee is working on reshaping SIPA's human rights curriculum offerings. they are currently campaigning for a skills-based human rights course that would be a two-semester course, with a workshop component in the spring and a project placement in the summer (possibly modeled on the EPD or CR workshops).
Contact: Chantal Camille Pasquarello; ccp2115@columbia.edu; Sonia Jung Kim; sjk2140@columbia.edu
Environmental Law Society
Affiliation: Law School
Mission: The Environmental Law Society (ELS) is a student-run organization with a variety of objectives. The group hosts speakers who discuss environmental law issues and careers and also works with the admissions office to better publicize the environmental law program at Columbia, according to President Melissa Brandt '03. The ELS is now in the process of planning a conference on environmental law, trade, and equitable sustainability in March. One goal of the conference, according to Ms. Brandt, "is to examine where we stand now 10 years after the worldwide environmental conference in Rio de Janeiro."
Contact: Rob Weinstock, raw2120@columbia.edu
Colubmia Political Union
Mission: The Columbia Political Union, organized for and by the students and faculty of Columbia University, seeks to enhance involvement in the political process, domestic and international, and draw every member of the campus community into an ongoing discussion of political ideas. As a nonpartisan group, we collaborate with other groups on campus, working to incorporate all points of view and voices from a variety of political backgrounds.
Contact: Alastair Shearman, ashearman@cupolitics.org; Caitlin Halpern, cah2152@columbia.edu
Rightslink
Affiliation: Law School
Mission: Rightslink is a human rights law research organization based at Columbia University School of Law in
Contact: Emma Neff, ecn2110@columbia.edu
Barnard-Columbia Undergraduate Public Health Society (BCUPHS)
Mission: BCUPHS' mission is twofold: (1) to engage the undergraduate community in public health issues through education and service projects; (2) to provide pre-professional support for students interested in public health careers with medicine, academia, policy, or any other field. The group is made up of several task forces with the overall goal to address public health issues. These task forces include: Povertees Campaign, Alternative Breaks, and the Public Health Newsletter.
Contact: Christine White, cmw2109@columbia.edu
SIPASA
Affiliation: SIPA
Mission: SIPASA represents the diverse interests of students on a school-wide basis. It serves as a liaison between the student body and administration and enhances the quality of life of the SIPA student body through the promotion of social activities which occur during orientation and throughout the year. Moreover, SIPASA supports student initiatives sponsored by other groups at SIPA, promotes community outreach, and represents the student body in regard to curriculum issues through the Committee on Instruction, semi-annual town meetings, and semi-annual open forums.
Contact: Paulo Kluber, pfk2104@columbia.edu; Patrick Contreras, rpc2112@columbia.edu
SIPA Energy Association
Affiliation: SIPA
Mission: The SIPA Energy Association is dedicated to connecting SIPA students with practitioners in the energy sector and educating students about career opportunities in the field. SEA's activities include arranging visits to SIPA by actors in the private, nonprofit, and public sectors, as well as trips for students to see aspects of the energy industry in person. The organization aims to aid its members in finding jobs and internships within the energy sector while building a network of SIPA alumni working in the various facets of shaping the world's energy future.
Contact: Jeremy Newman, jan2128@columbia.edu
Columbia students for International Service
Mission: Columbia Students for International Service (CSIS) is committed to promoting global service and global citizenship through international volunteer and internship experiences. CSIS works to articulate the importance of cross-cultural learning and exchange, citizen diplomacy, and the idea that service abroad is an essential duty shared by all humanity. Via its membership and group resources, CSIS strives to offer students support and insight into all aspects of international service as well as to encourage Columbia University to support experiential learning overseas as part of its goal of becoming a global university.
Contact: Kate Lauber, kel2107@columbia.edu
Darby Jack, an Earth Institute Fellow shares his experience.