San Francisco Department of the Environment (SFE)
2022 Stanford EPIC Summer Fellow: Lizzie Avila
2021 Stanford EPIC Summer Fellow: Jocelyn Thai
2020 Stanford EPIC Summer Fellow: Alain Perez
About the San Francisco Department of the Environment:
The San Francisco Department of the Environment provides solutions that protect the environment and enhance quality of life for all San Franciscans, and beyond. For more information on the Department of the Environment, visit www.SFEnvironment.org.
There are 3 teams within SFE that are looking for an EPIC fellow (1. Clean Transportation Program, 2. Healthy Ecosystems Team, and 3. Toxics Reduction & Healthy Communities Program). Please review each team’s background, potential projects, and desired qualifications, and indicate with which you are interested in working on your application.
1. About the Clean Transportation Program:
The SF Environment Clean Transportation Program coordinates implementation of the 2019 Citywide Electric Vehicle (EV) Roadmap and supports implementation of the sustainable transportation elements of the 2021 Climate Action Plan. The Program hosts the San Francisco Clean Cities Coalition and manages several grant programs to advance adoption of low-carbon transportation modes and expand deployment of electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
Potential Projects:
- Research, analyze, and report on clean transportation topics and policy issues, such as public charging development, fleet electrification, and micromobility adoption.
- Support outreach and education campaigns and draft communications and tracking tools around EVs and charging infrastructure.
- Support the development of a Citywide medium- and heavy-duty vehicle electrification blueprint with research and stakeholder engagement.
- Assist with managing an electric bicycle program for last-mile delivery workers, such as by staffing safety trainings and focus groups and analyzing participant data and surveys.
- Identify funding opportunities and support development of project proposals.
- Support implementation of the Commercial Garage EV Charging Ordinance.
- Organize events and stakeholder meetings like the City’s EV Working Group meetings.
- Track local and state policies related to clean transportation.
- Project management assistance and stakeholder outreach as needed.
Desired Qualifications/Skills:
- Do you have a passion for sustainability and curiosity around transportation electrification and/or emerging mobility?
- Are you a people person interested in working with diverse stakeholders?
- Can you analyze and synthesize complex information from various sources?
- Do you enjoy writing and finding ways to present information clearly and creatively?
- Are you a confident, self-motivated, and well-organized individual?
If any or all the above sounds like you, then join us and be a part of making the world a better place, starting in San Francisco!
2. About the Healthy Ecosystems Team:
The Healthy Ecosystems team under the SFE’s Climate Program supports collaborative, interagency conservation planning and management for a comprehensive watershed- and ecosystem-based natural resources management and stewardship programs. We facilitate ecological restoration of our wildlife habitats and educate the public about our living natural heritage and local ecological stewardship opportunities. Current initiatives include:
- Advancing citywide collaboration to continually refine nature-based climate solutions and urban forest management.
- Increasing equitable community participation and perspectives in nature-based climate solutions.
- Maximizing greening and integration of local biodiversity into the built environment.
Potential Projects:
- Ground-truthing natural resource GIS layers
- Identifying a list of large SF properties (campuses, e.g.) as candidates for cultivating relationships for implementing healthy landscapes
- Researching/reviewing literature on:
- The preferences of pollinators for local native plants versus cultivars
- Assisted migration of trees native to southern California to northern California
- Drafting policy and outreach documents
- Building on a list of potential Landmark trees
- Creating a map with photos of successful native plant garden sites for the Plant Finder
- Assisting with the Annual Urban Forestry Report
Desired Qualifications/Skills:
- Data heads, you are welcome here! We would love to leverage your ability to prepare reports, spreadsheets, data and documentation for reporting information to the public.
- Enjoy writing? We have many needs for public-facing materials including factsheets, web pages, presentations, etc.
- Are you confident, self-motivated and a well-organized individual?
- Can you analyze and synthesize information from various sources?
- Second language commonly spoken in San Francisco, especially Vietnamese, Spanish and/or Chinese.
If any or all the above sounds like you, then join us and be a part of making the world a better place, starting in San Francisco!
3. About the Toxics Reduction & Healthy Communities Program:
The Toxics Reduction & Healthy Communities Program leads a variety of programs, policies and projects, ranging from reducing the use of harmful chemicals in residential, commercial and City government settings. Projects and programs we undertake at the local level often become models for scaling elsewhere! Current initiatives include:
- eliminating the use of fluorochemicals in numerous consumer and industrial uses
- tackling antibiotic resistance
- supporting small businesses to adopt sustainable practices
- addressing microfiber pollution
Potential Projects:
- Help implement the San Francisco Healthy Nail Salon Program
- Conduct outreach to residents about proper disposal of toxics products
- Researching products and identifying safer alternatives to toxic products
- Analyzing grocer data and assisting with public reporting of antibiotics use
- Improving our grocer reporting system for antibiotics use data
- Conducting outreach and technical assistance to commercial businesses and residents
- Assisting in creating policies and programs that drive the use of safer products in San Francisco
- Drafting policy and outreach documents
- Conducting surveys and analyzing results
Desired Qualifications/Skills:
- Data heads, you are welcome here! We would love to leverage your ability to prepare reports, spreadsheets, data and documentation for reporting information to the public.
- Enjoy writing? We have many needs for public-facing materials including factsheets, web pages, presentations, etc.
- Do you have phone super powers? Research by our department often involves making phone calls to a wide range of businesses, residents and other stakeholders. Those who are persistent enough to navigate a phone tree and find the right person, and then have an engaging phone voice are gold.
- Are you confident, self-motivated and a well-organized individual?
- Can you analyze and synthesize information from various sources?
- Second language commonly spoken in San Francisco, especially Vietnamese, Spanish and/or Chinese.
If any or all the above sounds like you, then join us and be a part of making the world a better place, starting in San Francisco!
Logistics for All Teams:
- This opportunity will be fully in-person or hybrid with 3 days per week in-person at the SFE office in San Francisco, CA.
- EPIC fellows have the option to work full-time (35+ hours per week) for 10 weeks (stipend: $7,500-$9,000, depending on financial need) or 12 weeks (stipend: $9,000-$10,500, depending on financial need) over the summer.
