Sustainability 3

Employment Opportunities

21st Century Jobs

The ability to analyze and propose solutions for sustainability and resilience issues is becoming increasingly important as the 21st century proceeds. Nearly every aspect of industry, commerce, and government is being re-evaluated in the context of long-term sustainability, which of course includes strategic adaptation to climate irregularity. Entrepreneurs are creating new firms with a sustainability focus, to address issues in energy, water resources, air quality, land use, waste management, transportation, construction, and urban planning. New York City's sustainability planning--embodied in PlaNYC under former Mayor Bloomberg and OneNYC under current mayor DiBlasio--is achieving critical momentum, and in the long run should generate demand for hundreds of project managers, analysts, managers, researchers, and consultants. New job titles are emerging, e.g., Sustainability Manager; Sustainability Plan Examiner; Sustainability Compliance Director; Sustainability Coordinator; Director of Energy Efficiency; Clean Air/Clean Energy Specialist; Renewable Energy Consultant; Green Building Coordinator; LEED Project Supervisor; and Life Cycle Modeling Specialist.

"CCNY's plan for an interdisciplinary Masters degree on sustainability is timely in light of heightened interest in the public and private sector in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving energy efficiency and building performance and developing adaptive strategies to climate change."

Francis J. Lombardi, P.E.
Chief Engineer,
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey 

Potential Professional Settings

  • Local, state, and federal governments
  • Intergovernmental organizations 
  • Non-governmental organizations 
  • Firms that plan and design sustainable buildings, building complexes, and infrastructure for communities, districts, and regions 
  • Construction companies that build sustainable buildings 
  • Consulting firms
  • Regulatory agencies
  • Sustainable energy research and development organization
  • Educational institutions

Actual Program Successes

Here are just some examples of real roles graduates (or in some cases, current students) have worked in:

Public / Governmental Sector

  • Energy Efficiency and Demand Management, ConEdison Utility
  • Building energy researcher, Washington, D.C. office of US Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory
  • Environmental protection specialist, Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA)
  • Resiliency task force coordinator, New Jersey municipality
  • Principal planner and commissioner, New Jersey municipality coastal flood protection $230 million dollar project "Rebuild by Design"
  • Policy advisor, NYC Mayor’s Office of Sustainability
  • Public marketing advisor, NYC Mayor’s Office of Sustainability
  • City Research Scientist, NYC Mayor’s Office of Sustainability
  • Environmental coordinator, New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA)
  • Climate Policy Analyst, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC)
  • Associate project manager of architecture capital projects, NYC Parks
  • Program coordinator, Partnerships for Parks
  • Sustainability program manager, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
  • Positive Train Control project, Long Island Rail Road (LIRR)
  • Policy Advisor, NYC Mayor's Office of Resilience
  • Project manager, New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA)
  • Director of green infrastructure, NYC Department of Transportation (DOT)
  • City Service corps member, AmeriCorps
  • Associate, NYC Sustainability Help Center
  • Forester, NYC Parks
  • Sustainability Officer, NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development
  • Chief Resiliency Officer, City of Hoboken

Private Sector

  • Skanska USA, N line rehabilitation in south Brooklyn
  • Sustainability project manager, JRM Construction Management
  • Business development manager, TerraCycle
  • Smart Cities consultant for New York City, coordinating the Smart Cities New York conference
  • Program manager, clean-tech incubator
  • Development and Sustainability project manager, a New York City community development corporation (CDC)
  • Energy modeler, SL Green Realty
  • "Green Guru," a leading sustainable development real estate firm in New York City
  • Energy engineering firm
  • Specification writer and healthy material researcher, International Architecture and Engineering Firm
  • Project engineer, Hudson Yards development
  • Asset management associate, SoCore Energy, a solar technology company
  • Environmental chemist, Triumvirate Environmental
  • Architect 3, AECOM, working on Amtrak's Penn Station upgrades
  • Architect, New York City firm for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) projects
  • Architect, firm working in LEED certification and assessment, Chile
  • Registered Landscape Architect, New York architecture firm
  • Construction site architect, Cyprus
  • Sustainability consultant, New York green building architecture firm
  • Creative director, New York Passive House materials supplier
  • Certified Passive House designer/consultant, New York City sustainable home architecture firm
  • Materials and Technology Specialist, HLW
  • Sales, 475 High Performance Building Supply
  • Designer, EQ Architecture and Design
  • Manager, Empire State Development
  • Building Systems Analyst, Steven Winter Associates
  • Associate, Carbon Disclosure Project
  • Sustainability Consultant, Eurasia Group
  • Building Enclosure Engineer, FST Technical Services
  • Sustainable Mobility Specialist, ICF
  • Environmental Health and Safety Specialist, Amazon

Educational Sector

  • Zero Waste manager, NYC Department of Education
  • Facilities director, Advanced Science Research Center, CUNY
  • Building systems engineer, CUNY Building Performance Lab
  • Energy management instructor (EMI), The CUNY School of Professional Studies (SPS)
  • Project coordinator, Barry Commoner Center for Health and the Environment, Queens College
  • Environmental science teacher, Brooklyn College
  • Capital projects administrator and projects manager, a New York City higher educational institution
  • Green buildings teacher and C(areer) T(echnical) E(ducation) Department Lead, Urban Assembly School for Green Careers
  • Educator, New York Botanic Garden 
  • Design and engineering teacher, Brooklyn Navy Yard STEAM Center
  • Director of facilities, Washington Heights and Inwood charter school system
  • Sustainability coach, National Wildlife Federation, Eco-Schools program
  • Science Teacher and Sustainability Coordinator, Brooklyn Urban Garden Charter School
  • Lecturer, UC Berkeley
  • Adjunct teaching, our program at CCNY! 

Non-Governmental/Non-Profit/Other Organizations

  • Building Resiliency task force member, US Green Building Council
  • Compost Director, Big Reuse
  • Outreach Associate, Big Reuse
  • Field Researcher, Natural Areas Conservancy 
  • Compost Project Manager, Queens Botanic Garden 
  • Educator, North American Passive House Network
  • Compost Program Manager, GrowNYC
  • Project Researcher, Research Foundation at CUNY

 

See more of what our alumni are up to on our Program Blog: Sustainability and the City. 

Further Studies at PhD Level

In addition, several of our graduates have gone on to pursue PhDs. Areas of focus include: development of an automated environmental data acquisition system; Electrical Engineering with a focus on complex fenestration for energy consumption reduction in buildings; Environmental Engineering; Water Resources Engineering; Civil Engineering – Water Resources; Biology and Society with a focus on “land grabbing” in Tanzania; and Architecture). Many of these PhD candidates decided to remain at City College.

Last Updated: 11/03/2022 12:01