SUSTSCI-MS - Sustainability Science and Practice (MS)

The Sustainability Science and Practice program (SUST for short) is an interdisciplinary coterminal master’s program hosted by the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. The program prepares leaders to radically accelerate the transition to a sustainable and just society. As the global human population climbs toward 10 billion, consumption demands increase, and disparities in wealth and opportunity persist, humanity must learn to equitably meet existing needs in ways that do not forgo possibilities for future generations. Sustainability challenges are marked by extreme complexity, urgency, conflicting demands, and often a lack of resources or political will to address them. Transforming these challenges into powerful opportunities requires a new type of leader who can envision a prosperous future for all and design practices and cultivate partnerships essential to building that future. The SUST program equips students with the theoretical and conceptual knowledge, mindsets, and practical skills needed to advance sustainability, securing human well-being worldwide and across generations.

Given the inherent interdisciplinary nature of sustainability challenges, SUST draws on diverse disciplines and pedagogical methods to prepare students as sustainability leaders. The curriculum encompasses and integrates: a) natural sciences, social sciences, and arts; b) theory and practice; and c) quantitative and qualitative methods. Through this integration, the program prepares students with a technical understanding of planetary functions, human-environment interactions, and global change, as well as the capacity to strategize and lead change in support of human and planetary well-being. 

Courses in the natural sciences enable students to understand Earth and the planetary changes occurring, while courses in the social sciences and arts develop students’ understanding of the social, economic, and policy factors that influence human capacity to drive transformative change. Theoretical frameworks prepare students to analyze complex social-environmental systems and conceptualize the nature of human-environment interactions. To learn how sustainability works (or does not work) in practice, students examine case studies, hear from expert practitioners, and apply tools and frameworks to real-world projects. Students learn quantitative methods to evaluate the status of social-ecological systems, monitor changes and impacts happening within them, track progress toward sustainability goals, and inform policy or intervention decisions with evidence. They learn qualitative methods to prepare them to understand human behavior, decision-making processes, cultural context, the values of diverse interest-holders, and system dynamics that cannot be fully captured with quantitative data. Together these approaches develop students’ identity, agency, capabilities and perspectives as sustainability leaders.

The SUST curriculum covers three main elements:

Element 1: Understanding Complex Social-Environmental Systems

Students develop a “systems perspective,” deepening their awareness of the dynamic and interrelated nature of social-environmental systems. They explore frameworks and tools to understand, measure, and map complex social-environmental systems and their interactions to recognize potential feedbacks, thresholds, and unintended consequences, as well as to identify leverage points and opportunities for interventions that advance sustainability.

Element 2: Understanding Decision-Making and Developing Strategies for Change

Students examine the roles of diverse actors influencing change in social-environmental systems and explore strategies to align decision-making and behavior with sustainability. They explore the mindsets and approaches of transformative leaders and examine effective strategies for advancing sustainability across sectors. Students develop decision-making skills in complex and uncertain contexts, use metrics and evaluation approaches aligned with sustainability goals, cultivate leadership orientations, and practice effective communications and storytelling approaches.

Element 3: Designing Innovations with Impact at Scale

Students develop an understanding of how to intervene in complex systems for transformative impact by exploring frameworks and tools from systems thinking, design thinking, social cognitive theory, behavioral economics, and partnership strategies. They develop practical skills to understand complexity, analyze root causes, and design high-leverage intervention pathways that realign systems with the goal of intergenerational well-being.

Sustainability Leadership Practicum

To integrate and internalize core lessons from the SUST curriculum, each student completes a 120-hour practicum project of their design, collaborating on a complex sustainability challenge with an outside partner and working through the constraints often faced by decision-makers and leaders. Students apply the curriculum’s leadership mindsets, knowledge, and skills to this practical experience and present their final analysis and reflections to faculty and peers.

The Sustainability Science and Practice program offers current Stanford University undergraduates the opportunity to apply to a one-year coterminal master’s program. Students can pursue either a coterminal Master of Arts (MA) degree or a coterminal Master of Science (MS) degree.

The Sustainability Science and Practice program will offer one coterm application round in the 2025-26 academic year. To be considered for admission, students must complete the required pre-application steps below by the stated deadlines and submit all required materials via the University's application portal by January 13, 2026.

Required Pre-Application Steps:

• Prior to applying, candidates are expected to attend a one-hour information session hosted by the program in autumn quarter of 2025. Please refer to the events section of the program website for information session dates and to RSVP.

• All candidates must complete a pre-application interview during autumn quarter. Interviews will begin in mid-October and should be completed by December 19, 2025 (prior to the University’s winter closure for staff). Students may schedule their pre-application interview by emailing "sustcoterm@stanford.edu". In advance of the interview, applicants should email the following materials to "sustcoterm@stanford.edu" for review: 

  • 1) a draft of the SUST Master's Program Proposal indicating the courses the student intends to take to satisfy the program’s degree requirements, and 

  • 2) the name of the student’s proposed master’s advisor (if already confirmed with the faculty member) or a short list of preferred advisors (if an advisor has not yet been confirmed)

• As part of the application process, each applicant is responsible for identifying a faculty member who will serve as their master's advisor during their time in the coterm program. The Master's Advising section below includes guidance on seeking an advisor. The process takes time and students are encouraged to start early. The master’s advisor must be an Academic Council member. Faculty on Academic Council typically hold a title of Professor, Associate Professor, or Assistant Professor, whereas instructors with the title of Lecturer, Adjunct Professor, or Professor of the Practice are generally not on Academic Council. The SUST Program Director is also eligible to advise a limited number of SUST students. If unsure whether a faculty member is on Academic Council, students may contact a SUST Student Services Officer at "sust_coterm@stanford.edu" to verify.

• To be eligible for matriculation in the SUST coterminal master’s program, students must complete at least 120 units of undergraduate coursework by the end of winter quarter 2025. Before applying, students should verify that they are on track to meet this requirement.  

Required Application Materials:

• The Stanford Coterminal Application.

• A statement of purpose (no more than 800 words) that describes the applicant's sustainability interests, the experiences that have influenced the student and motivated them to apply, and what the applicant hopes to learn from and contribute to the program. The statement should provide a clear picture of who the applicant is and what matters to them.

• A current resume.

• A current Stanford unofficial transcript inclusive of all courses completed and grades earned by the application deadline. A minimum GPA of 3.4 is recommended. 

• SUST Master's Program Proposal signed by a SUST Student Services Officer and by the applicant's master's advisor. The Student Services Officer's signature serves as confirmation that the course plan satisfies program requirements. The advisor’s signature serves as confirmation of the faculty member’s willingness to serve in the advising role.

• Two letters of recommendation from Stanford faculty members who know the applicant well and can speak to their qualifications and fit for the program. At least one of the two faculty writers must be a member of Stanford’s Academic Council. Faculty on Academic Council typically hold a title of Professor, Associate Professor, or Assistant Professor, whereas instructors with the title of Lecturer, Adjunct Professor, or Professor of the Practice are generally not on Academic Council. If unsure whether a faculty member is on Academic Council, please contact a SUST Student Services Officer to verify before requesting the letter. The candidate’s master’s advisor is not required to serve as one of the two recommenders.

  Note: Once the applicant enters a recommender’s contact information into the application portal, the recommender will receive an automated email with instructions for completing and submitting the recommendation. Students should enter the names of their recommenders as early as possible in the application process so that faculty have adequate time to prepare and submit their materials by the January 13, 2026 application deadline.

• An optional third letter of recommendation from someone who is not necessarily a Stanford faculty member may also be submitted for consideration.

Please see details about the admissions process for SUST in the Admissions Information section of the SUST Program Overview page.