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 human needs in ways that do not forgo possibilities for future generations. These 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.

The 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 tools to measure, map, and model five capital assets — social, natural, human, manufactured, and knowledge capital — and their complex interactions to recognize potential feedback, thresholds, and unintended consequences, as well as to identify leverage points and opportunities for interventions that can have a transformative impact.

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 in mapping complex systems and designing creative, high-leverage interventions 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 types of 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.

See Sustainability Science and Practice for more information about the program and admissions.

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 Science (M.S.) degree or a coterminal Master of Arts (M.A.) degree.

The Sustainability Science and Practice program will offer one coterm application round in the 2024-25 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 14, 2025.

Required Pre-application Steps:

• Prior to applying, candidates are expected to attend a one-hour information session hosted by the program in Autumn quarter 2024, beginning Week 3. Please refer to the events section of the program website for details and to RSVP.

• As part of the application process, candidates must email Student Services Officer Bhe Balde (ebalde@stanford.edu) to schedule a pre-application interview. Interviews will start in mid-October and should be completed by December 20, 2024 (prior to the University’s winter closure for staff). In advance of the interview, applicants should email the following to Bhe Balde 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 known) or a short list of preferred advisors (if an advisor has not yet been confirmed).

• 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 practice are generally not on Academic Council. If unsure whether a faculty member is on Academic Council, please contact the SUST Student Services Officer to verify.

Required Application Materials:

• The Stanford Coterminal Application.

• A statement of purpose, 500-700 words long, 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 through the Winter Quarter application deadline.

• SUST Master's Program Proposal signed by the 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. Academic Council members typically hold a title of professor, associate professor, or assistant professor, whereas instructors with the title of lecturer, adjunct professor, or professor of practice are generally not on Academic Council. If unsure whether a faculty member is on Academic Council, please contact the 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 submit 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 14, 2025 application deadline.

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