Driving Knowledge and Innovation for Environmental Impact
At UMass Amherst, you'll find meaningful and exciting opportunities to be part of sustainability in action. Sustainability is a part of daily life here, from dining to recycling to transportation. Academics and research are no less important.
When you're a student here, you'll find an always-expanding range of courses and programs to make sustainability part of your educational focus. That's because researchers at UMass Amherst are exploring some of the most important issues that face us.
Student Story: 'I Don't Want Any of This to Go Away': An Interview with Hannah Gould
Hannah Gould is an undergraduate at UMass Amherst. She has worked in many sustainability-related programs across campus, and she explains what's so important to her—and to all of us—about that work in this interview.
You do what you need to do. We’re constantly faced with challenges, and I feel empowered to do what I can do and live a life that is valuable. Environmental conservation work. Policies for humans and animals. Leaving a legacy.
—Hannah Gould '25
School of Earth and Sustainability
The UMass School of Earth and Sustainability (SES) is the academic center of sustainability on campus. Through SES, you'll find undergraduate and graduate programs covering a range of subjects across the natural world and the built environment.
Academic Programs
Sustainability is part of everything we do at UMass Amherst. That means you'll find opportunities for learning in just about any subject you explore. From the social sciences to the humanities and fine arts and beyond, at UMass Amherst, you can learn how sustainability can be a part of how we make meaning from the world around us.
Sustainability Research
Research is essential to UMass Amherst's central value of stewardship toward a better future through innovation. It's also how the university creates opportunities for students to learn at the leading edge of sustainability.
Here at UMass, you'll have the opportunity to be part of research in areas like biodiversity and ecology, food systems, clean energy, and so many more.
Centers and Institutes
At UMass Amherst, you'll also find opportunities to get involved in sustainability through the many international, national, and regional research centers and institutes based on campus.
Educate and Innovate for the Common Good
This campus lives sustainability in everything, from how we source our food to dining, to recycling, to environmental justice. This is a campus that doesn’t just offer a degree but where the community strives every day to live and demonstrate how sustainability impacts what we do.
