Aronson fellowship
The Arnold and Sheila Aronson Fellowships and Archive for Environmental Sustainability will advance the mission of the Tishman Center and incentivize students to delve deeply into design, policy, and environmental justice approaches. Through their research, the students will confront climate change, other nature and human driven environmental challenges, and their social impacts. They will learn to propose innovative, just, and sustainable solutions to affect demonstrable change. As an endowment, the Fellowships will exist in perpetuity, supporting a wide range of projects and initiatives that will form an archive of research, methodologies and communications strategies - the Arnold and Sheila Aronson Archive for Environmental Sustainability - serving as an ongoing resource to advance environmental sustainability and confront the destructive effects of the many challenges that our planet faces.
2023-2024 Aronson Fellows
This year, we expanded the fellowship to include six students from across the university, from undergraduate to PhD students. We also brought in additional faculty mentors, Chao Hiu Tu and Alison Schuettinger, to provide their expertise and guidance to students. Each faculty mentor was responsible for two students. The model allows mentors and fellows opportunities for deep engagement and learning regarding their projects. Tishman Environment Design Center Director of Sustainability Engagement Mike Harrington also mentored two students.
Our Fellows were:
Carlos Celis (Schools of Public Engagement, Public and Urban Policy PhD program)
Van Xelo (Schools of Public Engagement, Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management MS program, class of ‘23)
Jac Clayton (Parsons School of Design and Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts joint BA/BFA program, class of ‘25)
Sakshi Pandey (Parsons School of Design, Transdisciplinary Design MFA program, class of ‘25)
Mackenzie Daly (Schools of Public Engagement, Public and Urban Policy PhD program)
Ally Lorico (Parsons School of Design, Masters in History of Design and Curatorial Studies program, class of ‘24)
2022-2023 aronson fellows
This year we welcomed two fellows from two different programs at The New School. Our strategy allowed Tishman Center staff and affiliated faculty to engage on a deeper level with each fellow and more closely mentor and support their scholarship. The purpose of this structure was to build relationships and networks between students who may be working in different disciplines but who center environmental justice in their studies. Professor of Urban Design and Tishman Center Associate Director Brian McGrath, along with Director of Sustainability Engagement Mike Harrington, mentored the Fellows throughout the year.
Our fellows this year are Kier Blake (Schools of Public Engagement, Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management MS program, class of ‘23) and Dana Duarte Hernandez (Parsons, Strategic Design Management MS program, class of ‘23). You can read more about their work here.
2021-2022 Aronson Fellows
2020-2021 aronson fellow
Daniela Lam
Daniela Lam cultivated a deep respect for Earth’s graceful systems while majoring in Environmental Studies at Hunter College. Looking for sustainable solutions, she came to Parsons’ AAS Interior Design program to design the built environment through the lens of Earth system science. Her interest in tiny houses flourished during a tiny house design/build course at Yestermorrow in Vermont. As the 2020 Aronson Fellow, she looks forward to producing research that convinces policymakers of the environmental potential of these unconventional homes.