Center for Environment & Society

About UsClick to Open

Students can engage with the Center for Environment and Society (CES) through a wide range of hands-on, career-building opportunities. Signature experiences include the Chesapeake Semester, a 16-credit immersive program that integrates coursework, fieldwork, and professional experience, as well as paid internships with CES and external partners. Students may also participate in career development and community-building through the E&S Fellows, including workshops, social programming, and guest speakers who highlight diverse environmental career pathways.

CES offers robust undergraduate research opportunities, from excavating 1,000–3,000-year-old Native American sites in partnership with the Maryland Historical Trust to banding and testing raptors to monitor avian flu. Students also work on applied projects such as developing a small-scale demonstration farm, assessing food access in the local community, and creating low-cost water quality sensors to monitor the Chester River. Additional funding is available to support student research and travel.

CES is based in Semans-Griswold Environmental Hall, a certified Living Building that houses classrooms and laboratories for Washington College’s environmental programs. Nearby, CES operates two research vessels at the College dock and manages MuSE: A Community Museum on Cross Street, with the Geographic Information Program (GIP) located upstairs. CES also stewards the 5,000-acre River and Field Campus, a living laboratory for immersive research and hands-on learning. Take a closer look at the many program areas at CES: 

Cultural & Natural Resources

This program promotes sustainable resource management through partnerships with communities, preservation groups, and educators. Through collaborative excavations, artifact analysis, and archival research, the team works to define, manage, and promote the Eastern Shore's cultural and natural resources. Other work includes hosting a weekly public archaeology lab, highlighting local Indigenous and African American history, and supporting at least six interns annually.

Foreman’s Branch Bird Observatory

Located on the River and Field Campus (RAFC), FBBO uses bird banding to monitor spring and fall bird migration. Founded in 1998, the station contributes to the federal Bird Banding Lab dataset while collaborating with outside organizations on research projects, such as testing bird-safe glass designs. FBBO also conducts avian research in the experimental grasslands at RAFC each summer. Paid internships for students are offered each semester, and public demonstrations are available by request.

Geospatial Innovation Program

The Geospatial Innovation Program (GIP) redefines learning through immersive, experiential opportunities that unite students, faculty, and partners in solving real-world challenges. By transforming geospatial data into discovery and collaboration into impact, GIP empowers people to innovate, lead, and build more connected and resilient communities.

Natural Lands Project

Habitat loss and fragmentation threaten wildlife across rural landscapes. The Natural Lands Project partners with landowners on Maryland’s Eastern Shore to restore marginal cropland into native meadows, wetlands, and forests. These habitats support diverse species while improving water quality, and provide students and interns hands-on experience in restoration and community engagement.

Sustainable Food Systems

Food systems initiative coordinates research and education around sustainable production, food security, and culturally appropriate food sourcing. Efforts include developing regenerative and organic agriculture practices through a 30-acre farm, demonstration garden and fostering community collaboration through The Upper Shore Food Council. These initiatives aim to promote healthy, affordable, and accessible food systems.

Watershed Innovation Lab

The Watershed Innovation Lab tackles complex research questions about the health of Eastern Shore streams and the Chesapeake Bay using innovative fieldwork, lab analysis, and modeling techniques. Students gain valuable hands-on experience through projects like designing water quality buoys, building weather and groundwater monitoring stations, and using remote sensing technologies for mapping.

 

Student PathwaysClick to Open

Our graduates pursue impactful careers with organizations such as the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Chesapeake Conservancy, Maryland Environmental Service, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Bedrock Ocean Exploration, the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and The Nature Conservancy.

Many also continue their education at leading institutions, including Auburn University, Dartmouth, Duke, Northeastern, the University at Albany (SUNY), the University of Maryland, the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences, and Vermont Law & Graduate School.

Strategic Plan: 2026-2031 Click to Open

During spring 2025, each CES program developed a five-year strategic plan to guide its work. These plans will serve as living documents, revisited annually to ensure alignment with our values and goals. We invite you to learn more about our shared priorities and what we aim to achieve by 2031. To access the full plan, please click the link below.

Values

Places Matter: We believe that every place is unique - from neighborhoods to nations - and that people’s lived experiences within them are important to understand in our projects.

Collaboration: We build interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral partnerships to develop new knowledge, technologies, and actions for a better world.

Resilience: We embrace our capacity for life-long learning to adapt to societal and environmental change.

Liberal Arts Education: We foster experiential learning opportunities for students to become skilled and purpose driven professionals as well as change agents within their communities.

Core Goals

1. Engage: Position CES as a resource available for all students, staff and faculty.

2. Partner: Expand partnerships with external communities to advance shared interests.

3. Expereince: Develop high impact experiential learning opportunities.

4. Innovate: Conduct applied research within the areas of watershed innovation, geospatial innovation, sustainable food systems, avian conservation, cultural heritage, and native habitat restoration.

5. Communicate: Provide relevant communications about our mission, programs, and activities so that the CES brand reflects our meaningful impact. 

6. Sustain: Ensure consistent funding through grant writing, revenue generating activities, and development of donor relations.