The Atkinson Postdoctoral Fellowships in Sustainability address pressing world needs. This two-year postdoctoral program is unique in that the postdocs link their research at Cornell University with external non-academic partners to advance the on-the-ground application of sustainable solutions. Up to four postdocs are chosen each year.

The center’s emerging strategic plan will focus resources on programs and projects that are consistent with our overarching theme of building resilient rural-urban systems — including the food, water, energy, and economic systems — that connect the lives of rural and city dwellers.

  • Increasing Food Security. Improving the systems of agriculture, aquaculture, and wild food harvest to meet the nutritional needs of all people while enhancing the quality of life of those who produce the food — and the land and aquatic biodiversity and ecosystems on which they depend.
  • Reducing Climate Risks. Innovating technology, financial instruments, and policy to reduce greenhouse gas concentrations and adapt infrastructure, agriculture, and health systems to equitably protect human health, safety, and prosperity from the impact of increasingly catastrophic droughts, floods, storms, and wildfires.
  • Accelerating Energy Transitions. Connecting research with for-profit corporations, non-profit organizations, and government to enhance the generation, distribution, and storage of clean energy for heating and cooling, electricity, and transportation.
  • Achieving One Health. Incorporating our understanding of the inextricable dependence of human health and happiness on the health of nature into the development of agriculture and infrastructure systems.

How to Apply

  • Request for Proposals
  • Letters of Intent due August 20, 2018
  • Full application due October 8, 2018
  • Fellowships begin January 2019

See the Atkinson Postdoctoral Fellowships in Sustainability website for more information and how to apply.


This program is made possible by generous gifts from David and Patricia Atkinson.