Leadership Project

The Environmental Observation and Informatics program culminates with an applied conservation project with a leading organization. You will apply your skills in earth observation, data science, and communication to have a real impact and advance your career.

Featured Projects

Drought and Fire Conditions in Idaho to Inform Mitigation and Monitoring

Ford Freyberg was part of a team that used GIS, Earth observation data, and other climate-related data products to assess performance of drought indicators and create maps highlighting drought and fire conditions, trends, and susceptibilities.

Equitable Recreation Access

Kathryn Bernard completed a geospatial analysis to assess equitable recreation access to two areas of public land in the American West that Outdoor Alliance is working to protect and conserve.

Urban Mapping for Equity

Sharanya Madhavan created an automated workflow to process and classify satellite imagery to create a dataset of impervious surface and urban canopy cover for each urban census tract to better understand social equity-related issues connected to urban heat.

What Our Students Say

How to Get Your Dream Project

Explore
June-August

Define your professional goals and explore new opportunities

Connect
September-December

Connect with an organization and identify a project to apply your skills

Develop
January-May

Craft an independent project to address an environmental challenge

Execute
June-August

Work directly with the organization to produce quality deliverables

Our Partner Network

Students have worked with dozens of leading conservation organizations. Don’t see an organization of interest to you? Don’t worry, we help students make new connections.

The Nature Conservancy
NASA DEVELOP
Conservation International
Gathering Waters
Field Museum
USDA Agricultural Research Service
International Union for the Conservation of Nature
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey
American Museum of Natural History
Landscan
Journey North
Greenlink
Capital Area Regional Planning Commission
Dane County Office of Energy and Climate Change
Outdoor Alliance
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Aldo Leopold Foundation
Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative
Wisconsin's Greenfire
Wildlife Conservation Society
Wildlife First
Syncarto
Salo Sciences
Ruffed Grouse Society
Pro Eco Azuero
Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences Lab
Natural Capital Project
Greater Madison MPO
Ceiba Foundation for Tropical Conservation
National Guard

Are You an Organization Interested in Working with a Student?

We’d love to hear from you! Each year we place dozens of students in organizations to deliver high-quality products. Please send an email to the EOI program coordinator with your interest. You don’t need to have a defined project and we will work with you to identify what’s possible. The most active time for project placement is September to December, but we welcome outreach at any time.

Contact the program coordinator

What Our Partners Say

“It was a good opportunity for us to advance our work while providing the student with a chance to apply what she learned in EOI and also gain new technical and applied knowledge. Thanks to EOI for coordinating this initiative.”

Take the Next Step

Learn how to apply, including requirements and timeline

View informational webinars for more program details

Contact us if you have application questions