Develop the transdisciplinary systems thinking and problem-solving skills to address today’s complex environmental and climate challenges through participatory processes and an environmental justice lens, in our STEM certified graduate sustainability studies program at the intersection of science, design, and policy.
The Master of Science in Sustainable Environmental Systems (SES) is one of the nation’s most innovative, interdisciplinary, systems-based sustainability programs. This STEM certified degree program is designed to meet today’s increasing demand for environmental professionals, uniquely combining environmental science, sustainable design, and climate policy. Leveraging professional faculty and courses across the Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment, students learn the interdisciplinary skills and systems-thinking approach needed to assess contemporary environmental issues; catalyze innovative environmental problem-solving; uphold environmental and social justice; and engage diverse stakeholders in designing and developing sustainable plans, policies, and communities.
Interdisciplinary, socially engaged, and justice-driven, our tight-knit community is connected by a shared mission for collective environmental and climate action. The SES program welcomes students with a variety of undergraduate and graduate degrees, recognizing that sustainability work is most effective when integrating diverse experiences. Students entering the program with relevant professional experience, or with a Bachelor of Architecture or relevant 5-year or Masters degree, may receive up to 10 credits of advanced standing—and the commensurate tuition savings. With class sizes of just 8-12 students, you’ll collaborate closely with your colleagues, faculty, and industry and community partners to learn, share and apply the skills and tools needed to improve environmental systems and meet real world challenges.
In Sustainable Environmental Systems, program-wide interdisciplinary connections are complemented by curricular and extracurricular opportunities in GCPE, the School of Architecture, Pratt Institute, and beyond. We work closely with campus stakeholders including Pratt’s Sustainability Coalition and the Pratt Sustainability Center to assess campus sustainability, coordinate Pratt Earth Action Week, and develop campus as a living laboratory projects. Beyond Pratt’s gates, our practice based approach, experiential learning opportunities, and climate action research initiatives such as RAMP (Recover Adapt Mitigate Plan) allow you to tailor and maximize your graduate experience.
Participatory and Professional Practice
Through studios, client-based capstone projects, practicums, applied research, partnerships and public programs, you’ll have opportunities to have a real world impact on sustainable and just development with New York City, regional, and even international communities and partners. Sustainable Environmental Systems courses are taught by innovative civic, community, and government leaders who are active in promoting best sustainability practices in environmental science, management, policy, planning and design in the NYC region and beyond. You’ll learn from one another, the faculty, community partners, and our powerful professional network. Most classes meet at night to accommodate working students and your ongoing professional development.
Internships & Fellowships
Virtually every student is assured a fellowship or internship with an organization, agency, or professional practice during their time in the program. Grant-funded research projects provide additional project-based opportunities to work with our faculty and partners. Longstanding opportunities include the Environmental Justice Fellowship with the NYC Environmental Justice Alliance and its members, and the SWIM (Stormwater Infrastructure Matters) Coalition Fellowship. Recently, Sustainable Environmental Systems fellows and interns have worked with the NYC Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice, NYC Department of Environmental Protection, New York Sustainable Energy Research and Development Agency (NYSERDA), UN-Habitat, UPROSE, The Point CDC, El Puente, Resilience Education Training and Innovation (RETI) Center,, , Urban Green Council, and the Pratt Sustainability Center.
International Exchange and Study Abroad
As climate change continues to disproportionately impact frontline communities around the world, emergent international solutions can galvanize action, foster solidarity, and lead to inclusive approaches. Our international student body values sharing experiences across geographies and cultures, and expands on this practice through our study abroad courses. The SES Sustainability Knowledge Exchange has recently visited grassroots organizations, industry and academic partners, and government officials in Brazil, the Netherlands, and Puerto Rico. Students have also traveled to Cuba, Japan, and Germany through courses offered across Pratt Institute. Contact us to find out where we might engage next!
Our Faculty
Sustainable Environmental Systems faculty are predominantly full time practitioners, working at the forefront of complex environmental challenges and equitable climate action in New York City and beyond. At the MS in SES and GCPE, your professors bring their commitment, passion, and experience into the classroom to support student learning and professional development. See all Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment faculty and administrators.
Distinguished Pratt MS in SES graduates are leading diverse and thriving careers in leadership roles as environmental managers, sustainable designers, policy analysts, resiliency planners, low-impact developers, researchers, and climate justice advocates, collaborating across sectors to develop thriving communities.
Current and recent SES alumni jobs include:
Associate Program Manager, United Nations – Habitat Programme
Policy Advisor, Clean Energy & Equity, NYC Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice
Planner II: Resilience and Waterfront, Boston Planning and Development Agency
Sustainability Planner, Capital District Regional Planning Commission, Albany, NY
Resilience Director, Palm Beach County, FL
Chief of Staff, Center for Urban Innovation, NYC Economic Development Corporation
Senior Program Officer, Wind Institute, New Jersey Economic Development Authority
Senior Program Manager, Made in NYC, Pratt Center for Community Development
Join us at Pratt. Learn more about admissions requirements, plan your visit, talk to a counselor, and start your application. Take the next step.
You’ll find yourself at home at Pratt. Learn more about our residence halls, student organizations, athletics, gallery exhibitions, events, the amazing City of New York and our Brooklyn neighborhood communities. Check us out.
Upcoming Information Sessions
All times ET
GCPE Advanced Certificate Info Session
Tuesday, September 10, 2024 4:30pm -5:30pm (virtual)
Thursday, September 12, 2024 10am -12pm (virtual) Thursday, October 10, 2024 3 – 5pm (In Person + Campus Tour + Studio Visit) Tuesday, November 12, 2024 10am – 12pm Thursday, November 21, 2024 10am-12pm (Virtual 1:1’s) Thursday, February 18, 2025 9:30am – 10:30am (Virtual)
Pratt’s Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment has launched four new Advanced Certificates, including a 9-credit Advanced Certificate in Sustainable Environmental Systems!
Join us for a virtual information session on September 10th, 4:30-5:30 EDT to learn more - register and find out more via the links in bio.
Integrate sustainability #science, #policy and #design into your skillset, gain new knowledge across environmental disciplines, and move your career in a new direction with this specialized and flexible degree offering!
This certificate is open to both student currently enrolled in a graduate program at Pratt, and working practitioners. Students can finish the program in a single semester, or spread their classes out.
Applications are open now for Spring or Fall 2025 semesters!
#AdvancedCertificate #Pratt #PrattInstitute #SustainableEnvironmentalSystems #sustainability #interdisciplinary #ProfessionalDevelopment #NYC #NewYork #urbanism
As we continue to experience record heat and high temperatures around the world, and heat waves threaten public health and safety across the United States, it is more important than ever that planning, preservation, placemaking, architecture, design, and sustainabilityprofessionals are able to understand the impacts of heat on people and their experience of our urban environments.
This Fall 2024, the SES program is launching *all-institute graduate elective courses* designed to help emerging sustainability professionals to engage with heat impacts and understand urban microclimates on the ground, and to make science and community informed decisions in proposing solutions to our most urgent climate crisis.
The 10-week, PLAN-801B-02 Special Topics - Microclimate Assessment for Urban Design course, taught by Dr. Yuliya Dzyuban, runs on Tuesday, 2:00-4:50pm from August 27th to November 5th.
This project-based course explores the interplay between urban planning, design, microclimate, and human health. Students learn microclimate monitoring methods, the basics of human energy balance, and techniques to estimate and visualize personal heat exposure and thermal comfort. They apply this knowledge through monitoring field work, environmental data analysis and visualization, calculation of thermal comfort indices, and preparation of planning and design recommendations to a client organization.
Register now!
Pratt Institute graduate students interested in registering for the course should email a brief statement of intent (2 sentences) to the faculty, SES Academic Director Leonel Lima Ponce (lponce@pratt.edu), and copy their Academic Advisor.
#sustainability #MicroclimateAssessment #EnvironmentalMonitoring #CommunityScience #UrbanHeat #HeatMitigation #class #GradSchool #elective #Pratt #HeatWalk #ThermalComfort #Heat #EnvironmentalJustice #UrbanDesign #practicum #ParticipatoryScience
Join SWIM Coalition, NY/NJ Harbor Estuary Program (HEP), and Pratt Institute’s Master of Science in Sustainable Environmental Systems program for our second engagement session, as we work together to understand how we interact with our waters, and how we can move toward fishable and swimmable waterways while centering accessibility and equity.
This second session will highlight ongoing water issues in and around Brooklyn and the NY-NJHarbor through discussions about water quality, habitat and ecological health, and public access and stewardship efforts.
HEP will also provide an update of the State of the Estuary Report.
We want you to share your vision, goals, concerns and challenges for our harbor estuary!
Fishable and Swimmable Brooklyn: Help Make Our Harbor Accessible & Equitable
Wednesday, June 26th, 6-8pm
Pratt Institute, Brooklyn campus
200 Willoughby Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
The event is free and open to all, and food will be served.
Registration is required (link in bio).
Join SWIM Coalition, NY/NJ Harbor Estuary Program (HEP), and Pratt Institute’s Master of Science in Sustainable Environmental Systems program for two engagement sessions this month to understand how we move toward fishable swimmable waterways while centering accessibility and equity.
The first session will highlight ongoing water issues in New York City and the Harbor through discussions in water quality, habitat and ecological health, and public access and stewardship efforts. HEP will also provide an update of the State of the Estuary Report. We want you to share your vision, goals, concerns and challenges for our harbor estuary!
Tuesday, June 18, 6-8pm: Virtual Event
Fishable and Swimmable New York City: Help Make Our Harbor Accessible & Equitable
The event is free and open to all,
RSVP required (link in bio).
Stay tuned for more information about the in person, Brooklyn-focused event!
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¡Acompáñenos! SWIM Coalition, NY/NJ Harbor Estuary Program (HEP) y el
Departamento de Maestría de Ciencias en Sistemas Ambientales Sostenibles de Pratt Institute han programado dos foros de participación este mes, acerca de cómo lograr que nuestras aguas estén suficientemente limpias para pescar y nadar, centrando la accesibilidad y la equidad.
En la primera sesione hablaremos de los problemas actuales con el agua en Nueva York, con discusiones sobre la calidad del agua, el hábitat y la salud ecológica, y los esfuerzos para mejorar el acceso público y el cuidado de estos recursos. HEP también presentará una actualización sobre el Informe sobre el Estado del Estuario. ¡Queremos saber sobre su visión, metas, preocupaciones y retos para nuestro estuario y puerto!
Martes, 18 de junio, 6-8pm: Evento virtual
Una NYC donde se pueda pescar y nadar: Ayude a crear acceso y equidad en nuestro puerto.
Evento gratuito y abierto a todo el público.
Es necesario registrarse (link en bio).
@nynjhep @swimcoalition @prattinstitute
Thank you to the MS in Sustainable Environmental Systems class of 2023-2024!
Fall 2023:
Jassi Anand
Alli DiGiacomo
Dhwani Bipinkumar Patel (not pictured)
Nia Starr (not pictured)
Spring 2024:
Ricky Bourke (not pictured)
Melissa Chow (not pictured)
Shibani Debnath
Aditi Galande
Raísa Lin Garden-Lucerna
Apurva Jhamb
Yassmin Lawzi
Bansri Makadiya
Syed Chand Nabil
Radhika Patel (not pictured)
Shruti Rathi (not pictured)
Nicole Saul Nigri (not pictured)
Omer Topaz
We look forward to seeing you walk across the stage tomorrow at @radiocitymusichall for the @prattinstitute Commencement ceremony, and to your bright careers in sustainability. Congratulations!
#PrattGrad2024 #Graduation #GradSchool #SustainableEnvironmentalSystems #SustainabilityCareers #celebration
Meet our graduating students and learn about their transdisciplinary, justice drive work during next Friday, May 9th’s #PrattShows2024 Alumni and Professionals reception!
See link in bio for more information and registration.
Pratt’s Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment invites you to our Spring 2024 Super Thursday, a presentation of the semester’s community engaged studio work from across our four degree programs.
Join us next Thursday, May 2nd, 5:30pm-8:00pm EDT.
In person:
Higgins Hall Auditorium
61 St. James Pl.
Brooklyn, NY 11238
Virtually on Zoom
Registration required! See link in bio to register.
Three studios will present this semester:
- PR-839 Heritage Documentation (introductory)
location: Flatbush Avenue / Little Caribbean
- UPM-609 Placemaking Lab (introductory)
location: Berry Open Street, Banker’s Anchor, Bedford Slip
partner: North Brooklyn Open Streets
- SES-739 Green Infrastructure (advanced)
location: Naval Cemetery Landscape and Brooklyn Greenway (Wallabout, Brooklyn)
partner: Brooklyn Greenway Initiative
#studio #StudentWork #sustainability #preservation #design #placemaking #planning #SustainableDesign #GreenInfrastructure #CommunityEngagement #praxis #ServiceLearning #StudioShare #pratt #interdisciplinary
As we near the end of the Spring semester, it’s time for students to sign up for the MS in Sustainable Environmental Systems’ hands-on, experiential Summer 2024 All-Institute Electives!
These five week, one credit courses place students in dialogue with grassroots and environmental advocates, elected officials, and practitioners in the field - through site visits, knowledge exchange, and service learning.
The SES-761B Wetland & Waterfront Planning course, taught by Carter Craft, runs on Wednesdays 5:00-7:50pm from June 26th to July 24th. Some site visits may happen at alternate times.
The course introduces students to physical planning for the waterfront and waterways, with a focus on the New York Harbor and New York New Jersey / Hudson River Estuary. Through site visits, boat tours, readings, and discussions with waterfront advocates, students develop and demonstrate an understanding of the complex environmental, economic, social, infrastructural, and political networks that dictate development of our waterfronts.
Register now!
Pratt Institute graduate students interested in registering for the course should email a brief statement of intent (2 sentences) to the faculty, SES Academic Director Leonel Lima Ponce (lponce@pratt.edu), and copy their Academic Advisor.
#sustainability #WaterfrontPlanning #NatureBasedSolutions #WaterfrontAccess #CoastalAdaptation #class #GradSchool #elective #Pratt #Waterfront #development #CoastalAdaptation #WaterQuality #BoatTour #WalkingTour #waterways
The Master of Science in Sustainable Environmental Systems (SES) is one of the nation’s most innovative, interdisciplinary, systems-based sustainability programs. The 40-credit, STEM-designated Master of Science in Sustainable Environmental Systems, offered in the evenings at Pratt’s School of Architecture on the Brooklyn campus, is designed to meet today’s increasing demand for environmental professionals. Students learn the interdisciplinary skills and systems-thinking approach needed to assess contemporary environmental issues; catalyze innovative environmental problem-solving; uphold environmental and social justice; and engage diverse stakeholders in designing and developing sustainable plans, policies, and communities. Graduates are prepared to take on a range of roles as environmental designers, policy analysts, sustainability consultants, low-impact developers, researchers, and advocates, collaborating with environmental scientists, policymakers, and communities. The SES program is unique in its combination of science, design, and policy. By uniting a foundation of theoretical and technical core courses with innovative mini-courses, the program offers a uniquely comprehensive curriculum that fosters exposure to cutting-edge practicing professionals. The program encourages students to closely examine the relationships between the environment, policy, and systems design.
About the Program
The Sustainable Environmental Systems program is unique in its emphasis on the urban environment. As integral members of the Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment (GCPE), students are exposed to land use, transportation, preservation, development, and economic planning strategies. Through this exploration, students understand the complexities of the urban context and can analyze global, federal, state, and local policies accordingly. Students learn the skills needed to build and preserve sustainable urban communities. The SES program welcomes students with a variety of undergraduate degrees, recognizing that sustainability is most effective when integrating a number of disciplines. Students entering the program with relevant professional experience, or with a Bachelor of Architecture or a BS/BE in civil engineering or environmental science, may receive up to 10 credits of advanced standing.
Professional Practice
The MS in SES is perhaps the most practice-based program in the United States. Top sustainability practitioners in the NYC region, rather than full-time academicians, teach virtually all of the courses. They are generally innovative civic, community, and government leaders who are active in promoting best practices in environmental management, policy, and design. Students learn from one another and the faculty, who serve as a diverse and powerful professional network for our students. Most of our classes meet at night to accommodate students who work full-time and those participating in internships.
The curriculum culminates with the Demonstration of Professional Competence, or Capstone, course. During this course, students complete a demonstration fulfilling an approved scope of work, showing the analytical capacities and creative skills expected of a professional in the sustainability fields. As a capstone to the program, the demonstration can involve original research, a work-related project or an extension of course-related work. Students are expected to complete distinct deliverables to a client and interact with classmates and faculty advisers to develop research that can propel them to a new career in sustainability-related fields.
Fellowships and Internships
Most students are assured a fellowship or internship with an organization, agency, or professional practice during their time in the SES program. In the past, fellows and interns have been placed with the NYC Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, Waterfront Alliance, Stormwater Infrastructure Matters (SWIM) Coalition, Resilience Education Training and Innovation (RETI) Center, New York Industrial Retention Network, New York City Environmental Justice Alliance (NYC-EJA), and Pratt Sustainability Center. Internship examples include modeling energy efficiency efforts in Bedford-Stuyvesant with the Pratt Center for Community Development, working with local businesses to develop sustainability plans, and collaborating with NYC-EJA and member organizations on advocacy for the Waterfront Justice Project.
Multidisciplinary Experience
The MS in SES program is one of four graduate-level programs in the Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment, a unique, interdisciplinary alliance with shared values of urban sustainability and community participation, defined by the “triple bottom line” of environment, equity, and economy. Each program—including City and Regional Planning, Historic Preservation, and Urban Placemaking and Management— maintains its independence, degree, and depth of study. Students can explore electives within and outside of GCPE, including in Facilities Management, Real Estate Practice, Industrial Design, and Interior Design, and have the option for extended study in GCPE beyond the 40-credit Master of Science in SES, as follows:
Courses in City and Regional Planning expose students to land use, transportation, and economic development planning strategies.
Courses in Historic Preservation allow for a focus on the “least carbon footprint” approach of preservation and reuse, and an emerging dialogue on climate heritage.
Courses in Urban Placemaking and Management develop skills in community engagement and public space design and management.
The SES program operates closely with sustainability-focused stakeholders across campus. SES administrators, faculty, and students occupy roles in Pratt’s Sustainability Coalition, Sustainability Committee, and Department Sustainability Coordinators team, and research collectives, and have formed long-lasting partnerships with the Pratt Sustainability Center and the Institute’s Facilities Office. Together, we assess campus sustainability, collaborate on institutional priorities, coordinate events such as Pratt Earth Action Week, and develop campus living laboratory projects.
Acting Academic Director
Leonel Ponce
718.399.4328 lponce@pratt.edu
Through their studies in the Sustainable Environmental Systems program, students will:
Develop the ability to assess and critically examine environmental issues related to water and air quality, solid waste management, urban energy systems, and building performance.
Demonstrate a foundational understanding of the legal, economic and regulatory framework of federal, state, and New York City environmental policy and review.
Learn stakeholder engagement and uphold social and environmental justice while demonstrating the ability to engage in collaborative, interdisciplinary, environmental problem solving.
Develop an understanding of sustainable community development.
Design sustainable environmental policies and plans with verifiable indicators and metrics.
Understand and argue the cost of environmental externalities associated with current economic policy and development.
Develop a baseline level of technical proficiency and professional communication skills: written, oral, and visual.