Who We Are
The Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission (NIRPC) is the council of government and metropolitan planning organization for Northwest Indiana, the region incorporating Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties. In addition to these 3 counties, NIRPC serves and is governed by elected officials from 11 cities, 27 towns and two townships. 2022 marks year two of our involvement with the Indiana Sustainability Development Program as an IU Resilience Cohort.
Summer 2022 Indiana Climate Fellow Position Summary
Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission (NIRPC) seeks a highly motivated student to assist with the development of a Regional Climate Action Plan framework as an intern. The completed plan will provide NIRPC regional emission reduction goals that will become the basis of a regional transportation source climate action plan to be incorporated into future long-range policies for local communities that have been evaluated for regional emission profiles, community characteristics, economic and environmental justice impacts.
The intern will work directly with the natural resource planner in the Environmental Department at IUN and with NIRPC planners specializing in transportation, land use, data and spatial analysis. The successful candidate will receive on-the-job training from ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, on how to analyze the results of a greenhouse gas emissions inventory using ClearPath cloud-based inventory software, develop0 strategies to reduce emissions and coordinate the regional climate action planning process. The intern will also develop technical and project management sills beneficial to a career in local government, climate science, policy, environmental management and related fields while building presentation skills an developing professional relationships with key stakeholders in Northwest Indiana..
The mission of NIRPC is to provide a forum that enables the three-quarters of a million residents of Northwest Indiana to improve their quality of life by addressing regional issues relating to transportation, the environment and economic development. Integration of these focus areas is essential to the future sustainability of the region.
Responsibilities
- Utilize Microsoft Excel and ClearPath to execute moderately complex data analysis to develop regional GHG emission reduction goals.
- Synthesize analysis of 18 local government GHSG emission inventories with demographic and community characteristics to create several CAP profiles tailored to maximize reduction of Northwest Indiana’s emission sources.
- Create strategy “menus” that provide actionable policies, programs or strategies suitable to various community profiles along with environmental justice and economic impacts.
- Identify transportation emission reduction strategies that NIRPC could implement through its role as the Metropolitan Planning Organization.
- Support quantification of the carbon sequestration potential on regional ecosystem restoration and green infrastructure investments.
- Support and present results to the regional CAP stakeholder advisory task force, other NIRPC committees, stakeholders or public groups.
- Assist in drafting an designing plan documents and public information materials.
- Participate in regular Resilience Cohort webinars and conference calls..
- Attend the Climate Fellows virtual bootcamp training hosted by the Environmental Resilience Institute, May 16-20, 2022.
- Attend weekly virtual “lunch and learn” sessions
- Submit weekly reports on Canvas over the course of the internship.
Qualifications
- Prior quantitative coursework or research experience, preferably in a discipline applied to sustainability such as environmental science, engineering, chemistry, environmental economics or a related field.
- Experience manipulating data using spreadsheets
- Experience summarizing research in reports and presentations
- Ability to follow detailed and technical instructions
- Enthusiastic about greenhouse gas management and climate planning
- Exemplary verbal and written communication
- Self-motivated, proactive, and flexible with careful attention to detail
- Ability to prioritize and manage multiple ongoing tasks
- Equity mindset and an understanding of diversity, equity and inclusion as relates to climate
Preferred Skills
- Strong quantitative and statistical analysis
- Experience designing attractive documents and materials that convey complex information to the public
Application Process
Applicants should submit a cover letter and résumé to (need environmental resilience institute’s website URL.) If you have questions about the program or any of the positions available, email Steve Chybowski, Resilience Cohort Coordinator at: schybows@iu.edu. The application deadline is February 14, 2022.
Compensation
Compensation will be a scholarship awarded by the Indiana Sustainability Development Program. The Climate Fellow (intern) will work full-time for 10 weeks beginning on May 16, 2022.