Ramanathan Million Climate Champions Fellowship

MCC fellows will primarily develop and implement climate action projects that are community-integrated and community-serving. Participants will ideally conduct these projects in their local campus-based or even cross-campus teams. Participants will receive cohort enrichment via year-round climate resilience skill-building activities from Fall through Spring of each academic year, with Fall-Spring 2026-27 as the inaugural year. These enrichment activities include -   A. Year-long mentorship from our Eco-Resilience Initiative faculty, staff, and broader set of affiliated community leaders, with monthly virtual community gatherings of all student fellows and mentors.B. Skill building in compassionate leadership development and changemaking. This includes:(1) Practicing skillful climate conversations and learning communication techniques that bring people together, promote behavior change, and pro-social climate action.  (2) Learning contemplative self-care approaches, building inner resilience skills, and understanding the key link between personal resilience and outer societal transformation when working for systems change and planetary sustainability. C. Training and collaboration on system-wide and community-based climate action initiatives. This includes: (1) Human-centered design training to effectively embed fellowship projects in community service(2) Climate resilience outreach and communications within and beyond the university eco-system(3) Serving as liaisons between students, faculty, and campus departments on climate action initiatives(4) Collaboration with Student Affairs, academic departments, and the respective campus sustainability offices.

Up to 40 students will be selected to participate in each annual RMCC cohort.

At the university campuses affiliated with our Eco-Resilience Initiative, any student (undergraduate or graduate-level) with a passion and commitment to year-long climate action is welcome to apply. Students who have completed the UC Eco Resilience Initiative’s Climate Resilience Course and have engaged in its required capstone collective climate action project, and are looking to scale these projects, are highly encouraged to apply.

Fellows will engage in their climate action project and related enrichment activities over one academic year. Fall through Spring 2026-27 is our inaugural cohort year. Students will be permitted to apply for a second year of the fellowship with justification. Students will be expected to build a strong community-serving project that they will present at the Million Climate Champions Annual Showcase at the end of the academic year (early June). The showcase will be held virtually to accommodate participation from students, mentors, and community members from diverse geographic locations.

Projects will range based on individual fellows' climate action skills, motivations, and goals. All projects must be community-integrated and community-serving as we envision program participants to be inspiring climate & community stewards. Student projects that are aimed at strengthening and scaling ongoing local climate action either within their campus ecosystem or system-wide will be given high preference and support. To realize high impact, participants will be encouraged to work collectively in local and/or cross-campus teams.

Each student will receive structured mentorship and training in community-integrated climate action and leadership from the program leadership, from their project-specific mentors on each campus, as well as from community leaders. Students will be awarded a $1000 stipend in support of climate project costs as part of this fellowship and will also receive formal certification upon program completion from our Eco-Resilience Initiative.

Any undergraduate or graduate student at one of our Eco-Resilience Initiative affiliated universities with a passion for resilient climate action and a desire to learn compassionate leadership is eligible to apply for the program. The application requires you to submit a 1-page resume, a 1-page write-up of your climate action project interests, and a 2-minute video pitch of why you see yourself fit for this prestigious program. The application deadline is October 31st, 2026, 11:59 PM PST.Apply TodayProgram applicants will be selected, announced by email, and named here by early November. The selection process will be facilitated by the UCERI leadership, and program administration will be managed by the Department of Psychiatry at the UC San Diego School of Medicine.

The Bonnie Reiss Climate Action Fellowship funds student-generated projects that support the UC system’s climate action goals, specifically implemented within each UC campus. Our MCC program is geared towards climate action projects that are community-integrated, wherein the community may be defined as within the local university campus, and/or systemwide collaboration across multiple campuses, and/or collaboration between the student fellow(s) and the broader local/state/national/global community.