Tag: Medford (Page 3 of 4)

Student Research Assistant, GDAE (Medford, MA)

The research assistant will work with the Research Coordinator on updating research and basic graphic design materials for the economic and environmental education texts published by the Theory and Education department at the Global Development and Environment Institute (GDAE) at Tufts University. In addition, they will help to prepare and organize GDAE’s Social Science Library Project (a project developed in conjunction with the United Nations Decade for Education for Sustainable Development) through which educational resources are distributed to university libraries in developing countries around the world.
This is a paid position with a flexible 5-12 hours/week.

Learn more. 

Energy Festival Coordinator, Medford Office of Energy & Environment (Medford, MA)

A motivated individual is needed to help organize the City’s 6th annual Harvest Your Energy Festival. This year’s festival is scheduled for Saturday, October 3, 2015. The Energy Festival Coordinator will work with the Office’s Director to contact exhibitors, organize volunteers, maintain financial records and perform the tasks necessary to coordinate the festival. The coordinator works out of Medford’s Office of Energy & Environment and will help with general office tasks including fielding resident requests, as needed. This position is unpaid.

Application Deadline: N/A

Interested students should send a cover letter and resume to Alicia Hunt, Director of Energy and Environment, City of Medford at ahunt[at]medford.org.

Internship, Medford Energy & Environment Office (Medford, MA)

The Office of Energy and Environment in Medford has an opening for a summer intern position to assist the Medford Bicycle Advisory Commission develop a Bicycle Infrastructure Master Plan.  The Commission has been in existence for two years, and recently held a public workshop to provide direction for the Master Plan.  The intern would be expected to take the lead in converting the raw material from the workshop into a draft master plan, including:

  1. Review prior work done in the City related to bicycle infrastructure, including the raw material from the workshop
  2. Develop an outline of a master plan document, working with Commission members
  3. Perform field work to verify existing conditions, including photographs and measurements
  4. Develop draft recommendations based on meetings with Commission members, supplemented by independent research with respect to standards and common practices elsewhere.
  5. Prepare a draft master plan document, including  text and graphics, and respond to comments by the Commissioners.

Other potential tasks, if time allowed, would include developing a marketing and communications plan to bring about behavior change in regard to: cyclist behavior and compliance with rules of the road, pedestrian safety, and driver awareness of cyclists and pedestrians.

Responsibilities also include administrative office tasks in the City of Medford Office of Energy & Environment.  Summer interns expected to work a minimum of 20 hours a week, during City Hall’s open business hours (Mon, Tues, Thurs 8:30-4:30, Wed 8:30-7:30, Fri 8:30-12:30).

Possibility to continue on other projects in the Fall semester and could start part-time immediately. Position is unpaid during the summer with the potential to stay on as work-study during the school year. A good candidate is a self-starter who can work independently, use common sense and take initiative, and who has good writing skills.

Application Deadline: N/A

Interested students should send a cover letter and resume to Alicia Hunt, Director of Energy and Environment, City of Medford at ahunt[at]medford.org.

Lunch and Learn Recap: Alicia Hunt

This week’s Lunch and Learn, an initiative of the Environmental Studies Department, featured Alicia Hunt, director of Energy and the Environment for the city of Medford.  Ms. Hunt spoke to a packed room of students, professors, community members, representatives of the Tufts Institute for the Environment and the Office of Sustainability, and President Monaco himself!

aliciahuntMs. Hunt began with an overview of city demographics and background. Medford was actually the fourth English settlement in North America! Today, the city is home to 56,000 residents, but it is also 1/3 green space, including The Fells.

Medford has also long been a trendsetter in environmental and sustainability innovation. Its Go Green Medford initiative has placed the city at the vanguard nationally. In 2002, Medford switched all its traffic lights over to LED – revolutionary at the time, but now the standard of efficiency. In 2004, its city hall was the first in Massachusetts to receive the Energy Star Plaque, and in 2009 Medford built the first municipal-scale wind turbine at a school in Massachusetts. “We love to be first” with everything green, said Hunt.

In fact, Medford has gotten so good at setting the standard for sustainability that when the Department of Energy launched its Better Buildings Challenge, they specifically recruited Medford to participate,  knowing the prestige and expertise which Medford would bring to the program.

Hunt was also quick to point out how helpful the state’s grants and other incentives are in driving sustainability.

Just last year, Medford developed a local energy action plan, an updated version of its 2001 climate action plan. Other recent initiatives and accomplishments include an Idle-Free Medford education outreach campaign and participation in SolarizeMass. Tufts’s planned installation of solar panels on the roof of Dowling Hall will be part of Medford’s Solarize Medford initiative. Hunt emphasized that the work that the city had done in vetting potential solar companies and determining which would work best in the community made the process and decision immeasurably easier for residents looking into solar installations.

In addition, while Medford has long had a focus on residential sustainability, Hunt said they are adding a focus on encouraging green business practices.

Of course, we were glad to hear that Hunt and her department are always looking for Tufts students and faculty to contribute to the efforts, whether through work-study, volunteering, internships, stenciling by storm drains, investigating the feasibility of a compost program, etc. Tufts is so fortunate to be situated in such a sustainable city!

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