The Yale School of the Environment welcomed the 2024-2025 incoming class of 147 students who are focusing on a range of issues from the circular economy to regenerative agriculture to environmental justice.
After spending the summer researching superfund sites as part of an internship program at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Davis Recht '26 MEM is looking forward to beginning classes at the Yale School of Environment in New Haven.
"I'm thrilled to become part of a community committed to sustainable solutions across various fields," Recht said. "This degree is an exciting chance for me to delve deeper into my passion for water justice while also exploring interests like green financing. My undergraduate studies provided a solid foundation in environmental topics, but I'm eager to fully immerse myself and drive the meaningful change I aspire to see in the world."
Recht is one of the 147 incoming master's students making up the class of 2024-2025. The students began their semester at MODs — summer orientation programs that provide students with opportunities to get to know each other and gain experience in collecting, analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing data.
“Getting to know our incoming students, learning about their interests, and all the ways they hope to make an impact is incredibly motivating and inspiring,” said Indy Burke, the Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. Dean. “Their experiences, perspectives, and accomplishments greatly inform and enrich our YSE community.”
This year, MODs included a "Self-to-System" program in which students explored their motivations and lived experiences. During the program, the students also either attended a "Science-to-Solutions" component in which they learned about some of the environmental problems facing New Haven from the perspective of urban environmental management or a segment at Yale-Myers Forest focused on the basics of ecosystem management, systems measurements, and analysis techniques.
“Although I have a great interest in field naturalism and wildlife ecology, this was the first time I was put into the field to measure things such as forest biomass and basal area for practical use cases,” Rahul Shah ’26 MEM said. “We learned the basics of various forest management techniques, while putting them in the wider context of ecosystem management for forest resources, wildlife, and even recreation.”
At YSE, Shah, who is originally from South Africa and Kenya, will concentrate on the business of food systems, soil restoration, and regenerative agriculture for climate services.
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The incoming class is composed of students from 23 countries and 31 U.S. states and territories. International students comprise 35% of the class, and almost 20% of domestic students enrolled identify as people of color. Students range in age from 19-45, with an average age of 26. The class has an average of 3-4 years of work experience.
Nearly a third of the class, 106 out of the 147 students, will be part of the Master of Environmental Management program, while 24 students will pursue degrees in the research-oriented Master of Environmental Science program. Thirteen students are enrolled in the Master of Forestry program, and four incoming students are pursuing Master of Forest Science degrees.
Maya Caine ’26 MEM, who spent two years at Nike and four years running her own circular design consultancy, will study industrial ecology at YSE. She has helped set new standards for textile waste reduction, led a textile waste mapping initiative, and developed strategies to combat waste colonialism in the Global South.
"I'm so excited to immerse myself into the science behind the circular economy and continue to obsess about nature-based design," she said.
At Summer Orientation Modules, or MODS as they are known, incoming students start to build a sense of community and gain knowledge and fundamental skills that help them succeed in their master’s programs.
In the New Haven MOD, students explore environmental problems facing the city (and many other urban areas) and look at tools for analyzing and managing those problems.
In the Yale-Meyers Forest MOD, students focus on learning the basics of ecosystem management, including the collection and analysis of quantitative evidence (data).
