It was an elective class in third grade at his Bronx, New York, elementary school P.S. 121 that first sparked Christian Velez’s interest in science.
“It was only on Wednesdays and Fridays, for one period,” recalled Velez. “I just remember loving that class, and how cool it was to learn about how plants, animals and all these other natural processes work.”
Today, Velez is a student in the Columbia University School of Professional Studies (SPS) M.S. in Sustainability Management program, where he is hoping to receive a thorough grounding in environmental policy that combines his interest in science with making societal change on behalf of conservation efforts. He is also one of eight students to receive this year’s Columbia SPS CUNY Fellowship. It was launched in early 2024 to provide high-achieving recent City University of New York (CUNY) bachelor’s or master’s degree recipients with full-tuition scholarships for six semesters in any one of the School’s graduate programs.
By the time Velez was ready to begin the harrowing process of applying to public high school in New York City, he had set his sights on a school that would allow him to deepen his studies in the sciences. He was accepted into Pelham Lab High School, one of only a small handful of science-focused high schools in the Bronx, and from which he graduated as valedictorian.
He then enrolled at the City University of New York under the Macaulay Honors College on a full-ride merit-based scholarship, an experience he called a “game-changer.”
“It allowed me to experiment with many different courses I wouldn’t have traditionally taken had a financial barrier been looming over me,” Velez said. “Macaulay helped reduce a lot of the stress and anxiety I faced going into college by fostering a supportive academic community of people who encouraged and challenged us to become the best versions of ourselves.”
He also found himself surrounded by other students who were ambitious, but determined, he said, “to redirect that success into making a positive impact on people’s lives and critically questioning the broken systems that exist within our society.”
Though he was drawn to biology and the life sciences, he quickly became unsure of what, exactly, he wanted to study, and to what end. That all changed during his sophomore year when he took a class on environmental politics.
“That’s when the light bulb went off,” Velez said. “I was like, wait a minute, I can use my enjoyment of government and policy along with environmental science to work in the sphere of government aimed at protecting the environment. That to me was a really big shift. I realized I didn’t necessarily need to go into an applied STEM field to have an impact and engage with science.”
He applied to and was accepted into CUNY’s Honors Program in Legal Studies, and eventually graduated from CUNY with dual degrees in political science and science learning and public engagement; he was also selected for the Climate Policy Fellows Program at CUNY’s Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership. Additionally, Velez has completed internships with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and a woodland ecology research mentorship at Wave Hill, a 28-acre public garden in the Bronx. He currently works as a research intern at the American Museum of Natural History.
Can you tell us more about your internship experiences?
At the NRDC I got to research human health and environmental pollution in India. My papers specifically centered around greenhouse gas reduction and recycling frameworks for old soon-to-be-decommissioned refrigerant cooling systems containing potent aerosols.
As part of a graduation requirement for my undergraduate major in science learning and public engagement, I worked at the American Museum of Natural History as an intern for the Museum Explorer Education Program, where I walked around the halls of the museum and talked to people about science. About a month after finishing the internship, my former manager reached out to me and asked if I wanted to work with the education and evaluation team on a Serendipity Study, which the museum had just received a National Science Foundation grant for. The research is looking at how people experience museum settings and take meaningful surprising moments away from their visits that they can apply into their regular life, changing behaviors.
During my internship at Wave Hill, I helped a CUNY undergraduate student do research on the urban heat island effect in Seton Falls Park, which is a park in the Bronx. We measured temperatures at the park to see how ambient heat varied from the center of the park, relative to communities five blocks away. The science was really interesting to me and made me consider the implications of policy when trying to push for tangible change.
What are you hoping to gain from the Sustainability Management program at Columbia SPS?
I want to use my education to work in conservation spaces. My goal is to learn more about environmental policy and how to create mechanisms for nonprofits or governmental organizations to improve sustainability and maintain natural environments. I am approaching my studies through a cross-disciplinary lens, and am especially interested in learning how to quantify the value of the environment. For example, how to do a cost-benefit analysis of land so I can demonstrate the value that protecting a habitat can offer local communities and industry, which incentivizes people to preserve those areas.
I may take a short break before applying to law school after my master's. I want to get a feel for what it's like to work in the policy sector first, as having that background would give me meaningful insight to where environmental policy often fails, and how the law could be used to remediate those problems. I want to work in the conservation space and apply the knowledge I gain from the Sustainability Management program to try and make meaningful changes in the way we address conservation and issues like global warming.
Why are you so drawn to conservation and environmental policy?
At its core, the conservation space makes the most sense to me because it combines my passion for government and policy with science. On a more meta level, conservation is personally important to me given all the ways our planet's natural processes have been changing due to human intervention. Our current lifestyles are simply not sustainable, and much of this burden will be felt not only by the other organisms we share our planet with, but by future generations of people who will inherit a world that’s a husk of what we experienced it as.
Working in conservation presents an opportunity to advocate for change that mitigates environmental harm, while getting people interested and excited about science. If you want people to care about the environment, or even environmental regulations and policy, you have to explain solutions in a way that makes it accessible and meaningful to them. I believe that everyone cares about the environment to some degree, some just need a little spark of curiosity to light up brand new perspectives and mobilize.
About the CUNY Fellowship
Columbia University School of Professional Studies (SPS) launched a fellowship program, the Columbia SPS CUNY Fellowship, in the 2024–25 school year. Building on the success of the Columbia HBCU Fellowship, this program at SPS aims to provide high-achieving recent CUNY graduates access to Columbia’s vast academic, professional, and community resources. Learn more here.
About the Program
Columbia University’s M.S. in Sustainability Management program, offered by the School of Professional Studies in partnership with the Climate School, equips students with the policy, management, and analytical tools needed to address complex sustainability challenges across the public and private sectors.
Designed for both emerging and experienced professionals, the interdisciplinary program combines academic expertise with practical applications in areas including sustainability strategy, environmental policy, economics, and organizational management.
With full-time and part-time study options, students can tailor their education to their professional goals while learning from Columbia faculty, industry practitioners, and a diverse community of peers.
Learn more about the M.S. in Sustainability Management program.
