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MENV Capstone Program

Authored by Ash Lehto

At the core of the Masters of the Environment program is the Capstone Project. The MENV Capstone Project takes place over a full year and includes an additional semester of preparation. ÌýStudent teams of two to four are partnered with government entities, non-profit organizations, educational institutions, and private companies to tackle sustainability issues across a variety of sectors. Students plan their projects in the spring semester, spend at least 300 hours over the following summer completing the work of their project, and wrap up in the fall.

Photo credit: Matt CarsonÌý

This summer, student highlights included a beaver release with the Boulder Watershed Collective and traveling to Toronto, Canada to present to the leadership at Riverside Natural Foods.

Fall is the busiest time of year for our students in capstone. Second-year students are wrapping up their capstone project and presenting at two major program events, the Poster Session and Capstone Symposium. First years, meanwhile, are looking ahead to networking with next year’s capstone partners and applying for their top project choices.

Poster Session

This year’s poster session was a great success! Students took advantage of the great weather and presented outside to their peers and MENV faculty. This is always a great opportunity for first-year students to get a better idea of what the capstone projects look like before they start their own, and for second years to see what the other teams have accomplished. The event concluded with awards recognizing standout teams. The Audience Choice Award went to Frutura, and the Colorado State Forest Service and Governor’s Office team took home the Meghan McCarroll and Alice Reznickova Award. This was also the second year that Josh Radoff, the Renewable & Sustainability Energy Specialization Lead and Teaching Associate Professor, gave out special recognition awards, this year to the OneEnergy and Z2 Entertainment teams.Ìý

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Upcoming: Capstone Symposium

The Capstone Symposium is the culmination of all the students’ work over the last year. Teams present the work they completed and highlight their deliverables to an audience of peers, faculty, family, capstone partners, and members of the community.

The 2025 Capstone Symposium is coming up on Friday, October 31! To learn more about the event, or to register to attend, visit the event page here.Ìý

Interested in learning more?
Read our 2025 Annual Report or visit our capstone webpage to learn about our current partners, past projects, or how your organization can get involved.Ìý