President’s Sustainability Internship Program

The first of its kind at USC, the President’s Sustainability Internship Program connects students with co-curricular learning opportunities that advance university sustainability. Beyond the deliverables that interns produce through their individual positions, the goal of this paid internship program is to build a community of students who come away better equipped to advocate for sustainability at USC and beyond.

Throughout the academic year, the full cohort of interns are brought together to build community, share knowledge across their different project teams, and gain the skills to grow as sustainability champions.

Applications for the 2024-2025 cohort of the President’s Sustainability Internship Program are now closed. Please stay tuned to the Supdate, @GreenUSC Instagram account, or the Office of Sustainability email newsletter for announcements about future internship opportunities.


Meet the 2024-2025 Cohort

Alexa Avila

Alexa Avila
Social Media Content Manager Intern

B.A. Communication, 2024
M.A. Literary Editing and Publishing, 2026


Alexa creates content and strategizes ways to grow the social media presence of the Office of Sustainability and Assignment: Earth.

Andrea Orozco

Andrea Orozco
Sustainability Hub Intern

B.A. Cinema and Media Studies, 2025

Andrea helps run the Sustainability Hub by greeting guests and educating them about sustainability at USC, as well as supporting events and programming happening in the Hub.

Ashmika Gupte

Ashmika Ajay Gupte
Facilities Dashboard Intern

M.S. Computer Science, 2025

Ashmika supports FPM by updating and maintaining energy usage dashboards.

Ava Lorelai Deakin

Ava Lorelai Deakin
Video Production Intern

B.A. Political Science, 2027

Ava creates various educational and promotional videos to increase awareness and engagement surrounding sustainability and Assignment: Earth.

Cheska Pangilinan

Cheska Pangilinan
Sustainability Hub Programming and Events Intern

B.S. Environmental Studies, Dec 2024

Cheska helps run the Sustainability Hub by greeting guests and educating them about sustainability at USC, as well as supporting events and programming happening in the Hub.

Ciara Anderson

Ciara Anderson
Sustainability Hub Programming and Events Intern

B.S. Environmental Engineering, 2025

Ciara helps run the Sustainability Hub by greeting guests and educating them about sustainability at USC, as well as supporting events and programming happening in the Hub.

Diana Amaya-Chicas

Diana Amaya-Chicas
Peace Garden Programming and Events Intern

EOTD Occupational Therapy, 2026

Diana supports the Shrine Peace Garden as it is used for education, research, and programs serving the community.

Diāna Lūcifera

Diāna Lūcifera
Peace Garden Programming and Events Intern

B.A. Gender and Sexuality

Diāna supports the Shrine Peace Garden as it is used for education, research, and programs serving the community.

Elisa Xia

Elisa Xia
Sustainability Hub Programming and Events Intern

M.S. Communication Data Science, 2025

Elisa helps run the Sustainability Hub by greeting guests and educating them about sustainability at USC, as well as supporting events and programming happening in the Hub

Emma Rohrer

Emma Rohrer
Outreach and Engagement Intern

B.S. Environmental Studies, 2025

Emma supports Office of Sustainability outreach and engagement efforts with the campus population through tabling, programming, online communication, and events.

Feiyang Wang

Feiyang Wang
Sustainability Data Analyst Intern

M.S. Computer Science, 2025

Feiyang collects and visualizes data related to our Assignment: Earth goals and creates content for our Assignment: Earth dashboard in PowerBI.

Helena Ashmore

Helena Ashmore
Sustainable Operations Intern

B.S. Environmental Studies &
B.S. Business Administration, 2025


Helena is completing an assessment of USC’s purchasing-related Scope 3 emissions and developing proposals for a related reduction goal.

Jayden Ozoemena

Jayden Ozoemena
Sustainability Hub Intern

B.A. Public Relations & Advertising, 2026

Jayden helps run the Sustainability Hub by greeting guests and educating them about sustainability at USC, as well as supporting events and programming happening in the Hub.

Jin Ma

Jin Ma
Investment Responsibility Intern

B.S. Business Administration, 2025

Jin supports USC’s Advisory Committee on Investment Responsibility (ACIR), performing research on a variety of responsible investment practices and matters relating to environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG).

Julian Cornejo

Julian Cornejo
Sustainability Hub Intern

M.A. Communication Studies

Julian helps run the Sustainability Hub by greeting guests and educating them about sustainability at USC, as well as supporting events and programming happening in the Hub.

Lucy Westlake

Lucy Westlake
Peace Garden Programming and Events Intern

B.S. Public Policy, 2026

Lucy supports the Shrine Peace Garden as it is used for education, research, and programs serving the community.

Melanie Saavedra

Melanie Saavedra
Sustainability Hub Intern

B.S. Environmental Engineering, 2027

Melanie helps run the Sustainability Hub by greeting guests and educating them about sustainability at USC, as well as supporting events and programming happening in the Hub.

Samiya Madje

Samiya Madje
Embodied Carbon Intern

B.Architecture, 2028

Samiya researches and documents USC’s historical emissions from energy consumption and construction materials that make up existing infrastructure on both the University Park and Health Sciences campuses.

Shreyanka Phaniraj

Shreyanka Phaniraj
Operations Intern

M.S. Business Analytics, 2025

Shreyanka analyzes Scope 3 emissions data for USC’s purchased goods and visualizes findings to support sustainability goals through strategic insights and mitigation strategies.

Xinyi Zhang

Xinyi Zhang
Sustainability Data Analyst Intern

M.S. Applied Data Science, Dec 2024

Feiyang collects and visualizes data related to our Assignment: Earth goals and maintains and updates all of our dashboards in PowerBI and Rshiny.