New program builds community for first-year PhD students

A First-Year PhD Community Program at the Doerr School of Sustainability connected 73 of 95 incoming doctoral students across seven departments through 12 events in 2024–25, and participants reported feeling welcome.

The Doerr School of Sustainability runs a First-Year PhD Community Program that brought incoming doctoral students together at events such as an October 2025 welcome at the O'Donohue Family Stanford Educational Farm. The program began as a pilot in spring 2023 and was fully introduced in the 2023–24 academic year. It aims to connect students across departments to broaden perspectives on sustainability challenges. Participants have formed relationships that led to new student-led groups. Key details: - 73 of 95 new PhD students participated in the program in 2024–25, representing all seven departments. - The program held 12 events during the year and invited second-year PhD students to attend as mentors. - All students who participated reported feeling welcome in a year-end survey. - Two participants later helped create the Sustainability Professionals and Researchers' Network (SPARK) to support networking among students and alumni. - Senior associate dean Scott Fendorf said the program helps students see work across different domains and expand how they approach research. Summary: The program has supported cross-disciplinary connections among new PhD cohorts and has prompted student-led networking initiatives. Undetermined at this time.