In his late twenties, University of Wisconsin-Madison senior Nick Brennan decided he wanted to go back to school.
Brennan felt that “mechanical engineering would be a good way for me to get a generic, versatile degree that I could take and do whatever I wanted with,” so he decided to enroll at Madison Area Technical College.
Around the same time, a friend bought a Nissan Leaf electric car. Brennan had always thought electric motors were cool but was skeptical of broad-scale EV use. However, upon diving into YouTube videos, he became “quite obsessed” with sustainable technologies, from EVs to household solar.
He decided to pursue a renewable energy certificate from MATC, eventually transferring to UW–Madison where he now studies engineering and is working toward an Engineering for Energy Sustainability Certificate.
Last year, Brennan also discovered the Office of Sustainability’s corporate sustainability internship program; he applied and was accepted for an internship with Findorff, a Madison-based commercial construction company.

The corporate sustainability internship program aims to provide Wisconsin companies access to the university’s broad talent pool while offering undergraduate and graduate students real-world sustainability experience in a corporate environment. Interns are matched with a company that aligns with their interests and skillset. They are also paired with a mentor, paid directly from host organizations, and awarded a small scholarship from the university. The internship runs during the summer, beginning with a three-day sustainability and corporate culture boot camp in early June.
“A lot of these companies have existing internship programs … [though for some] it’s their first time,” said Will Erikson, the Academic Program Manager at the Office of Sustainability who oversees the corporate internship program. “We try to dovetail and do a little matchmaking, so the intern … has been vetted and tailored to the company for their intern needs,” he said.
For Brennan, Findorff was an ideal match.
Ben Austin, the Sustainability Manager at Findorff said that in the last 18 to 24 months, he’s seen a heightened awareness around sustainability at the 135-year-old company. He chalks it up to federal legislation, increasing funding sources, and pressure on the corporate world to set carbon reduction goals in the era of climate change.
Given the changing landscape, Austin noted, “We knew there was going to be sustainability-focused work for the projects we were working on, but we didn’t know exactly what that was,” Austin said.
A key piece of Austin’s job involves accountability around sustainability efforts at the building level. That’s where Brennan came in. Brennan’s work spanned both project-level sustainability initiatives as well as broader corporate efforts, from involvement with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) projects—which required him to earn a LEED certification—to emissions benchmarking, a solar project, and an electric vehicle pilot program.
As Austin put it, Brennan’s unique background as a non-traditional student with more life experience and “brilliant, tinkering engineering brain” allowed him to approach problems in a different way and make valuable contributions.
According to Austin, because of the immense success of Brennan’s contributions, Findorff plans to hire a full-time sustainability engineer in the spring. While Findorff will not be participating in the 2025 iteration of the corporate sustainability internship program because of this new engineering role, it may participate in 2026 as its sustainability efforts grow.
The company is grateful to the program because, as Austin put it: “We all need to be thinking outside the box.”
The corporate intern program is open to all majors and offers paths to explore sustainability in a variety of avenues. This was an asset to being able to hire Brennan who, otherwise, may have funneled directly into mechanical design, rather than being exposed to sustainability applications.
“Specifically in sustainability, when the subject matter is so broad, having interdisciplinary backgrounds has really helped all of us think through these complex challenges a little differently,” Austin said.
Reflecting on his journey to leading sustainability efforts at Findorff, Austin said that “Being in a different role, having an interest, and then finding a way to align the role with that passion, is a good way to do it.”
Beyond Nuts and Bolts
Not all the corporate internships within the UW–Madison program are engineering-focused. C Motive Technologies, a Middleton-based company focused on commercializing sustainable, high-efficiency motor technology, found the ideal niche for its summer intern, Sarah Ashland, in the area of sustainability messaging.
A student of sociology and environmental studies, Ashland has always been interested in “the big questions,” she said—particularly at the intersection of climate change with how society and people work.
At this convergence sits communication and marketing around sustainability. After embarking on her first-ever market analysis, Ashland found that C Motive could improve their website to better align with its target market.

Ashland’s research included analyzing the sustainability reports from 13 top motor companies, combing through supply chain reports, comparing C Motive’s website to competitors, and exploring the industrial motor market, in order to better understand how the company could highlight its credibility.
“[The] market research that I did for months made me feel like I was a mini-expert on the topic,” the UW senior said. “I got to display that to the team, and they were all very opening and welcoming, and valued my opinion.”
Since her internship, C Motive has taken some of Ashland’s notes and implemented them onto its website.
Another summer 2024 intern, Maya Herzog, worked with Dodgeville-based clothing company, Lands’ End. A senior majoring in environmental studies and communication with a certificate in organic agriculture, Herzog studied abroad in Florence, Italy to learn about sustainable fashion.
Upon returning to the States, she knew that she wanted to further explore the field, which led her to the intern program. As Lands’ End’s first sustainability intern, her main job was creating a report for the indirect emissions of the company, better known as Scope 3 emissions. She worked with a third-party consultant to tackle such a large job, focusing especially on the “product category,” which accounted for 90% of the company’s emissions. This process involved looking at a product’s materials, like cotton, and considering how alternative sourcing and design could potentially increase the proportion of sustainable content.
“It was really cool to be at that first level where material decisions get made,” Herzog said, adding that her work “expanded their scope of what sustainability could look like for their company.”
Both Herzog and Ashland presented their internship projects at the Wisconsin Sustainable Business Council Conference (WSBC). Herzog and Ashland were able to network with other companies interested in sustainability, some of which had participated in the internship program in the past, as well as share their internship’s sustainability efforts with a broader audience.
In Search of New Interns
The corporate sustainability internship program is accepting applications through Feb. 27 for its next cohort. While applications are rolling, Erikson encourages interested students to apply as soon as possible. Now in its third year, Erikson is excited to expand the program, both on campus and amongst corporations across the state.

Many of the companies will be returning this summer, because as Erikson explained, “Sustainability work isn’t one 10 to 12-week summer internship and then you bookmark it. There will always be things companies can set out to improve upon.”
By: Miquéla Thornton