Redefining Sustainability on a Health Sciences Campus

For many students, the path through health sciences is a straight line toward patient care or research. But for Cole Becker, a second-year student at the University of Minnesota Rochester (UMR), that path took a detour.

 “I’m currently at a fork in my career," Becker explained. “I realized there are more ways to help people beyond medical research.” Originally eyeing an M.D.-Ph.D. track his gaze shifted toward public health after becoming involved in a few on-campus and internship experiences while taking general curriculum courses in sociology and public health. “These courses inspired me to look at different career prospects that still allow me to help people, but in a different way other than medical research.”

What started as a volunteer position in his first year at the Institute on the Environment on the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus, helping plan the annual Sustainability Symposium, has transformed into a sustainability internship on UMR’s campus that began in summer 2025. 

In this position, Becker is determined to prove that sustainability is about more than just recycling; it’s also a vital part of our campus, community and the health care industry. “A lot of times when people hear the word sustainability, they think about climate action, conservation, of plants, animals and water,” Becker said. “But it goes much further than that.” 

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals include quality education, no poverty, zero hunger and good health and well-being. These are all topics relevant to current university students and future health care professionals, which is why Becker has worked to incorporate a wide range of these topics into programming.

Becker helped create and distribute a student survey that guided the events he planned throughout the academic year. These events included lunch and learns with local professionals, tabling events about awareness and career opportunities and more. Through these efforts, he discovered that students care about sustainability and have an interest in taking more courses that center on this topic. “There is a target audience here, we just have to provide programming that reaches them,” Becker shared.

One of the largest projects Becker has taken on began last summer with the idea of creating a gear library — a campus resource where students can check out outdoor equipment such as tents, sleeping bags and backpacks, at no cost. “Our goal is to reduce the number of barriers for students accessing the outdoors,” Becker said. 

Becker also has visions of a campus-wide composting program to tackle food waste and implementing a sustainability literacy assessment to ensure every UMR graduate understands the intersection of climate change and health care. 

“UMR is a relatively new campus compared to the other UMN campuses, which means we’re doing everything from scratch,” he noted. “That uniquely poises us to tackle the challenges in sustainability that are facing health care. As we create the new face of health care with each class that leaves UMR, I hope we give them the skills to tackle sustainability and be advocates for change and progress.”

When he’s not organizing on-campus events, Becker often leads fellow students on hiking trips as the founder and president of Raptor Trails, UMR’s hiking club. The club was founded by Becker and friends after a trip to White Water State Park during their first few weeks on campus. They found that the event wasn’t equitable to all, whether due to transportation barriers or physical challenges in navigating unfamiliar spaces. 

“Our core goal is to reduce inequality and provide easier access to the outdoors for every student,” he says. Through the club, students can access carpooling via University vehicles and water and snacks for the trail. Raptor Trails also focuses on conservation and volunteering around the Rochester area. 

Becker, along with his peer Shruthi Pragalsingh, was recently awarded the Institute of Environment Impact Award at the Sustainability Symposium, a recognition and $1,000 grant that honors a student group or individual making sustainability contributions across the University of Minnesota system.

His efforts were also recognized at the 2026 Beaker Awards, UMR’s annual event honoring those who have truly embodied UMR’s Student Learning and Development Outcomes over the past year. Becker received the Student Leader Award, which recognizes a student who shows exceptional leadership, initiative and active involvement on campus. 

Whether he’s organizing sustainability initiatives, leading students on hiking trips or advocating for change on campus, Becker’s focus remains rooted in improving the well-being of others. For him, sustainability is not separate from medicine; it is an essential part of creating healthier communities and a healthier future.

“We’re very uniquely situated to achieve our sustainability goals, especially with how passionate our students are, how passionate our faculty and admin are and how interconnected we are,” shared Becker. “I’m very hopeful about the future of sustainability at UMR.”