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Paid Internships in GIS and Remote Sensing 

Paid internship opportunities to collaborate with Dr. Brian Needelman (UMD Environmental Science and Technology) and Dr. Steven Mirsky (USDA-ARS Sustainable Agricultural Systems Laboratory. Duties will include GIS and/or remote sensing applications for use in agricultural systems both locally and nationwide. Depending on student skills and interests, tasks may include: 
 
Data collection and organization 
  • Geocoding existing datasets
  • Creating workflows for future datasets to include native geocoding 
Data acquisition 
  • Acquiring remote imagery from public APIs and open data warehouses 
  • Assessing the value of private/commercial APIs and data warehouses for our work 
  • Acquiring other spatial data: soil properties, weather, crop layers 
Data processing and analysis 
  • Ingesting and processing remote sensor data 
  • Joining geocoded datasets with imagery 
  • Manipulating imagery (e.g. reorienting rasters, calculating spectral indices) 
  • onverting processed rasters to tabular format for other analysts and vice versa 
Team collaboration 
  • Working with statisticians, data scientists, and machine learning experts to bring spatial context to their analyses 
  • Working with field technicians to implement protocols for collecting spatial data 
  • Delivering processed data in common formats to our team and via public APIs
Technology assessment 
  • Testing and evaluating spatial tools and software platforms to decide if they are useful for our organization 
  • Training analytical and technical staff on adopted technologies 
Qualified applicants will have proficiency in some of the following: 
  • Python, R, JavaScript 
  • Cloud computing 
  • ArcGIS, QGIS 
  • Leaflet, Mapbox 
  • SSURGO/Web Soil Survey 
Students will spend part of their time at the USDA-ARS Sustainable Agricultural Systems Laboratory in Beltsville, MD. Internships may be full or part time with flexible hours; we have openings both during the summer and fall semesters. To apply, please send your resume and unofficial transcripts to Ruth.mangum@ars.usda.gov.