With projects located throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest, we are looking for undergraduate student summer interns to assist us in our research, extension and education efforts. We seek undergraduate students who are interested in pursuing higher degrees in the fields of agricultural and natural sciences, water utilization and conservation, public health, data analytics, economics, policy and law, environmental education and communications, and other related areas. A central goal of our program is to advance the participation of BIPOC (black, indigenous and people of color), women and persons with disabilities in STEM fields relevant to the food, energy, water nexus. http://
The 10-week internship will start on June 5, 2023 and end on August 11, 2023. Interns will receive a stipend of $6,000. Additional funds for expenses (e.g., travel, lodging, per diem) are not provided. We are accepting applications from now until February 10, 2023.
The following CONSERVE and DAWN positions are available (for descriptions of the labs/groups that will be hosting these positions, please check out these websites
http://conservewaterforfood.
http://conservewaterforfood.
CONSERVE Summer Internship Positions
Location: University of Maryland (College Park)
Position Description (In-person preferred): The duties of the student intern include conducting a preliminary survey to recruit participants; collecting water samples, processing water samples for chemical testing, filtering water samples, and extracting DNA (which will be used to profile the microbial communities present in the different water sources over time using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and shotgun metagenomics); entering data (water parameters, DNA concentrations, etc.), and completing preliminary data analysis.
DAWN Summer Internship Positions
Location: University of Minnesota (Twin Cities)- 2 available positions
Position 1 Description (Virtual or In-person position): The student intern will work with Dr. Kenney, the DAWN communication manager, and the extension team on impact-oriented communications. Duties will include helping to draft updates/news releases, social media posts, 2-page fact sheets, student blog posts, or other emerging communication priorities. The work requires strong written communication skills and attending multiple virtual (and potentially in-person) meetings to learn and communicate about different DAWN activities.
Position 2 Description (Virtual or In-person position): The student intern will work with Dr. Kenney and the extension team on stakeholder-engaged research. Duties will include research tasks such as helping to set up and test surveys, supporting the coordination of stakeholder interviews to solicit feedback on DAWN tools, and conducting literature reviews for Extension. The work will include attending multiple virtual (and potentially in-person) meetings with the research and extension teams as well as supporting the technical facilitation of stakeholder meetings.
Location: University of Nebraska (Lincoln)- 3 available positions
Position 1 Description (In-person preferred): The intern will assist with research data collection (soil samples, georeferenced crop scouting, tissue sampling), data processing, and visualization for the NRATE Project. The candidate will closely work with graduate students, technicians, and other interns to achieve team goals regarding data collection and analysis. Skills required are good written and oral communication and basic familiarity with data science and visualization principles. Responsibilities based on skills and desired experiences of the intern.
Position 2 Description (In-person preferred): The intern will be assisting with research data collection (soil samples, georeferenced crop scouting, tissue sampling, aerial imagery acquisition) for existing on-farm research studies (anticipate approximately 120 studies, of which nearly 50 will be related to nitrogen management). Depending on skills and background, can also assist with data processing and analysis. Contribute to extension outcomes such as: 1) Film and produce short video updates of research studies and results for web and social media use; 2) Assist in the development of articles for CropWatch and the Nebraska On-Farm Research Network newsletter to share research summaries and updates for farmer and agronomist audiences, and 3) Conduct interviews with participating farmers to use in web and social media. Co-present at field days and precision ag crop management clinics (assuming we can resume normal activities). Can adapt activities based on skills and desired experiences of the intern.
Position 3 Description (In-person preferred): The interns will interface with farmers, helping them run the DAWN DSS and the different tools while obtaining feedback useful for the project. They will follow the progress of the DAWN DSS recommendations and collect data and results. They will also help prepare a report at the end of the season.
Location: University of Illinois (Urbana Champaign)
Position Description (In-person preferred): The intern will assist the Matthews Group at UIUC with developing and applying the BioCro crop growth model to study crop development and develop decision support tools around model predictions. Prior programming experience is preferred
Location: Kalamazoo College (Kalamazoo, MI)
Position Description (Virtual or In-person position): The student intern will work with Dr. Nupur Joshi, and the extension team on stakeholder-engaged research. Duties will include research tasks such as conducting a literature review, identifying gaps in literature, helping to set up and test surveys. The work will include attending multiple virtual (and potentially in-person) meetings with the research and extension teams as well as supporting the technical facilitation of stakeholder meetings.
Location: US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service
Position Description (Virtual or In-person position): DAWN’s decision support system (DSS) team is searching for an intern to help with a variety of data analysis tasks that include GIS, data processing, and/or visualization using available software and analysis tools (e.g. R, Python, ArcGIS, MATLAB). The DSS under development within DAWN aims to compile and analyze agricultural management data reported and observed across numerous sites in Maryland and the US Midwest and use that data to diagnose and verify process-based agroecosystem models (such as the soil and water assessment tool- SWAT). We also will integrate remote sensing land use, climate forcing, and vegetation data into SWAT to perform a regional assessment of the impacts of crop management on productivity, soil health, and water quality. We are seeking interns with skills in programming and data analysis (e.g., knowledge about building or applying statistical models and remote sensing image processing).