DRI Research Immersion Internship 2024
DRI Research Immersion Internship 2024
Internships driven by career discovery in science, technology, and entrepreneurship
Careers in science involve exploration, discovery, and continually learning new skills. This internship program is designed for students at Nevada’s state and community colleges to take the first step in their career in science.
About the Program
The Opportunity
The OpportunityScience at the Desert Research Institute offers real-world, immersive opportunities to contribute to solving the STEM problems of the future.
As you consider the direction of your career, internships are a great way to discover your strengths, interests, and get paid to learn new skills to bring to your future career.
What it Involves
The DRI Research Immersion Internship program will take place during fall semester 2024. This paid internship involves working with a team dedicated to real-world problem solving with real-world scientists. Interns must be ready to take on new challenges by learning new skills and broadening their knowledge base.
After a guided training period, interns will work closely with mentors and their team members on science, technology, and entrepreneurship-focused projects that will launch both their curiosity and their careers. Students do not have to be enrolled in a science major to apply for the program, however they must be interested in learning about complex science topics.
This program is driven by inclusive excellence, and the target audience for this program is first and second-year students in Nevada’s community and state colleges.
Eligibility
- You are curious about science, technology, engineering, or math.
- You want to take on new challenges, expand your current knowledge horizons, and work hard.
- You are dedicated to real-world problem solving with real-world scientists.
- Four project teams are accepting applications from students who have already completed high school who are currently enrolled at CSN, GBC, NSC, TMCC, and WNC.
- One project team is accepting applications to students in dual enrollment (high school with early college credits).
- All majors are welcome.
- To apply, you need to have at least two half days (4 hr blocks) or a full day (an 8 hr block) available for the internship, between Monday and Friday during fall semester 2024. Some projects require specific schedules to apply.
Commitment
This is an 8-hour per week commitment for the fall semester, up to 112 hours total. The weekly schedule will be determined by the internship mentors once students are selected.
Compensation
Students earn $13/hour for their participation in the internship. The limit of hours students can work is 112.
Deadline
Applications are due May 22, 2024.
For Current College Students
Opportunities for students enrolled at CSN, GBC, NSC, TMCC, or WNC (who have completed high school).
Current College Students: click here to apply online by May 22, 2024!
Are beaches a source of litter to Lake Tahoe?
Mentor name: Monica Arienzo, PhD 
Apply if you are interested in: Water quality, environmental stewardship, pollution reduction, and data management
About the project: Interns on this team will investigate litter on Lake Tahoe’s beaches spatially and temporally using litter collected by a robot run by ECO-CLEAN Solutions. Through the process of assisting with beach clean-ups and quantifying litter data, students will learn to develop and test a hypothesis, analyze and summarize data, and report conclusions. This research will help shed light on the composition of litter on Lake Tahoe’s beaches and litter hotspots.
Location: Reno, Nevada
Format: In-person
Dates: June 3 – August 23, 2024
Schedule and other requirements: Early mornings (5am) will be required on fieldwork days. Schedules will be determined once students are selected. To apply, you need to have at least two half days (4 hr blocks) or a full day (an 8 hr block) available for the internship, between Monday and Friday during fall semester 2024.
Climate Engine: Geospatial Data Exploration
Mentor name: Kristen O’Shea, MS 
Apply if you are interested in: Remote sensing data, climate data, environmental management, hypothesis testing, creating maps and charts, data visualization
About the project: Climate Engine is a powerful tool that brings together climate and remote sensing data, allowing users to explore questions focused on topics like land use and restoration. Interns on this team will use remote sensing (spatial data from satellites) and climate data to visualize maps, analyze time series data, export figures, and share results. Each intern will develop and “pitch” their own research question that can be answered using Climate Engine data. The group will then pick the best question to research as a group and complete the process collaboratively.
Location: Statewide
Format: Virtual (remote)
Dates: September 3 – December 13, 2024
Schedule and other requirements: Schedules will be determined once students are selected. To apply, you need to have at least two half days (4 hr blocks) or a full day (an 8 hr block) available for the internship, between Monday and Friday during fall semester 2024.
Climu: App technology for environmental stewardship
Mentor names: Sonia Nieminen and Justin Toller 
Apply if you are interested in: Environmental stewardship, beta testing of technological tools, analytics, mixed-methods evaluation
About the project: Climu is an environmental stewardship app that is currently in development at DRI. Teams of interns on this project will engage members of their communities to test the app and share feedback about its performance. Interns will then analyze qualitative and quantitative data from the beta testing process, share results, and make recommendations for the next stage of app development.
Location: Statewide
Format: Virtual (Remote)
Dates: September 3 – December 13, 2024
Schedule and other requirements: Students must be available from 1-4pm on Fridays during the fall semester for collaborative work time on the project.
Health impacts of extreme heat and wildfire smoke
Mentors: Yeongkwon Son, PhD, and Kristin VanderMolen PhD 
Apply if you are interested in: Extreme heat, wildfire smoke, community health risks, learning to conduct interviews and surveys
About the project: When heat waves and wildfire smoke occur at the same time, many households face serious challenges for managing the compound effects of both. Interns on this project will work to understand health adaptation needs in households that are vulnerable to these two risk factors. The team will use a combination of surveys and interviews with households in Reno and Sparks to inform a study that will look for ways to mitigate vulnerabilities. Interns will be trained in working with human subjects and will be doing home visits for data collection.
Location: Reno, NV
Format: In-person
Dates: July 15-November 1, 2024
Schedule and other requirements: Schedule be set based on interns’ availability. This team will meet in-person for first two weeks for training. Interns are required to have their own transportation to make home visits with study participants.
For TMCC High School Students
Opportunity for students in TMCC High school dual-enrollment program.
TMCC High School Students (dual enrollment): click here to apply online!
Is the surface of Mars shaped by ice underneath?
Mentor name: Shannon Hibbard, PhD 
Apply if you are interested in: Planetary science, landforms (geomorphology) of Mars, geospatial technologies (e.g., ArcGIS/ArcPro), hypothesis testing with technological tools
About the project: Questions about Mars’ climate history can be answered by looking at the shape of the landforms on its surface (in other words, its geomorphology). The depth of pure ice below Mars’ surface is not known, and answers to these questions are critical to discovering Mars’ climate history and for planning future human exploration. This internship team seeks to discover how small-scale ice-related morphologies on the surface of this planet vary and what their current shape can tell us about how they were formed. Interns on this team will learn to use geospatial analysis tools such as ArcPro (the next generation of ArcGIS) to test hypotheses about Mars’ surface and its history.
Location: Reno, NV
Format: In-person
Dates: September 3 – December 13, 2024
Schedule and other requirements: Students must be available from 3-6pm on Tuesdays during the fall semester for collaborative work.
Program Support
Support for this program is generously provided by the Hearst Foundations and the NIWR Network.
Contact & Deadline
Meghan Collins, M.S.
Meghan.Collins@dri.edu
Application Deadline
22 May 2024