Internships

Students are encouraged to gain pre-professional experience by working as interns with resource management agencies or conservation organizations over the summer or during the school year. If you would like to sign up to receive academic credit to count as a technical elective (RNR 293, 393, or 493), you must complete an internship work plan form with your faculty advisor.

You will also need to follow internship report guidelines.

Campus Pre-Professional Experiences

If you are unable to find a paid internship, research experience, or part-time natural resources job right away, don’t give up. You can get additional experience on campus. Get to know faculty, graduate students, and staff. Go to office hours. Ask questions. Don’t be afraid to be interested and enthusiastic. If you’re intimidated by face-to-face contact with a total stranger, give them a call or send them an email first. Scan through faculty websites and talk to teaching assistants and advisors to find out who is doing the kind of work that interests you. Then talk to those professors or graduate students to find out if they could use a volunteer on their research project. Again, it gets your foot in the door and is valuable experience.

If you wish to earn academic credit for this experience, independent study (RNR 299, 399 and 499) or directed research (RNR 292, 392, or 492) units are for students working directly with university faculty either on or off campus. To enroll, fill out the independent study/directed research proposal form with your advisor for the project.

Online Resources to Find Jobs & Internships

Undergraduate Biology Research Program: This program provides paid opportunities for students to participate in self-directed biological related research in a lab with a faculty mentor. Student projects involve inquiry, design, investigation, research, scholarship, discovery, and the presentation of experimental results. Program benefits include research training and acquiring the tools needed to be successful in post-graduate studies in biology through:

A full-time summer research apprenticeship, with the option to continue in the project part-time during the academic year
Weekly professional development sessions
Presentation of experimental results at the annual research program conference
Optional field trips, community service opportunities, and social events

Undergraduate Research Opportunities Consortium: The Graduate College sponsors a consortium of eight summer undergraduate research opportunities that are collectively known as Undergraduate Research Opportunities Consortium (UROC). The application for UROC can be accessed  here  and the deadline is Feb. 1. The website offers brief descriptions of each program and eligibility criteria vary, so please read carefully. Program benefits include excellent research training and graduate school preparation through:

An intensive 10-week research experience under the guidance of a faculty mentor
Professional development and graduate admission workshops
A free professional GRE workshop and encouragement to take the GRE during UROC
Social opportunities and a support network of like-minded peers
Poster session, oral presentation, and abstract writing.
Financial support includes 6 units of research credit for summer research and a $4000 stipend.

Links to Jobs & Internship Listings