Student opportunities

Each summer, NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office, in partnership with the Chesapeake Research Consortium, offers several paid summer internships primarily geared toward current undergraduate students. Internships focus on scientific field research to resource management and policy.

The Cooperative Institute for Modeling the Earth System (CIMES) at Princeton University in collaboration with NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) is recruiting both undergraduate and graduate students for 8-10 week research internships in atmospheric, oceanic and earth system science. Awardees will work with host scientists at the NOAA/GFDL, a world-leading center of earth system modeling, research and prediction.

The Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research (CIGLR) administers an annual Great Lakes Summer Fellows Program, in partnership with the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL). This program helps place promising undergraduate (junior or senior as of Fall 2021*) and graduate students with both academic and federal research mentors. Through this program, students work on substantive research issues in the Great Lakes and undergo a career training program that equips them with the knowledge and skills to be the next generation of Great Lakes scientists. We seek to use these fellowships to increase diversity in STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering and math) and strongly encourage applications from students who identify with groups that have been traditionally underrepresented in government and academic workforces.

The fellowship program creates seven two-year positions at institutions in coral reef states and territories. Each position has its own distinct work plan, responding to specific needs for increased coral reef management capacity in each coral reef jurisdiction and provides training and professional development opportunities. Fellows will work on issues affecting U.S. coral reef ecosystems including climate change, land-based sources of pollution and fishing.

The California Sea Grant College Program offers a NOAA Marine Debris Program - California Sea Grant Extension Fellowship. The Marine Debris Extension Fellow will support the Marine Debris Program’s work in California and assist the California Ocean Protection Council with the implementation of the California Ocean Litter Strategy.

The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) places mapping trainees to participate in the Okeanos Explorer-in-Training program. This program is open to enrolled undergraduate and graduate students as well as individuals who have recently graduated from a higher education program. The Explorer-in-Training program will provide the opportunity to gain experience using an advanced multibeam bathymetric sonar mapping system, while contributing in a significant way to the Okeanos Explorer ocean exploration mission.

Sea Grant is a national network that consists of 34 university-based college programs around the U.S and the National Sea Grant Library. Sea Grant graduate opportunities provide hands-on research experiences, financial assistance, research funding, and professional development experiences in new careers.

Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science (SOARS) is an undergraduate-to-graduate bridge program designed to broaden participation in the atmospheric and related sciences. SOARS participants, called protégés, spend up to four summers doing research in atmospheric and related sciences. SOARS offers comprehensive financial support for summer research, as well as undergraduate and graduate school funding. NOAA's Climate Program Office supports protégés, and NOAA staff serve as SOARS mentors and instructors.

Contact: Laura Duggan, lallen@ucar.edu

NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) is "Where America's Climate and Weather Services Begin." NCEP is offering up to 20 paid summer internships targeted towards current 2nd and 3rd year undergraduate and enrolled graduate students to work in areas that will meet the future needs of the ever-broadening user community and address the strategic climate-water-weather issues. Each student will collaborate with one or more scientists at our five centers located in College Park, Maryland.