Community Engaged Internship

Undergraduate Students

Broaden participation in marine and coastal professions

Community Engaged Internship for Undergraduate Students

The Community Engaged Internship is designed for undergraduate students from underrepresented and indigenous communities. The overarching goal of this internship program is to broaden participation in marine and coastal professions by providing training and mentorship to the next generation of scientists, decision makers and citizens. The program will do so by recruiting, retaining and engaging diverse students in place-based research, extension, education and/or communication that respects and integrates local ways of knowing.

The key components of this program are listed below, and details about specific internship opportunities will vary by Sea Grant program:

On-the-ground learning experience through a 8-10-week internship over the summer months, including
completion of a project that extends the knowledge of community stakeholders to address a coastal, marine or Great Lakes issue of environmental, economic and/or social importance, and
participation in all CEI professional development and training opportunities
Mentoring by Sea Grant professionals, Sea Grant funded researchers and Knauss Fellows
Virtual professional development sessions
Peer discussions with other interns in the cohort through virtual platforms
A graduation ceremony to celebrate accomplishments, network with peers and other professionals

Download the advertisement for students (PDF)
Download FAQs for Sea Grant program hosts (PDF)
Questions about the program can be directed to seagrant.cei@gmail.com

Featured Programs

Oregon Sea Grant

Oregon Sea Grant has supported an undergraduate Summer Scholars program for 10 years, providing internships for students with community partners that include Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, Haystack Rock Awareness Program, U.S. EPA and USDA. Over the past few years, the program’s vision and mission was revised to reflect increased recruitment and retention for students from underserved or underrepresented communities. A key component of Oregon Sea Grant’s undergraduate program is dedicated and intentional mentoring provided by the internship hosts. For the summer 2020 program, 11 students were selected. Read about student’s experiences on the Oregon Sea Grant scholars’ blog.

Michigan Sea Grant

The Michigan Sea Grant Environmental Internship, which began in 2019, pairs undergraduate students with private businesses, state and federal agencies, and environmental non-profit organizations to assist with their research needs for implementing environmental stewardship in the Great Lakes. This past summer, 16 interns engaged in projects that range from ecological modeling to lab-based projects, to projects that involve fieldwork and community engagement. Through the completion of their projects, students gained valuable research, resource management and community engagement experience.

Wisconsin Sea Grant

The Wisconsin Sea Grant Summer Internship Program kicked off in the Summer of 2020 with eight undergraduate student interns. Over the course of 10 weeks, students worked on projects related to traditional knowledge, data visualization, coastal resilience, citizen science, ecology, education and outreach. Of the five available opportunities, three focused explicitly on tribal issues. Additionally, students were paired with staff for intensive learning and were exposed to interactions with other professionals. The program helped prepare undergraduate students for graduate school, as well as careers in aquatic sciences and outreach.

View Opportunities

Deadlines vary by program. Programs may have one or more openings for each opportunity. See program sites below or email contacts for more details.

Sea Grant Program	2023 Internship Opportunities	Contact
Alaska	Alaska Sea Grant Community Engaged Undergraduate Internship	dlholen@alaska.edu
Delaware	Sustainability Research Intern	athena.bi@deseu.org
Georgia	Aquarium Education Internship	kt.higgins@uga.edu
Georgia	Curriculum Alignment Intern	austin.heil@uga.edu
Hawai’i	Peter J. Rappa Resilient and Sustainable Coasts Fellowship	waltonm@hawaii.edu
Illinois-Indiana	CEI-Shedd Aquarium	ktepas@illinois.edu
	CEI-National Park Service	ktepas@illinois.edu
	CEI-Chicago Wilderness Alliance	ktepas@illinois.edu
Lake Champlain (Vermont)	Lake Champlain Sea Grant Scholars Program	kstepenu@uvm.edu
Law Center	NSGLC Community Engaged Communications Internship	tmharget@olemiss.edu
Louisiana	Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)	klea@lsu.edu
Michigan	Undergraduate Environmental Internship	msgfellowships@umich.edu
New Hampshire	Doyle Undergraduate Fellowship	NHSG.Fellowships@unh.edu
New York	Long Island Sound-New York City Fellowship	prh22@cornell.edu
	Long Island Great South Bay Fellowship	prh22@cornell.edu
	Great Lakes Phytoplankton Monitoring Fellowship	prh22@cornell.edu
	Science Art Communications Fellowship	prh22@cornell.edu
North Carolina	Climate Justice Intern	theight@coastal.edu
North Carolina	Wetlands Education Intern	theight@coastal.edu
Pennsylvania	Aqutic Invasive Species Outreach	ars26@psu.edu
	Economic Impacts	srafferty@psu.edu
	Environmental Literacy & Workforce Development	mxn14@psu.edu
South Carolina	Lowcountry Network Trawl to Trash Program	brooke.saari@scseagrant.org
South Carolina	Charleston Heat Health Research Project	amanda.guthrie@scseagrant.org
Texas	Exploring how Texas Sea Grant Connects the Coastal Sciences to Communities	Julie.Massey@ag.tamu.edu
	Texas Sea Grant and the Je’Sani Smith Foundation Work on Beach Safety and Rip Current Awareness	scarney@tamu.edu
	Share the Shore Y’all	plotkin@tamu.edu
Wisconsin	Eat Wisconsin Fish Summer Outreach Scholar	smoen@aqua.wisc.edu
Wisconsin	Eat Wisconsin Fish Summer Outreach Scholar	ehauser@uwsp.edu
Woods Hole	WHOI Sea Grant Communications Internship	poonam.narotam@whoi.edu

Meet Former Interns

“I realized I was able to weave together different relations and interests within my work to create a meaningful and impactful experience for participants of the virtual marine science programs. I hope to use this realization to constantly learn and merge fields of study!”

“This internship helped me learn the satisfaction that comes with doing restoration work and helped me realize that hard work and hope can bring a whole lot of change. In a few years, we can all come back to the restoration projects we worked on this summer and witness the fruits of our labor and I think that is amazing.”

David Martinez Vasquez Intern, Michigan Sea Grant Environmental Internship - David educated local high school students about watershed ecology, environmental justice issues, the role of green infrastructure in stormwater management, and the job skills required for green infrastructure installation and management. He also wrote a research proposal for an experiment in which 220 trees will be planted to assess which native Michigan trees are best at discouraging invasive Reed canary grass.

“I have found that how you communicate your research plays a role in its significance in the minds of different subject groups. For example, city stakeholders best understand the monetary service values of trees while local residents connect best with common comparisons.”

Ipsita TingiIntern, Georgia Sea Grant Public Programs Internship - Ipsita helped develop, teach, coordinate, market and evaluate virtual marine science programs for UGA Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant. She incorporated art, botany, music, and hands-on experiences into the programs.

Grace Maves Intern, Michigan Sea Grant Environmental Internship - Grace collected data on trees planted by a Detroit-based non-profit in order to document the benefits of their tree planting efforts. Her work focused on the tie between human needs and the natural environment.

Community Engaged Internship Program

Community-Engaged Interns Serve Across the State

By: Carrie Clower. Each summer, North Carolina Sea Grant offers undergraduate students opportunities to join experts across the state to explore issues affecting local communities.

“As part of National Sea Grant’s Community-Engaged Internship program, they gain hands-on experience with coastal, marine, or Great Lakes issues of environmental, economic, and or social importance,” explains Jane Harrison, NC Sea Grant’s coastal economics specialist.

Connecting STEM to Student Roots: USC Sea Grant Intern Aids in Beach Cleanup Efforts

Daniela Loera, USC Sea Grant’s 2021 Community Engaged Intern, recently completed the summer internship with an emphasis on informing policy and engaging communities about their influence on beaches through beach cleanups.

Kodiak local gets research experience through new internship

This summer, Alaska Sea Grant selected and matched four interns with organizations and projects across the state. Cairone Reft is a CEI intern who has been working with Kodiak Marine Advisory Program agent Julie Matweyou. A Kodiak resident, Reft is a member of the Alutiiq Tribe of Old Harbor and is studying marine biology at Nova Southeastern University in Florida.

Community Engaged Internship