College of Arts, Sciences and Engineering
The College is sponsoring sustainability-related summer internships for students enrolled in undergraduate programs in the College. It will provide a $1000 stipend and free campus housing for the months of June and July to selected students. (Please note that the offer of free campus housing cannot be converted into funds for off campus housing.) Interested students may apply by email, by sending a resume and letter of interest to Prof. Karen Berger <karen.berger@rochester.edu>. The letter should indicate the specific internship(s) sought and the name and contact information for one individual who could provide a reference. (You do not need to solicit letters of recommendation from them.)
Applications will close February 15th and assignments will be announced by March 5th.
Anthropology Curriculum Development
Professor Kristin Doughty (Anthropology) seeks an intern to assist with preliminary research on how communities in New York understand hydrofracking, and how they mobilize about it (whether to learn about it, resist it, or support it) using legal and non-legal institutions and strategies. Work may involve some comparative reading on land-use, energy, and community legal forums in Central Africa. Intern should have excellent reading and writing skills
Atmospheric Geochemistry Curriculum Development
This internship will focus on improving Atmospheric Geochemistry (a new course in Earth & Environmental Sciences) via the development of hands-on activities for future students of this course. The intern will work with Professor Vasilii Petrenko (EES) to research and identify promising and feasible hands-on activities, and will assemble the necessary materials, test the activities, and write detailed descriptions of the activities. To be eligible for this internship, candidates need to take Atmospheric Geochemistry this semester, need to be able to work independently and have an interest in teaching.
Environmental Humanities Curriculum Development
Professor Leila Nadir (Sustainability) is seeking a summer student intern to assist with curriculum development for Environmental Humanities courses. A sustainability intern working on this project will be expected to have excellent research and writing skills as well as experience in working in a humanities context. Areas of research include: (1) watching and summarizing a range of environmental films, ranging in media from animation to documentary to Hollywood feature films, as well as researching environmental shorts on YouTube (or other
social networking sites) that have been politically effective and disseminated widely; (2) reading and summarizing environmental justice literary works, including novels, short stories, creative nonfiction, and poetry. For both the film and literary works, the intern will compile scientific research that relates to the environmental problems in specific texts (such as supporting data regarding pollution, land grabbing, agricultural working conditions, environmental racism, food deserts, etc.).
Enzymatic Breakdown of Cellulosic Biomass for the Conversion to Biofuels
Professor David Wu (Chemical Engineering) will sponsor one intern to participate in his biofuel research. He uses a molecular biology approach to study the microbial enzyme system that breaks down recalcitrant cellulosic materials into fermentable sugars, which are in turn converted to ethanol or other biofuels through a fermentation process. The molecular biology approach will be used for engineering the microorganism for a more efficient cellulose-ethanol conversion process. The intern would need background and interest in biological science.
University Council on Sustainability
Cameron Schauf (Director of Dining and Auxiliary Services and Co-Chair of the University Council on Sustainability) seeks a summer intern to conduct research to support Council initiatives on one or more of the following topics: green building standards, waste assessment and minimization, environmental education materials for University faculty and staff, or other topics yet to be determined.
