If you are a University of Rochester student, looking for something meaningful to do this summer that will also add great experience pertaining to sustainability to your resume, you have to check these internships out. The application period listed below will likely be extended, but please get your resumes in ASAP! Here are the details:
Sustainability Research Internships
Summer 2015
The College is again 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. Randall Curren (randall.curren@rochester.edu ). The letter should indicate the specific internship(s) sought. Applications will close February 24th and assignments will be announced by the end of March.
Pat Beaumont (Director Support Operations) & Amy Kadrie (Recycling Coordinator) will sponsor an intern who would ideally engage in both sustainability research (20 hours/week) and the duties of a Facilities Sustainability Assistant (20 hours/week). The ideal candidate will have a background and interest in environmental sustainability. The person will use independent judgment to assist the Recycling Coordinator with evaluating and improving recycling and sustainability programs, as well as with the preliminary research and proposals required for the creation of new programs. Note: This position cannot be held along with any elected positions on student sustainability group executive boards, due to the confusion this creates in expectations and responsibilities. Qualifications: The intern should have a background in sustainability, strong verbal and written communication skills, and effective networking and organizational skills.
Professor Karen Berger (EES & Coordinator of College Sustainability Studies), Patricia Beaumont (Director of Support Operations), and Cam Schauf (Director of Dining and Auxiliary Services) will sponsor a summer intern to work on UR’s STARS assessment. The STARS intern will assist in gathering, organizing, and evaluating data for University of Rochester’s updated submission to STARS, the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System™ program. STARS® is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance. More information about the program can be found at stars.aashe.org. Data were gathered previously using 2011 information, and this will now be updated for Fiscal Year 2014 for submission to STARS 2.0 in Fall 2015. Qualifications: The intern will need strong verbal and written communication skills, knowledge of sustainability initiatives and programs on campus, ability to research sustainability measurements, strong organizational skills, ability to work independently and in teams, and an ability to think creatively when encountering obstacles in data collection.
Professor Kristin Doughty (Anthropology) will sponsor an intern who can help with two key tasks. First, the intern would help with the final stages of a book manuscript, entitled “Remediating Rwanda,” an anthropological analysis of law and post-genocide reconciliation in Rwanda. The book has several chapters focused on how land disputes are resolved in grassroots legal forums and through a legal aid clinic. Tasks will likely include helping with final revisions and citations of relevant literatures, reviewing copy editing, and perhaps indexing. Second, the intern would help with grant-writing for a project entitled, “Land matters: Meanings and logics of land disputes in central Africa,” including aiding with literature reviews. Overall, this is an opportunity to learn about multiple stages of publication and grant-writing. Qualifications: The intern must be detail-oriented, organized, and a clear writer. Some familiarity with anthropology, Africa, or both would be helpful.
Professor Leila Nadir (Sustainability Studies) seeks an intern in environmental arts and humanities to assist with developing two Environmental Humanities courses. Areas of research include: (1) watching and writing summaries 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) identifying scholarly and scientific articles that analyze the films from a humanities perspective or elucidate the environmental issues raised in the films; (3) reading and writing summaries of environmental justice media and 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.). Qualifications: The intern working on this project will be expected to have excellent research and writing skills as well as experience in working in a humanities research context.
Professor Cary Peppermint (Art & Art History) will sponsor an intern who can assist a new media environmental art collaborative’s ongoing creative research involving new media, design, and the environment. The ideal intern will contribute original ideas and skills toward social media and the development of ecological art works that involve digital media and design. Qualifications: The intern must have web design experience and be skilled in CSS, Word Press, HTML, Illustrator, and Photoshop.
Professor David Wu (Chemical Engineering) will sponsor an 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. Qualifications: The intern will need background and interest in biological science.