State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Internships: Work with NASA Scientists on Climate Change

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover. Photo: NASA
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover. Photo: NASA

An internship program at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York is offering graduate students a chance to work with NASA scientists on climate change research. The year-long program has four paid positions that will be part-time in fall and spring, to avoid conflicts with class schedules, and full-time during the summer.

The posts pay $9,750. Deadline for applications is Sept. 21; you’re encouraged to apply as soon as possible, since the process requires letters of recommendation. For information, visit the webpage for the NASA GISS Climate Change Research Initiative. You must apply through the NASA One Stop Shopping Initiative.

The initiative is a year-long opportunity for educators and graduate students to work directly with NASA scientists, lead research teams and develop Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) curriculum. Teachers also get a stipend.

During the fall and spring terms, the research team will consist of NASA principal investigators who will lead graduate level interns and high school educators in an area of research related to climate change. These sessions will require a time commitment of 10 hours per week for a period of 10 weeks.

During the summer session, the researchers will add an undergraduate intern and high school intern to the team. The graduate students will work collaboratively for 40 hours per week for a period of eight weeks to complete the research project, and create a scientific research paper, PowerPoint presentation and a scientific poster that will be presented at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the CUNY CREST Summer STEM Symposium.

The four research projects are:

  • Faint Young Sun Paradoxes and Habitable Worlds: Comparative Climatology of Early Earth and Mars, with Linda Sohl
  • Climate Change in the Hudson Estuary – Past, Present, and Future, with Dorothy Peteet
  • Urban Climate Adaptation Research: New Technologies, Materials & Thinking, with Stuart Gaffin
  • What is Past is Prologue: Climate Systems in the Present and Past for Assessing Ice Sheets and Sea Level, with Allegra Legrande

Work will be done at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, 2880 Broadway, in New York City. Applicants should reside within a 50-mile radius of the institute.

The time commitment is as follows:

Oct. 5-Dec. 11, 2015: 10 hours a week for 10 weeks.

Feb. 1-April 8, 2016: 10 hours a week for 10 weeks.

June 27-Aug. 12, 2016: 40 hours a week for 8 weeks.

Contact Matthew Pearce if you have any questions about this opportunity: matthew.d.pearce@nasa.gov
646-419-0144 (c)
212-678-6038 (o)

Science for the Planet: In these short video explainers, discover how scientists and scholars across the Columbia Climate School are working to understand the effects of climate change and help solve the crisis.
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