2017 Summer Internship Position Descriptions


Ecology Group Internship Descriptions for Summer 2017

Watershed and Lake Biogeochemistry
Location: University of Vermont - 2 positions available
Faculty advisor: Andrew Schroth
Mentor: Research Technician Saul Blocher

The watershed and lake biogeochemistry group is working to understand processes that drive nutrient loading and harmful algal blooms with particular emphasis on the role of extreme weather events. Interns will help install and maintain a sensor network and auto-sampling equipment, sample water, conduct laboratory chemical analyses, manage, interpret and present data, and conduct a literature review. These positions will involve a mix of laboratory and field work in a variety of weather conditions on Lake Champlain and in streams/rivers within its watershed. Interns should be prepared for some manual labor during the installation process.

Primary mentor interacts with intern(s) on an almost daily basis, with tasks given to the intern on days when face-to-face interaction is not possible. There will be biweekly Ecology group meetings that will have a primary mentor (grad student/post doc) and/or one of the faculty advisors give a ~20 minute research talk that also illustrates how their research fits into the larger context of BREE. This will be followed by intern group updates on how they have spent the previous two weeks in their respective labs.
 

Watershed and Soil Biogeochemistry and Linkages to Water Quality
Location: St. Michael’s College – 2 positions available
Faculty advisor/mentor: Farrah Fatemi
Location: University of Vermont – 6 positions available
Faculty advisors: Julia Perdrial, Don Ross, Carol Adair
Mentor: Graduate students to be determined

Students will participate in ongoing research that focuses on the influence of soil biogeochemical processes on stream water quality. Students will work to install, monitor, and gather data from a cutting edge soil and stream sensor network in four riparian areas (two forested and two agricultural) that will monitor the resilience of water quality along the soil-to-water continuum during extreme events. There will also be targeted field campaigns to identify the key characteristics and processes that maintain water quality. For this, soil composition (e.g. total organic carbon, water extractable carbon, mineralogy, elemental composition, enzyme activity and more) and its variability across the landscape will be assessed and linked to geospatial metrics such as topography, slope, and contributing area. Students will assist with site and sensor installation, water (overland flow, soil water, groundwater) and soil sampling, laboratory biogeochemical analyses, data compilation and analysis, and presentation and interpretation of results.

Primary mentor interacts with intern(s) on an almost daily basis, with tasks given to the intern on days when face-to-face interaction is not possible. There will be biweekly Ecology group meetings that will have a primary mentor (grad student/post doc) and/or one of the faculty advisors give a ~20 minute research talk that also illustrates how their research fits into the larger context of BREE. This will be followed by intern group updates on how they have spent the previous two weeks in their respective labs.
 

Lake Hydrodynamics and Bottom Bathymetric Analysis.
Location: Middlebury College - 2 Positions Available
Intern Mentor and Faculty advisor: Tom Manley and Pat Manley

Students will participate in ongoing research in understanding the hydrodynamic and sediment processes within a eutrophic region of Lake Champlain known as St. Albans Bay. Interns will participate in 1) the design, fabrication and deployment of several subsurface moorings , 2) bottom sediment sampling and 3) and high-resolution bottom-mapping (multibeam) of St. Alban’s Bay and its surrounding region while onboard Middlebury College’s research vessel. There will up to several weeks of camping out while the ship is at distant sites away from its home port. Interns should be prepared for moving and shifting objects that weigh as much as 50 pounds. There will be a trip to Buffalo State College to recover equipment out of the Buffalo River that will be later deployed in St. Albans Bay. During this trip to the Buffalo River, a side scan survey of the river will also be completed. Up to 2 weeks of high-resolution multibeam work may also be completed in the northern part of the Main Lake. After the field program, each intern will be given a primary focus relating to either 1) post-processing and quantitative analysis of high resolution bottom bathymetry of St. Albans Bay, 2) the Main Lake and 3) processing an analysis of sediment samples. Data compilation, literature review, interpretation and final presentation of results will be part of the program. Interns can expect to work directly with the faculty mentors for approximately one half of the summer and will need to complete tasks independently for the other half.
 

Water Quality Lab
Location: St. Michael’s College – 3 positions available
Faculty advisor: Declan McCabe
Mentor: Research Technician Janel Roberge

Interns in this position help BREE researchers understand the transport of nutrients and sediment in the basin by collecting, analyzing, and evaluating water quality in the Lake Champlain Basin. The data are included in Vermont climate change models. Field work will involve regular visits to established sites where automated equipment collect stream samples. In the lab, interns will be trained in basic laboratory procedures, safety, and water quality assays. Other techniques and concepts in water quality sampling and stream ecology will also be covered. Interns will rotate performing specific lab and field tasks to ensure that they become experienced in all facets of the work. Interns will have the opportunity to assist in the training of high school students. A valid driver’s license is required as this research entails regular weekly field travel with research team. Applicants will be asked to complete St. Michael’s College driver safety training and screening in order to drive a college vehicle.

Student Learning Objectives include: 1) Conduct proper laboratory practices, including safety, water quality analyses, and QAQC protocols; 2) Perform data analysis and create a professional presentation; and 3) Become experts with the use of automated water quality sampling equipment in a field work setting.

Primary mentor interacts with intern(s) on an almost daily basis, with tasks given to the intern on days when face-to-face interaction is not possible. There will be biweekly Ecology group meetings that will have a primary mentor (grad student/post doc) and/or one of the faculty advisors give a ~20 minute research talk that also illustrates how their research fits into the larger context of BREE. This will be followed by intern group updates on how they have spent the previous two weeks in their respective labs.
 

Photochemistry of Dissolved Organic Carbon
Location: Castleton University - 1 position available
Faculty/Mentor: Andy Vermilyea

Sunlight has the potential to transform biologically unavailable organic carbon nutrients from the soil and groundwater into smaller, bioavailable forms. Both the lab and field setting will be used to help characterize the importance of the sun in transforming organic carbon nutrients from watersheds of varying landcover. Links between the photo durability of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the soil and stream will be evaluated. The student will collect samples, conduct experiments, perform analyses, and put their work into the context of the current literature.

Applicants for this position should expect to be more isolated than those applying to other positions, as routine interaction with other interns will be infrequent. The intern will interact on a regular basis with the faculty advisor at the beginning of the summer, but interactions will decrease to once per week as the intern gains confidence.
 


Social Systems Group Internship Description for Summer 2017
 

Policy & Administration for Land Use, Development & Planning in the Lake Champlain Basin
Location: University of Vermont – Two positions available
Faculty: Richard Kujawa and Richard Clark
Mentor: Graduate student to be determined
The social dimensions research group has accumulated data about policy and administration related to land use policy planning, and implementation at state and local scales and will be adding to it this year. Previous interns have analyzed some of these data to identify patterns to contribute to and complement models of policy and governance in the Lake Champlain Basin including data products about the policy arena of Act 250, Vermont’s principal land use and development law, and municipal plans and zoning ordinances. Surveys in Fall/Spring of 2017 will yield detailed polling data from municipal officials.

Two particular projects for 2017 include:

  1. Using existing data to characterize patterns in the policy and administrative decision-making contexts that influence land use change in the Lake Champlain Basin. More specifically, the project explores how Act 250 legislation and implementation governance relate to large-scale development projects proposed in the state. We have a data base of amendments to Act 250 with some preliminary coding completed, and we will extend that coding process. An additional goal will be to add a process-oriented examination of previously collected data about municipal plans and zoning ordinances, which may require additional data collection.

    We seek to understand the implications of potential amendments to Act 250 and to gain insights into local-scale planning efforts for adaptation and resilience to extreme events expressed in approved comprehensive municipal plans. We will also explore efforts by regional planning commissions to provide technical assistance for storm water management and flood resiliency.

  2. Analyzing Data from a municipal-scale survey: The survey of municipal-scale policy makers should be completed before the summer 2017 internships begin. Data from the survey can be used to examine relationships between opinions on climate change and climate change policy, and respondents’ position in the governance hierarchy. Data from individual respondents will be examined in search of patterns at the town-scale and between towns and groups of towns. A core goal would be to explore differences in understanding, sense of urgency, and policy preferences. Interns will form part of the team which will code and analyze both quantitative and qualitative data.

It is hoped that the two projects will yield a complementary skill-based and content-based experience for the interns selected. Interns will be supervised daily by the graduate student mentor with approximately weekly interactions with the faculty advisor.
 

Institutional network analysis: Governance of water quality and flood hazard mitigation in the Lake Champlain Basin
Location: University of Vermont - 2 positions available
Faculty: Chris Koliba
Mentor: Post-doc to be determined
A critical deliverable for the BREE social systems team is the development of a governance model of the Lake Champlain Basin (LCB). A large and growing body of data and analysis of LCB governance networks has been collected and undertaken. Interns will review these results and be invited to contribute to this program of study.
Interns will:

  1. Assist in the collection of institutional network data that will add to a longitudinal analysis of the region’s governance of water quality and water quantity;
  2. Work with core faculty and post-docs to engage survey respondents to ensure high response rates;
  3. Support analysis of existing network data by conducting case studies of selected “action arenas”—decision making bodies in the region responsible for making resource allocation and policy decisions. A case study template approach will be employed.
  4. Identify and secure resource allocation data from state and federal sources pertaining to storm water mitigation and agricultural nutrient management.

Interns will be encouraged to draw on the wealth of data already in place and to be collected to identify a research question of their own interest to pursue. Interns will be supervised daily by the post-doc mentor with approximately weekly interactions with the faculty advisor.
 

General Equilibrium Model
Location: University of Vermont - 1 position available
Faculty: Bill Gibson
Mentor: Graduate student to be determined

The summer intern will assist in the development of a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to be applied to the BREE project. This is a regional model based on data from social accounting matrices from IMPLAN for Vermont and New York. The intern will be responsible for writing and running programs to prepare data for the modeling effort, such as sectoral aggregation and bi-proportional adjustment (RAS). The model is then solved in the general algebraic modeling system (GAMS) and simulation results are linked to the agent-based model developed for the BREE project. No previous GAMS experience is required but the ideal candidate must be willing to learn how to prepare and run simulations in a data intensive environment. Strong Excel skills are expected and some experience with Python is also a plus.

Interns will be supervised daily by the graduate student mentor with approximately weekly interactions with the faculty advisor.
 


Integrated Assessment Model Group Internship Description for Summer 2017
 

Integrated Assessment Modeling
Location: University of Vermont – 2 to 4 positions available
Faculty advisors: Asim Zia, Donna Rizzo, Patrick Clemins
Intern Mentors: Graduate student to be determined

The Integrated Assessment Model (IAM) joins together of all of the various interdisciplinary models developed across the BREE team to explore the overarching research question of how best to manage the risk from extreme weather events in the Lake Champlain Basin. The IAM is essentially a large software project that ties together the climate downscaling, hydrology, land use transition, economic, governance network, and lake models by connecting the data as it flows from one model to the next.

Some of the skills the interns should expect to learn on this project are:

  • interdisciplinary science communication as they interact with the various teams that create the individual models that make up the IAM,
  • data analysis and integration as they strategize on how best to tie together the data that the models consume and generate and
  • software engineering and computer programming as they gain experience in the multiple programming languages used in the IAM.

In addition, the interns will practice their scientific writing skills with short daily updates of their research work and a final paper or presentation. Interest and background in Social Ecological Systems theory and resilience of such systems is desirable. Interns can expect to interact with faculty approximately weekly with day to day interaction with mentors
 

Climate Modeling and Analysis
Location: Lyndon State College - 2 positions available
Intern Mentor and Faculty advisor: Janel Hanrahan

The goal of the Climate Team is to assess how extreme weather events will change this century and the effect of local land use on climate. In order to accomplish this goal, we use the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF), a regional climate model, to simulate local climate dynamics. Broadly, interns will contribute to the deployment and evaluation of WRF over the Northeast by analyzing climate data using Matlab. Potential projects include, but are not limited to, determining the impact of model resolution, domain configuration, parameterization settings, and input data types on WRF performance, identifying potential biases introduced during preprocessing and through sub-selection of input data, and evaluating the overall ability of WRF to simulate extreme precipitation trends.

Interns should expect to interact with mentors on about a daily basis and participate in weekly Climate Team meetings where they update the team on their progress and we discuss next steps. There will be interactions with other BREE research teams to understand their climate data needs. Interns will also participate in larger Lyndon State College group research activities such as practice presentation seminars and group lunch discussions. By the end of the summer, interns will have a conceptual understanding of climate modeling, basic proficiency in climate data analysis, and improved scientific communications skills through the development of a final poster or presentation.
 

Microclimate Evaluation Research
Location: Johnson State College - 2 positions available
Intern Mentor and Faculty advisor: Tania Bacchus

Interns in this climate science team will work on the storm/exceptional events database that we have been compiling for both the St. Johnsbury and Burlington stations from the late 1800’s to present. This summer we will be focusing on evaluating winter storm data for the two stations to compliment the summer storm/exceptional events data that we compiled for both stations last summer. If time allows we may also begin to evaluate spring and fall storm data for the two stations over the past 100+ years. Interns in this group are expected to present our findings at a regional and/or national meeting of a major scientific organization.

BREE interns are expected to work as a team, and participate in all of the Johnson State College summer student research activities including the “Lab Rats” program, a bi-weekly meetings of students and mentors conducting summer research, and weekly CWDD events focused on building professional and research skills.