INTERN: Non-Academic Research Internships for Graduate Students (NSF 17-091)

The USGS and the Smithsonian Institution have initiated the first in situ active aboveground and belowground warming experiment in a coastal wetland that is focused on wetland temperature responses and also examines the interaction between warming, elevated CO2, and inundation frequency on wetland resilience in the face of changes in global change drivers.

Plants and insects comprise a large portion of problematic invasive species. The success of these invasions largely depends on the outcomes of plant-insect interactions in which plants that escape herbivores may be more successful invaders, and herbivores that find adequate hosts have the opportunity to establish. This project will explore the dynamics of introduced plant or insect populations, or

Relict forests are becoming more common as as climates become hotter, drier and more saline. The first sign of threat to these forests is a chronic lack of seedling and sapling recruitment. This project will help pinpoint forests at risk to help in future management.

Work with USGS scientists to apply high performance computing principles and techniques to solve national and international earth science challenges.

Help improve models of coastal erosion and morphologic change! This project offers an opportunity to collect and process various kinds of oceanographic and morphologic data using instruments and images recorded with our beach cam and drones. Or it can be a chance to develop and test numerical models. In either case, the results will help the USGS make forecasts of coastal erosion during storms.

Want to conduct collaborative eco-geomorphic research at the forefront of climate change impacts? We have a novel landscape-scale ecosystem experiment, using two adjacent tidal rivers with a 9x difference in watershed sediment loads, to determine how sediment availability regulates the resilience or loss of tidal freshwater wetlands as the result of sea level rise and salinization.

Exploring for the critical platinum-group elements (PGEs) relies upon understanding the geophysical signature of the entire magmatic system in which they form, from bottom to top. The USGS is applying a range of geophysical techniques to investigate the internal architecture of layered mafic intrusions.

Subduction zone earthquakes, can generate ground shaking that lasts several minutes. Typical earthquake risk assessments do not account for such long-duration ground shaking. Earthquake engineers and scientists at the USGS and elsewhere are colllaborating to change this.

Molecular methods such as quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) allow scientists the ability to target specific genes allowing for a rapid, sensitive, and cost-effective way to determine the presence and relative abundance of potential pathogen genes in the environment. Although there are many benefits to qPCR such as not relying on the ability to culture fastidious microorganisms ...

Never has a tool been able to map the location and phenological status of buffelgrass, including nascent populations, on a regional scale. Developed for a specific management issue, CLaRe metrics hold promise for many natural resource applications. You will demonstrate these metrics in the context of an important management issue of your choice developed with the principal investigator.

The need for better models and more effective use of data to characterize river corridor transport processes is keenly felt, from evaluating the effectiveness of river and watershed management practices all the way to clarifying regulatory authority under the Clean Water Act.

We are looking for a student to join our multi-disciplinary and multi-institution team exploring the relationships between energy development and air quality in the southwestern U.S. This research provides an exceptional opportunity for students to explore the complexities of land use and ecosystem function, as well as experience the diverse work environments found within the federal government.