Environmental summer internships available

The University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Pacific Internship Programs for Exploring Science (PIPES) is currently conducting open recruitment for its 2010 summer program. Undergraduate students of Native Hawaiian ancestry, other kamaʻaina, underrepresented minorities, and first-generation college students are eligible for paid summer environmental internships statewide.

PIPES encompasses a wide variety of programs including the University of Hawaiʻi Hawaiian Internship Program (UH-HIP), the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU), and the Micronesian and American Samoa Student Internship Program (MASSIP). Each program targets a broad range of students from different majors with a common interest in tropical conservation sciences, natural and cultural resource management, and environmental education and outreach to create a passionate and focused group of student interns.

The summer program begins in June with a four-day intern orientation at UH Hilo. Students will then report to their host agency site to work side-by-side on a mentored project, and later attend the Hawaiʻi Conservation Conference on Oʻahu to hear presentations and network with researchers, land managers, and other Hawaiʻi-based conservation and environmental professionals. The summer concludes with a student symposium where interns present their research and summer work to their peers, the UH Hilo community, and other host mentors.

PIPES was established in 1996 through partnerships between UH Hilo and federal and state agencies to increase local representation in Hawaiʻi’s conservation workforce. Program efforts are supported by the USGS Biological Resources Division Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center (PIERC), USDA Forest Service Institute for Pacific Islands Forestry (IPIF), US Fish & Wildlife Service, Kamehameha Schools – Aina Ulu Program, UH Hilo’s Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resources Center, Alu Like Inc., the National Science Foundation, and the numerous agencies and researchers that host and support interns each year.

Since its founding, PIPES programs have connected more than 260 undergraduate students to rich and meaningful summer internship experiences throughout Hawaiʻi and the Pacific. Previous interns have gone on to pursue graduate degrees and become increasingly influential professionals in Hawaiʻi’s conservation and resource management communities.

Online applications are now being accepted via the PIPES website, http://www.uhh.hawaii.edu/uhintern/ and are due by Friday, February 12, 2010. For more information, please contact Ulu Ching at moanac@hawaii.edu or Noelani Puniwai at npuniwai@hawaii.edu or call (808) 933-0705.