By Cari Shimkus
The Earth Institute is offering undergraduate, graduate and PhD students opportunities to intern in various departments and research centers in a variety of administration, communications and research roles. Interns work on a variety of sustainability-focused projects across the Earth Institute. These projects provide interns with hands-on workplace experience, allowing them to grow professionally while the Earth Institute centers benefit from their meaningful contributions.
All full-time Columbia and Barnard students are eligible to apply for internships. Internships are funded at a rate of $15 per hour for up to 35 hours a week. The summer internship period runs June 1 – August 31. The positions include:
- CCSI Summer 2018 General Operations Support and with Executive Training Programs on Extractive Industries and Sustainable Development, Sustainable Investments in Agriculture, and Investment Arbitration for Government Officials
- Climate Information Applications for Adaptation and Rural Development
- Ecological determinants of increasing Lyme disease risk in Staten Island, New York
- Flood Risk Mapping in Vietnam
- Identifying strategies for gender-transformative climate services
- Sabin Center Summer Internship
- Subarctic Pacific circulation during the last abrupt climate warming event
- Sustainable Peace Project
To apply:
Complete the online application available here by May 1 at 11:55pm. While you may apply for more than one position, you must submit separate applications for each. Decisions will be made shortly after the deadline.
Students who are awarded internships will be expected to participate in the Earth Institute Student Research Showcase in spring 2019.
Contact Cari Shimkus (cshimkus@ei.columbia.edu) with questions.
CCSI Summer 2018 General Operations Support and with Executive Training Programs on Extractive Industries and Sustainable Development, Sustainable Investments in Agriculture, and Investment Arbitration for Government Officials
Department: Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
Anticipated tasks: CCSI focuses on the interdisciplinary and multifaceted ways to maximize the benefits of natural resource investments while minimizing potential harms and avoiding rights abuses. We research trends and good practices, and works with governments, companies, civil society, communities, and development partners, to develop and implement approaches to ensure that countries and communities benefit from their resources.
Over the past five years, CCSI has trained over 230 policy-makers and practitioners from 61 countries on these complex challenges and solutions at annual Executive Trainings offered at Columbia University on Extractive Industries and Sustainable Development, Sustainable Investments in Agriculture, and International Arbitration for Government Officials.
The executive trainings draw from among faculty of the Earth Institute and Law School at Columbia University, as well as many external experts from around the world. By working through real case studies and with practitioners and experts in the field, participants gain practical skills and are able to apply analytical tools and frameworks to the unique contexts of sustainable investments in their countries.
For all three trainings, CCSI is seeking an intern to provide operational and administrative support during the trainings in the summer. The intern will be primarily responsible for assisting with administrative, logistical and operational aspects of all three trainings, including through communicating updates and liaising with speakers and participants, assisting with preparation and distribution of materials, organizing social outings, and maintaining the Wiki site for participants and speakers. The intern would have an opportunity to sit in during sessions of all three trainings, and work closely with CCSI staff in the management and execution of the trainings.
The intern will also provide overall operational assistance to CCSI by assisting with developing travel memos, business expense reports, grant writing and updating, and other logistical and operational aspects of CCSI. In addition, the intern may be asked to assist with editing and formatting of CCSI publications, Mailchimp mailings and updating member details, event preparation, updating and maintaining the CCSI website using Word Press platform, communications efforts, including the CCSI newsletter, and any other tasks the CCSI Director of Operations and CCSI Executive Coordinator may need assistance with.
Skills required: The ideal candidate will have some administrative experience or interest; good organizational, analytical, and project management skills; and an interest in agriculture and land, extractive industries, sustainable investment or sustainable development. Preference will be given to candidates who are available during all three trainings: Extractives training (June 4-15, 2018), Agriculture training (June 19-29, 2018) and Investment Arbitration for Government Officials (July 30-August 9, 2018). The ideal candidate will also have a strong work ethic, good attention to detail, strong communication and writing skills and work well within a team structure.
Type of student desired: Graduate
Climate Information Applications for Adaptation and Rural Development
Department: International Research Institute for Climate and Society
Anticipated tasks: Working with the Financial Instruments Sector Team (FIST) at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), the intern will support the development and implementation of innovative satellite-based index insurance technologies for climate risk management in Latin America. The intern will be instrumental in generating educational materials to support experimental research activities with dairy producers in Chile, through a project with the Chilean Agricultural Ministry. Throughout the project, the intern will also be tasked with processing participatory field research to help inform the development of a weather-index insurance product in Peru.
Skills required: The intern must be able to work independently, and have great interpersonal, written and oral communication skills. The intern should be highly organized and flexible to the needs of the team. The position requires fluency in Spanish, as well as knowledge of climate information and index insurance applications. Analytical skills on the IRI Data Library are highly recommended.
Type of student desired: Graduate
Ecological determinants of increasing Lyme disease risk in Staten Island, New York
Department: Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology
Anticipated tasks: Throughout New York state, there has been an increase in the human cases of Lyme disease associated with a range expansion of the blacklegged tick, Ixodes scapularis. During the summer field season of 2018, research will take place on Staten Island to understand the effects of host density and movement across natural and human modified landscapes on the expansion of Lyme disease. The project will include conducting tick and host (small mammal species) screening to identify Borrelia burgdorferi infection presence and mark recapture of hosts to assess movement and density on Staten Island. The work will provide insight into the human risk of Lyme disease throughout emerging areas in New York City and identify potential mechanisms of future spread. The responsibilities of the intern will include: conducting tick drag surveys, setting and checking small mammal traps, collecting blood and tissue samples from mice and assisting in collecting and entering data.
Primary duties will include handling and processing (collecting blood, tissue, and ticks) from small mammals, and drag sampling for questing ticks. Other duties include maintaining field equipment and data entry. Preference will be given to individuals with experience handling, collecting blood samples from small mammals.
Skills required: Applicants should be highly organized with clear handwriting, have a valid driver’s license and be comfortable with field work.
Type of student desired: Undergraduate, Graduate
Flood Risk Mapping in Vietnam
Department: International Research Institute for Climate and Society
Anticipated tasks: Flood mapping of Vietnam using GIS and precipitation time-series for flood events using CHIRPS, GPCP, CMAP, GPCC, and CMORPH precipitation data set from the IRI data library. The intern will be asked to organize the flood data from Vietnam based on the types of flood — flash flood, river flood, and coastal flood and analyze the relationship with precipitation data.
Skills required: GIS, MS excel, Google Earth Engine, Basic-Intermediate Statistics, Spatial data mining, use of IRI Data Library and its expert mode.
Type of student desired: Graduate
Identifying strategies for gender-transformative climate services
Department: International Research Institute for Climate and Society
Anticipated tasks: The intern will contribute to development of guidance materials on gender equality in climate-based advisories, including working paper and info notes. Specific intern tasks include i) review and analysis of peer-reviewed and grey literature related to best practices for inclusion of gender equality in monitoring and evaluation; ii) possible quantitative and/or qualitative analysis of gender and other socioeconomic data from climate services projects; and iii) contributions to writing and editing of reports and communicational materials.
Skills required:
-Proficient research skills, including familiarity with search engines and experience developing annotated bibliographies and literature reviews.
-Strong writing skills for reports and article and data synthesis.
-Knowledge of quantitative socioeconomic data analysis (proficiency in SPSS a plus).
-Ability to work independently.
Type of student desired: Graduate
Sabin Center Summer Internship
Department: Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
Anticipated tasks: The intern will primarily assist with maintaining and updating the Sabin Center’s Silencing Science Tracker, which records government attempts to restrict or prohibit scientific research, education, and discussion since the November 2016 election.
The intern will also work with Sabin Center staff on a range of other projects in the areas of climate change, energy, and environmental policy. He/she may undertake research, draft blog posts, and/or contribute to white papers.
Skills required: The internship is open to undergraduate and graduate students. Students should have strong academic qualifications and an interest in climate change policy. Experience in environmental policy, energy policy, and/or sustainable development is a plus.
Type of student desired: Undergraduate, Graduate, PhD
Subarctic Pacific circulation during the last abrupt climate warming event
Department: Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Anticipated tasks: Intern will work closely with Dr. Knudson to develop and complete a project using Nd isotopes to investigate past changes in subarctic Pacific circulation. Intern will assist in preparing deep sea core samples for Nd isotope analyses. It will involve separating microfossils (fish debris and foraminifera) from marine sediments, analyzing samples using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to look at chemical composition, and performing guided clean lab chemistry and mass spectrometry.
Skills required: No prior experience necessary, except a willingness to learn. Should be organized, neat, careful in handling small samples, and show attention to detail.
Type of student desired: Undergraduate
Sustainable Peace Project
Department: Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology
Anticipated tasks: The Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict and Complexity (AC4) at Columbia University’s The Earth Institute is seeking a graduate student intern to provide research assistance and communications support to the Sustainable Peace Project. The project aims to gain a holistic understanding of the core dynamics of sustainably peaceful societies. The intern will contribute to project objectives by providing a wide range of desk research assistance and some administrative support to the Sustainable Peace Project. Anticipated tasks include, but are not limited to, conducting literature reviews and analyzing empirical evidence related to sustainable peace; identifying funding opportunities relevant to project objectives; working with the project team on communicating and disseminating project findings and AC4’s mission to different stakeholder groups; and assisting with meeting and event planning. This is a great opportunity to learn about the work of AC4 and the Sustainable Peace Project and interface with leading scholars and practitioners in the field of peace and conflict resolution.
Skills required:
-Strong research, writing, and analytical skills.
-Attention to detail.
-Strong organizational and time management skills.
-Flexibility in adapting to the needs of a dynamic research agenda.
-Ability to work independently and as a member of a team.
-Previous experience with social science research.
-Familiarity with qualitative and quantitative research methods.
-An understanding of current issues in the field of peace and conflict resolution a plus.
Type of student desired: Graduate
