Internship Options

Scholars may analyze data to understand past and current trends in evolution and extinction, explore multiple practices that create resilient ecosystems, better understand preservation or restoration techniques to ensure the health of all ecosystems.

Oceans, Environment, & Earth Systems - Work one-on-one with a scientist to investigate human causes and natural and environmental changes, understand, and advance knowledge of our blue planet while tackling the most pressing challenges in climate and sustainability.
Earth & Planetary Sciences - Work one-on-one with a scientist to explore the Earth and other planetary history, structure, and geological processes.
Energy - Work one-on-one with a scientist or engineer in one of the energy resources groups
Social Sciences- Work one-on-one to better understand how the behaviors and choices made by individuals and organizations affect the world’s ability to achieve sustainability goals.
Agriculture Group Internship - Engage in hands-on sustainability research at the O'Donohue Family Stanford Educational Farm, a 6-acre living lab exploring symbiosis, nutrient cycling, and the connections between food production, ecology, economics, and health.
History of Life and Biodiversity Group Internship - Work four days a week with 10+ interns exploring mass extinctions and their connections to modern environmental change.

The interns work 15-30 hours per week with a regular schedule that is determined with the supervisor. It is expected that some interns will be involved in other opportunities during the summer as well as have family vacations. Interns work during the week, Monday through Friday, between 8 am and 6 pm, and rarely on the weekends. An example schedule is Monday 10-4, Tuesday 10-4, Wednesday 10-4 and Thursday 1-4.

Interns will gather for a working group lunch on Tuesdays and Thursdays to participate in weekly sustainability and campus activities with fellow interns.

Environment interns work with one research group, and often on just one project. The projects range from soil chemistry to ocean chemistry to ocean life to terrestrial bacteria to arsenic cycling to GIS analysis, depending on the positions available. Read the blog by recent high school interns to learn about recent projects. We also have social science projects some summers, that investigate how humans interact with the environment and resources as well as projects at the campus farm where interns support about organic farming. Students are assigned to their research group, and do not have a choice of where they are assigned. Interns learn that scientific research takes a long time, with many steps and some of the work is only on a computer while other research projects are only in the laboratory. Most interns do not have the opportunity to do their own research project since they are learning and helping their supervisors.

Earth System Science Department

Oceans Department

Environmental Social Sciences Department

O'Donohue Family Stanford Education Farm

Geology interns work with one research group, and often on just one project. The project range from earthquake history using cosmogenic nuclides to seismology to preparing rocks for geochronology measurements to digitizing maps, depending on the positions available. We have projects that focus on Earth and now some on planetary science. Read the blog by recent high school interns to learn about recent projects. Mathematics, physics, and computer programming may be essential for some positions. Students will be assigned to their research group. Interns learn that scientific research takes a long time, with many steps and some of the work is only on a computer while other research projects are only in the laboratory. Most interns do not have the opportunity to do their own research project since they are learning and helping their supervisors.

This year, we are excited to welcome back the History of Life Internship in Jonathon Payne's Paleobiology Lab, where a group of 10+ interns will investigate mass extinctions and their connections to modern environmental change. Using fossil records, geological datasets, and data analysis, interns will uncover patterns in Earth’s history. As part of the program, interns will conduct original analyses to better understand the evolutionary history of ancient life, with a strong emphasis on learning how to formulate and test scientific hypotheses.

Geophysics Department

Earth and Planetary Systems Department

Interns work with one research group, and often on just one project. The projects range from battery efficiency to crude oil interfaces to AI detection for early fire detection depending on the positions available. Read the blog by recent high school interns to learn about recent projects. Students are assigned to their research group, and do not have a choice of where they are assigned. Interns learn that scientific research takes a long time, with many steps and some of the work is only on a computer while other research projects are only in the laboratory. Most interns do not have the opportunity to do their own research project since they are learning and helping their supervisors.

Energy Science & Engineering Department

Civil Environmental Engineering Department