summer student internship at Los Alamos National Laboratory

Internship opportunity for a summer student through the MSI Partnership Program to contribute to a project on understanding river delta morphologies across latitudes. Project description and program details are below. Contact Anastasia Piliouras (apiliouras@lanl.gov) for questions about this position.

Full position description, eligibility information, and application details can be found here: 

https://www.zintellect.com/Opportunity/Details/DOE-MSIPP-21-9-LANL

Minority Serving Institutions Partnership Program

The Minority Serving Institutions Partnership Program (MSIPP) Internships is a new program to promote the education and development of the next generation workforce in critical science, engineering, technology, and math (STEM) related disciplines that complement current and future missions of DOE national laboratories.  The MSIPP Internship program is designed to provide an enhanced training environment for next generation scientists and engineers by exposing them to research challenges unique to our industry. 

MSIPP Interns will be given the opportunity to complete Summer Internships aligned with ongoing U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM) research under the direction of a host national laboratory.  The internship will be performed at the host national laboratory, utilizing their facilities and equipment under the guidance of a research staff member.

Minority Serving Institutions are institutions of higher education enrolling populations with significant percentages of undergraduate minority students. Click here to verify that you are enrolled at a current MSI.

Project description

River deltas are critically important landscapes that host vibrant ecosystems and connect the continents to the ocean. We seek to understand how the structure and function of river deltas varies across latitudes by comparing Arctic and non-Arctic delta morphologies. You will participate in ongoing research working to quantify delta morphologies by identifying, collecting, and classifying remotely sensed multispectral imagery of non-Arctic deltas to compare with existing classifications of Arctic deltas. You will create and analyze binary masks of delta islands and channels for further analysis. Finally, you will collaborate to compare morphometrics across deltas and across latitudes to determine whether non-Arctic deltas are fundamentally different from Arctic systems. You will gain hands-on experience with multispectral imagery classification, python, and geospatial software and will help advance our understanding of river delta dynamics.

Eligible applicants must:

• Be a citizen of the United States,
• Be at least 18 years of age,
• Currently enrolled as a full-time undergraduate or graduate student at or recently graduated from an accredited Minority Serving Institution, https://orise.orau.gov/msipp/documents/approved-msi-school-list.pdf,
• Working toward a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) degree,
• Have an undergraduate or graduate cumulative minimum Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, and
• Pass a drug test upon selection to participate in the MSIPP *The process and timing for drug testing varies from lab to lab.Use of Marijuana/Cannabis or its derivatives if prescribed is legal in some states. However, having these drugs in your system is NOT legal at United States Federal Contractor sites and National Laboratories. 

Required Knowledge, Skills, Work Experience, and Education

Experience with one or more programming language; college-level math coursework; interest in river, delta, and/or coastal hydrology and/or geomorphology; strong communication skills (written and oral)

Desired Knowledge, Skills, Work Experience, and Education

3+ years of college-level coursework or Bachelors degree in Geoscience, Geography, Environmental Science, Civil/Environmental Engineering, or any related field; experience with python and/or geospatial software; college-level coursework in geomorphology and/or hydrology; experience with remote sensing