The Earth Systems internship/research requirement is a 9 unit (270 hour) supervised field, laboratory, or private sector project. The internship may consist of 1) directed research under the supervision of a Stanford faculty member, 2) participation in one of several off-campus Stanford programs, or 3) an approved non-Stanford program relevant to the student’s interdisciplinary Earth Systems studies.  The Internship is required of (and restricted to) all declared majors. It is commonly undertaken during the summer between the Junior and Senior years.

It is each student’s obligation to find an academically rigorous project relevant to his or her course of study. There are abundant resources in the Earth Systems office to help with this process (e.g. speak with or scan abundant emails from Emily Burns; speak with Julie Kennedy or Katie Phillips; discuss options with the ES Student Advisors). To initiate the internship a student must submit a brief written proposal to Julie or Katie and meet to discuss the proposed work. An internship or research project must be approved by Julie or Katie to meet the ES requirement.

Some examples of prior ES internships include supervised independent research; policy analysis with local, state or federal government departments; environmental consulting; and curriculum development in environmental education.

Please note: advocacy or lobbying work, public surveys, canvassing, trail maintenance, or work as a laboratory technician or office assistant cannot be used to meet the ES internship requirement.

Internship Approval

In order to get approval from Julie or Katie for an internship, you must inform them about the work you will be doing, including the following:

1. The problem or question you will investigate and its relevance to Earth Systems areas of concern, especially your track
2. Your particular role in the asking and answering of the question
3. The name of your mentor and background information about the group with whom you will work
4. The methods you will use for your analysis

The work must be academically rigorous, mentored by someone who is qualified to lend expertise when needed, interdisciplinary in perspective, and engage you in multiple aspects of the project (the formation of the research question, the identification and use of appropriate methods, the collection and analysis of data, and an interdisciplinary analysis/discussion of the results you interpret from the work.

Upon completion of the internship or research work, each student must submit a 15-page paper. This technical paper (i.e. written by an expert for other experts in the field) should include the following elements: clear introduction to the motivation for the work (premise and hypothesis statements; policy question analyzed, etc.); discussion of tasks or contributions if part of a group effort; concise explanation of research methods; thorough and technical presentation of data; discussion of results; conclusions.

The paper must be submitted to Julie Kennedy and to the internship supervisor. Formal review of the paper, with comments for revision, will come from Julie (and from the internship supervisor if appropriate). The Stanford Writing Center is an excellent resource for additional writing advice and help.

Grading

All internships and research projects will carry a mandatory S/NC grade option. Assignment of the “S” grade will be based on the quality and depth of the internship paper and the evaluation provided in letter form by the internship supervisor.

Please note: It is the obligation of each student to request and obtain a letter of evaluation from the internship supervisor. Letters should be sent directly to Julie.

Dr. Julie A. Kennedy
Earth Systems Program
Yang & Yamazaki Environment and Energy Building, Room 133
Stanford University
Stanford CA 94305-4215