Geography

Major and Minor Internship Search Tools

The most up to date listings for internships can be found on LyonNet. With hundreds of active internships (expect more listings late fall-early spring for summer opportunities), we collaborate with 28 other liberal arts colleges to provide a broad range of opportunities.  Here you can also sign up to have internships emailed to you by areas of interest by utilizing the “search agent” feature.

Internships-USA, an online database, provides continually updated internship opportunities by topic and geographic area. Access Internships-USA through LyonNet.

Our Career Center and Library provide extensive information about how to search for and secure an internship, visit us and meet with a counselor to talk about the process.

Not sure where to get started? Attend an internship workshop to learn more about how to conduct an effective and efficient search or develop your own opportunity.

All students with majors or minors in sciences or mathemetics should consider participating in a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program at one of the many institutions offering them in the U.S.  REU projects involve active participation by students in ongoing research programs or in research projects designed especially for the purpose. Beginning in November, the NSF Web site lists opportunities by discipline; they include

  • Astronomical Sciences
  • Atmospheric Sciences
  • Biological Sciences
  • Chemistry
  • Computer and Information Science and Engineering
  • Cyberinfrastructure
  • Department of Defense (DoD)
  • Earth Sciences
  • Education and Human Resources
  • Engineering, Ethics and Values Studies
  • International Science and Engineering
  • Materials Research
  • Mathematical Sciences
  • Ocean Sciences
  • Physics
  • Polar Programs
  • Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences

Students with science or mathematics majors or minors are especially encouraged to apply for summer funding from the HHMI Undergraduate Science Education Program.

Both first-year students and upperclassmen are eligible to apply. To apply to this program, check the box labeled "HHMI Summer Education Program" on the MHC Universal Application form.

There are many other summer research opportunities in the fields of geology, geography, and environmental science and studies. For Earth and Environment students interested in science, we particularly recommend: We particularly recommend:

Other programs in the area of coastal and marine sciences are given on the Web site of the Five College Coastal and Marine Science Program.

The Geological Society of America's GeoCorps program is offering 40 positions for summer 2007. Click on the website below to view positions on National Parks, National Forests and BLM lands this summer. Application instructions are on the website. Deadline to apply is Feb 2.

The 2007 LPI/NASA Undergraduate Research Program program is a premier summer research opportunity for upper-level students pursuing studies in geoscience, mathematics, planetary science, physics, and chemistry. The ten-week program is located in Houston, Texas, and serves as an excellent introduction to NASA and the planetary research science pursued by the U.S. space agency. The application deadline for the program is February 1, 2007.

E&E student may be interested in opportunites with the Maine Conservation Corps, which is dedicated to accomplishing outdoor recreation and conservation projects. MCC engages teams throughout the State of Maine.

Interested in internship/fellowship opportunities in the Phillipines? An MHC alum is Chair of the Department of Economics at the University of the Philippines, and she is willing to connect MHC students with possibiliites there. She says that the institute director of their Physics Department is well-known for his research in optics, geology, and some of her friends do research on volcanoes (they are in the Pacific Ring of Fire). They also have a world-class marine science institute that does research on everything from red tide, sea grasses, medicinal properties of poisonous snails, etc. For more information, contact Jale Okay in the CGI.

Summer student fellowship opportunities are available at the DFG Research Center Ocean Margins at the University of Bremen, Germany. Modelled after the renowned summer program at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, theyseek to attract top undergraduate students in the biological, chemical, geological, physical, and mathematical sciences with a strong and genuine interest in ocean sciences to spend their summer vacation doing research at an outstanding marine science institution in Europe.

The Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals internship program provides students the opportunity to work with Environmental Agencies through out the country. Interns will be placed with the USEPA, and other Governmental and Tribal agencies dealing directly with Air Quality and or related environmental issues. This opportunity is open to students majoring in science, engineering, planning, policy, law, management, education or other related fields. All internships are of a ten week duration, with a capstone project required. Each intern will be provided with a $4,000 salary for the ten week internship, along with travel and housing stipend where needed.   The Center for the Environment offers summer fellowships for support of research and internship opportunities in fields related to environmental studies.   Some opportunities are pre-arranged directly with hosts, while other funding is for student-originated projects.  Contact the Center for the Environment for more information.

The Department of Earth and Environment offers the Mary Jean Hale Internship in Environmental Studies annually; only geography and ES majors are eligible to apply. Dr. Hale is a 1967 graduate of Mount Holyoke, and she has had a long and varied career as both a physician and a healthcare administrator. She has had a lifelong interest in environmental issues, having grown up on a farm in Windsor, CT – where she "lived outside at every opportunity" – and she later served on her town’s Wetlands Committee. Dr. Hale has also been interested in enabling our students to move beyond the academic setting and to have worthwhile and stimulating internship experiences that will further their intellectual and career interests in environmental studies. Her generous contribution to the College will ensure an ongoing source of funds for these internship awards. Typical funding levels are $1,500-$2,500 per summer, and 1-2 awards may be given. To apply for these fellowships, use the Universal Application form. All applicants who are majoring in Geography or ES will be considered for funding by the Hale program.

In addition, the Department offers small scholarships toward tuition for geologic field studies in the summer. Please see Cecile Vasquez for more information.

Professors in the department may offer funding for summer research; please contact them directly for more information.

Students with an interest in Geology and Environmental Studies majors are encouraged to research and develop their own internship opportunity. To assist you in securing an internship, please find below a sampling of places where Geology and Environmental Studeis majors have completed an internship. Please note: the CDC does not promote or is in no way affiliated with the companies or institutions listed.

  • Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission
  • Association for the preservation of Cape Cod
  • City of Hutchinson
  • City of Novi
  • College of William and Mary
  • Community Alliance With Family Farmers
  • Cumberland County Soil & Water Conservation Distri
  • Egremont Land Trust
  • Filipino\American Coalition For Environmental Solutions (FACES)
  • Fluxnet Canada program on climate change
  • Furman University, Enoree Watershed Research Program
  • Greater Boston Radio Group
  • Harvard Forest - Harvard University, Petersham, Massachusetts
  • Hawaii Youth Conservation Corps
  • Institute of Ecosystem Studies
  • Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space at University of New Hampshire
  • International Center for Gibbon Studies
  • Maine Audubon Society
  • Marine Science Institute
  • Massachusetts Audubon Society, Coastal Waterbird Program
  • McGill University, Boreal Peatland Summer Research
  • Mount Holyoke College, Center for Environmental Literacy
  • National Marine Fisheries Service
  • New Haven Ecology Project
  • Northern Ecological Associates, Inc.
  • Organization
  • Organization for Tropical Studies, La Selva Biological Station
  • Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies
  • Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, New England Office
  • Rainforest Alliance
  • Reginald W. Mailhot, O.D., P.A.
  • Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice of Massachusetts
  • Save the Bay
  • Sierra Club
  • South Hadley Conservation Comm.
  • State of Maine-Department of Environmental Protect
  • Sunrise Education Trust
  • Teen Voices
  • Texas Snow Monkey Sanctuary
  • The Atlantic Monthly
  • The Muriel Center
  • The New York League of Conservation Voters
  • Town of Westport
  • U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
  • U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski
  • United States Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Marine Fisheries Service
  • United States Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research
  • United States Department of State, U.S. Embassy
  • Universidad San Francisco de Quito/ LISAMAR Compan
  • Wild Care
  • Williams Mystic, The Maritime Studies Program of Williams College & Mystic Seaport
  • Wolf Education and Research Center
  • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Marine Biological Laboratory
  • Adirondack Girl Scout Council, Inc.
  • Center for Health, Environment and Justice
  • Chesapeake Bay Foundation
  • LEAD International
  • Minerals Management Service
  • Mount Holyoke College, CASCADE Summer Research Mentoring Program, Department of Chemistry
  • NASA Planetary Geology and Geophysics Program
  • Nassau BOCES Outdoor & Environmental Education
  • Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History
  • Stroud Water Research Center
  • The Student Conservation Association, Inc.,
  • United States Department of the Interior, Overseas
  • United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
  • University of Minnesota, Department of Geology

To search for active internship listings, please visit the LyonNet database.