Studies show that a multi-level mentoring approach is important and fosters student success through providing help and encouragement. We support our interns with a variety of mentors. Each intern has a science mentor (or team of science mentors) who guides them through their research project and a communications mentor who works with the student on refining their research paper and other communication deliverables.

Student interns work closely with a geoscience expert throughout the summer on a research project. We try to match the interests of the student with a relevant project. The student might work at the University of Colorado at Boulder, at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, CO, UNAVCO in Boulder, or other research institutions in the area. In their second summer, interns are encouraged to seek out their own research opportunities at another university, government lab, or petroleum company within the continental U.S. .

Potential topics of interest include:

  • Earthquakes & seismology
  • Geophysics (including plate tectonics and more)
  • Hydrology and water quality
  • Petroleum geology
  • Glaciers
  • Volcanoes
  • Sedimentology
  • Geomorphology
  • Quaternary geology
  • Physics of the Earth

See our Alumni and Mentor pages for more details on past projects.