Considerations

RESESS is an undergraduate internship and support program in the Earth sciences, dedicated to increasing diversity and inclusion in the geosciences, hosted by EarthScope Consortium.

EarthScope is a consortium dedicated to supporting transformative global geophysical research and education. We are a global community of hundreds of employees and tens of thousands of scientists, scholars, and educators. Our goal is to advance human understanding of the Earth and its physical systems by democratizing access to geophysical observations and practices.

RESESS encourages applications from students who are members of historically underrepresented groups in the Earth sciences, including but not limited to: national origin, age, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, veteran status, educational background, race/ethnicity, disability and family structure. We solicit diverse applications with the aim of cultivating diversity in ideas and perspective. 

We provide support and mentoring as students participate in authentic research experiences while building skills and confidence. Students may participate for up to two years and are encouraged to consider careers in geoscience.

Under the RESESS umbrella are two programs: Boulder and Satellite.

RESESS Boulder is 11 weeks in person based in Boulder, Colorado.  

EarthScope intends to run all internship programs during summer 2024 in their native format. Should the situation change in terms of health and safety of participants and program staff as it related to COVID-19, we will convert all programming to a remote model. We will make any such decision on or before March 1, 2024. By applying to this program, you are agreeing to participate in either format. Support is available to assist with a work from home model. 

Note:  In order to follow federal guidance and maximize the safety of working conditions, EarthScope requires all interns to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or provide documentation of an exemption for medical or religious reasons.  Requests for medical or religious exemptions can be made by contacting Human Resources.

The application deadline is February 15.

A successful candidate usually will:

• Have completed the equivalent of two years of college
• Currently enrolled in an undergraduate program at the close of this application with a major in Earth or environmental sciences or related field
• Have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher
• From a historically underrepresented group in the geosciences
• Have completed several courses in geology, physical geography, hydrology, environmental sciences, math, physics, geophysics, or engineering
• Be interested in pursuing a career in the Earth or environmental sciences or related science
• Have U.S. citizenship or permanent-resident status. Sorry, no exceptions
• Be able to attend the full summer program
• Be comfortable with all internship requirements such as living at their research location for the duration specified in their program.

Application Instructions

Our internship programs utilize a third-party company for applications called Submittable. Note that you will be asked to create a Submittable account upon entering the application. This is required to complete the application and allows you to save your progress while working on the application. Please complete all required (*) fields. Note that demographic information is optional and not shared with any identifying information (including to the review panel).

To apply to RESESS, you must fill out the online application through Submittable found HERE

1. Do not upload your résumé. Instead, please upload a single PDF containing all of your college transcripts (unofficial copies are accepted)
2. Please also upload a PDF with the questions and responses that are particular to the RESESS program you are applying to. You must provide a short response to each of these questions (max 200 words per question). Questions can be found here

Applicant Essay Questions

QUESTIONS SECTION (200 Word limit, per question) 

Please copy questions to a separate document and record your responses on that document. Attach the completed document as a PDF to the application along with your transcripts. 

Thank you for applying to the RESESS internship program, we look forward to learning about you through your responses to the questions below. If you have any questions related to our questions, please contact internships@earthscope.org

Prospective RESESS Interns 

(Former RESESS interns applying for a second year, skip these questions and proceed to the next set of questions.) 

1.  Introduce Yourself: Please tell us about how you became interested in the earth, environmental sciences or geophysics. What drives your passion for Earth science? 
2.  RESESS Mission: RESESS is dedicated to increasing the diversity of the geoscience workforce by supporting students from historically underrepresented groups. (See our complete mission statement on our website)
3. Please describe how you, your life experiences, your educational experiences, and/or your participation in the RESESS Internship Program will support our mission. 
4. RESESS is dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of the geosciences among broad and diverse segments of the population. 
5. Please describe what you perceive to be the reasons that it is important for scientists to share what they have learned with the community, particularly as it pertains to earth, geosciences or geophysics.
6. Please indicate which topics interest you the most in the earth, geoscience or geophysics. You may list as many topics as you like. 
7. What are your career and academic goals? How would participation in the RESESS program contribute to the pursuit and fulfillment of these goals?
8. What college-level science, technology, engineering, or mathematics courses have you completed or are you currently enrolled in?
9. Please describe any experience you have with coding languages or scientific computing tools. (EX: Excel, Linux/Unix (Shell Scripting), Python, R, Matlab, Jupyter Notebooks, etc.)
10. Is there a coding language or scientific computing tool you’d like to work on in RESESS?
11. Academic Record: Do you feel your academic record accurately reflects your abilities and potential? Why or why not? Please describe any adversity (physical, mental, educational, economic, social, or otherwise) that you have overcome in pursuing your academic goals. 
12. Please list any extracurricular activities (clubs, employment, volunteer work) you have participated during the academic year. 
13. What has made your college experience unique or unlike a stereotypical college experience? 
14. What do you consider to be your proudest achievement? (It need not be related to science or academia). 
15. (Optional) Please share any additional information about yourself not addressed by this application, or any concerns you have with participating in the RESESS program. 

Returning RESESS Intern 

(If you have not previously participated in RESESS, you do not need to answer these questions.) 

1. How will participating in RESESS for an additional summer help boost your geoscience career?
2. How you have advanced your engagement in the earth sciences since your last RESESS summer internship?
3. As a returning RESESS intern, we expect that you will be an ambassador for our program and a role model to first-year interns. 
4. Describe a time when you used your leadership skills in a challenging situation that led to a positive outcome for your peers and/or community. 
5. RESESS highly encourages returning interns to contact potential science/project mentors and take the initiative to organize their own summer research. Have you already spoken with potential mentors about summer research? If so, list potential research mentors and include their name, institution, email. If you have not reached out to a science mentor yet, please list potential science mentors and describe potential research topics. If you have additional questions related to this please email Anika.Knight@earthscope.org