The Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) mission is to be a leader in restoring, maintaining and enhancing the quality of Oregon’s air, land, and water. With this mission in mind, the Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) program monitors waters used for recreation and drinking to ensure safe water for Oregonians. Interns will study cyanobacteria, one of the world’s oldest organisms. Cyanobacteria release toxins, known as cyanotoxins, as a competitive advantage over other waterborne organisms. These toxins are also harmful to human health and can be deadly to dogs.
The intern will work with the HABs program to investigate the relationship between water conditions and harmful algal blooms. They will learn remote sensing methods to identify algal blooms, field collection protocols, advanced laboratory analytical procedures, and the use of descriptive statistics to find connections amongst the resulting data. Depending on the interest of the selected intern, a more focused hypothesis will be selected.
The internship will include a split between field and laboratory work with day trips to sample Oregon’s most recreated waterbodies. They will learn how to process and analyze samples by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) procedure and a genetic test called a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). These are quantitative techniques used in biological, biochemistry, chemistry, health, and environmental laboratories throughout the world.
The mentor aims to encourage a love of Oregon's outdoor spaces by using practical science to develop a deeper understanding of life's delicate balance. If you are curious about aquatic environments and have an interest in protecting the health of people and animals that spend time there, this internship is for you!
For more information about the host organization and the work they do, visit:
https://www.oregon.gov/deq/wq/Pages/WQ-Monitoring.aspx
https://www.oregon.gov/deq/wq/Pages/Harmful-Algal-Blooms.aspx
This is a part-time internship, with the expectation that the intern will work at least 200 hours over the course of the summer. Applicants should be available to work 6-8 hours on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, with flexibility to work other days depending on field sampling opportunities or laboratory workload.
Students must be minimum age specified by June 16. These age requirements are strictly enforced by the mentoring organization, and there are no exceptions.
We strongly encourage students to apply who are from one or more systemically and historically excluded group, including but not limited to, non-cis-gendered students, girls, BIPOC, first-generation college bound students, low-income/low-resourced students, students with disabilities, who are neurodivergent, and those who speak a primary language other than English.
This internship will be taking place in-person as permitted by Federal/State/Local/DEQ guidelines. To reduce the risks of coronavirus exposure, mentors and interns will act in accordance with applicable COVID guidelines and procedures. Selected applicants will be required to review and sign a waiver agreement.
If you have any questions about the application, website technical issues and/or this position description, please contact Saturday Academy at ase@saturdayacademy.org. Do not contact the mentor directly. Contacting the mentor directly is grounds for disqualification of your ASE application.