Organizational Mentor: Vanessa Mcdonough [vanessa_mcdonough@nps.gov]

The intern will participate in recreational creel surveys, ideally on a high-use day (Friday, Saturday or Sunday).  Each interview will consist of a series of questions followed by examination of landings to identify and measure each landed fish or crustacean.  As needed, the intern can provide outreach/education if fishing violations have been observed and it is obvious the interviewee is unclear on fishing regulations, but enforcement of regulations is NOT part of this position.  The intern will record data from the interview and take photos to document things as needed (e.g. rare species, unknown fish species etc).  For creel surveys, the intern will initially be trained with a park staff, and moving later into the semester, interviews may be completed individually or with the help of park staff or a park volunteer. Towards the end of the semester, as we move into winter and fishing becomes less popular, the intern can assist Natural Resource management staff with other fisheries-related tasks, including surveying and mapping locations of commercial and recreational traps (lobster, stone crab, blue crab) throughout the park), as well as retrieval of derelict trap gear.  On poor weather days, the intern can help develop social media content pertaining to fishing regulations in the park, which could include photo and video material.

Organizational Mentor: Terrance CribbsLorrant [director@historicalblackprecinct.org]

The City of Miami Black Police Precinct and Courthouse Museum is a non-profit federal designated institution that acquires, preserves, and share historical collections that illuminate the struggles and achievements of Black law enforcement officers and judicial actors, particularly during the pre-Civil Rights era of the 1940s through the 1960s in Miami, Florida and beyond. Through exhibitions of artifacts, memorabilia, oral histories, and interactive media; alongside visual and performing arts, the museum educates the public on Black diaspora experiences within law enforcement and the judicial system. Our work extends beyond Florida, encompassing research, acquisitions, and programming that explore Black policing practices and legal history across the United States, the Caribbean, and the broader African diaspora.

In collaboration with Florida International University’s Tropical River Lab, under the esteemed leadership of Dr. Elizabeth Anderson, the Museum is seeking a dedicated undergraduate student for an intern position with a deep interest in community-based research and oral history collection. This opportunity is ideal for a student or emerging scholar who values the power of storytelling and is eager to engage with historically rich communities through an evidence-based research framework.

The selected intern will contribute to a meaningful project that bridges academic inquiry with lived experience, using established qualitative methods to gather, preserve, and interpret local oral narratives. Findings from this research will be shared in phases through public presentations and curated exhibits, offering the intern valuable experience in both scholarly and community-facing work.

This hybrid position allows for flexible scheduling of up to 10 hours per week, with occasional local travel as needed. The role promises not only professional development but also the chance to amplify underrepresented voices and contribute to a living archive of collective memory.

Organizational Mentor: Steffanie Munguia [smunguia@zoomiami.org]

Zoo Miami’s Conservation and Research Department works to protect South Florida’s native wildlife and habitats, with a primary focus on the pine rockland ecosystems of urban Miami-Dade County. The team conducts field and data-driven research on bats, birds, insects, and tortoises to inform conservation and management efforts.

Past projects have included acoustic monitoring of the endangered Florida bonneted bat, bird banding and migration studies, and invertebrate and reptile surveys. Interns gain experience in field research, species monitoring, and collaboration with local conservation partners.

Actual projects for Spring 2026 will be added soon.

Organizational Mentor: Brian Sidoti [bsidoti@ntbg.org]

The Kampong is a tropical garden where exploration thrives. Once home to botanist David Fairchild, it now welcomes learners of all ages through education programs, art exhibitions, and public events. Located on Biscayne Bay, it features historic crops introduced by Fairchild, native Florida plants, and tropical species from around the world. The Kampong is dedicated to education, plant conservation, and community engagement. Through its collaboration with Florida International University, the International Center for Tropical Botany at The Kampong trains the next generation of tropical botanists. Building on the legacy of Catherine Sweeney, the garden continues to grow as a vibrant hub for learning, conservation, and culture.

Bromeliads are a highly diverse group of ~3,000 species in the American tropics. They range from terrestrial to epiphytic and are renowned for their numerous adaptations to water and nutrient limitations, including highly absorptive leaf trichomes, overlapping leaf bases that form water-filled tanks, and CAM photosynthesis. However, not all species exhibit these adaptations during every phase of their development. This project will examine the germination and physiology of Florida bromeliad seedlings and nutrient cycling in contrasting habitats where bromeliads grow as part of a long-term collaboration between The Kampong, Rhodes College (TN), The New York Botanical Garden (NY), Colorado College (CO) and the University of Connecticut (CT).

Organizational Mentor: Nichole Tiernan [ntiernan@fiu.edu]

The International Center for Tropical Botany, located off-campus in Coconut Grove, offers students hands-on experience in plant biodiversity research and curation. Interns will work closely with herbarium staff and researchers to assist in plant specimen preparation, identification, mounting, and databasing, as well as help maintain and organize collections that support global botanical research. Through this immersive experience, students will gain practical skills in botanical documentation, learn the scientific and conservation importance of herbaria, and contribute to ongoing projects that advance the understanding and preservation of tropical plant diversity.

Project: Intern will participate in a high-impact study that examines the utility of spectral reflectance to rapidly identify trees from the Amazon rainforest from dried samples collected during expeditions spanning the last two decades. The major goal of this study is to build datasets that will accelerate the identification of tree species and identify potentially new species to science. Students will be trained and become proficient with data collecting using spectroradiometer, as well as writing R code to analyze data collected during the internship. The student will choose from several options of the most important plant families in the Amazon. 

Organizational Mentor: Ana Rojas [Ana.Rojas@miamidade.gov]

The proposed intern project is based at Deering Estate’s Cultural and Ecological Field Station in Miami-Dade County, a State-owned, County-managed preserve. Deering Estate spans approximately 434 acres of wildland, managed by the Environmentally Endangered Lands Program, and includes pine rockland, hardwood hammock, freshwater wetland, mangrove forest, and saltmarsh habitats adjacent to Biscayne Bay. Phase 1 of the Biscayne Bay Coastal Wetlands Project at Deering Estate is restoring flowing water habitats and improving conditions for nearshore seagrass beds and estuarine species. About 1.3 miles offshore, Miami-Dade has restored Chicken Key, a sand dune/mangrove island preserve. These ecosystems offer significant potential habitat for numerous species.

Project details for Spring 2026 will be added soon!

Organizational Mentor: Barbara Martinez-Guerrero [Barbara@dreamingreen.org]

Dream in Green’s mission is to empower individuals, especially youth, to lead in the response to climate change and other environmental challenges facing South Florida. We assist diverse organizations—including schools, households, local governments, and businesses—in reducing their environmental footprint. Through strong community partnerships, we develop, implement, and manage educational programs and workshops that promote environmentally sustainable behaviors across all age groups, with a special emphasis on K–12 students.

We are seeking passionate and responsible student interns to support a range of activities across community outreach, education, and digital communications. This semester-long internship includes a customizable research component that allows students to design a project aligned with their academic interests and Dream in Green’s mission—such as analyzing environmental education impacts, measuring digital engagement effectiveness, or evaluating water/energy conservation behavior change.

Sample Responsibilities (flexible and tailored to student interests):

• Coordinate and support environmental education workshops through the WE-LAB program and/or Green Schools Challenge Program

• Collect and analyze data from pre/post-workshop surveys to evaluate impact

• Build partnerships with local schools, community centers, and environmental organizations

• Create and implement digital marketing strategies to increase engagement and awareness

• Develop content for social media, newsletters, videos, and infographics

• Maintain and update DIG’s Recyclepedia recycling website and mobile application

• Represent DIG at public events, presentations, and outreach activities (some evenings/weekends)

• Assist with general administrative and communications tasks as needed

Research Component:

Interns will propose and complete a small research project related to DIG’s mission and programs, with guidance from staff. Possible areas of focus include:

• Effectiveness of environmental education on student behavior (analyzing teacher/student surveys)

• Impact of digital campaigns on community awareness and engagement

• Collection of "best practices" and new regulatory policies to help protect communities from climate change effects

Organizational Mentor: Joanna Tucker Lima [joannat@montgomerybotanical.org]

Montgomery Botanical Center (MBC) is a non-profit botanical research garden established in 1959 and located in Coral Gables, Florida (Miami-Dade County). Montgomery’s mission is to advance research, conservation, and education through living plant collections.  Focused on palms and cycads, the garden’s population-based, documented, scientific collections are mainly derived from wild-collected specimens and provide myriad opportunities for research and investigation. Currently, our collections include 469 palm species and 271 cycad species, as well as 109 tropical conifer species. Internship projects at MBC explore questions related to botany, ecology, conservation, biodiversity, and even climate change. Potential project ideas include studies related to reproductive biology (e.g., pollination ecology, phenology, seed viability, thermogenesis, and parthenocarpy); horticulture/nursery studies (e.g., fertilization, irrigation, IPM, soil media, seed viability and germination), geographic information systems (species distributions and comparison of populations from different regions); and the chemical ecology of palm flowers (e.g., scent volatiles and floral pigments). We welcome novel research ideas that advance botanical knowledge of palms and cycads through the use of our diverse living collections.

The Tropical Rivers Lab studies the social-ecological connections of rivers and urban waterways.

Some of our specific focuses for this spring are:

• Invasive Species

• Fisheries

You would be working with one of our graduate students and learning how to conduct field interviews, data analysis, and scientific communication. If you are interested or would like to learn more, contact mborb005@fiu.edu !