Volunteer Internships are three- to six-month positions working in the laboratories of BBSR's faculty members. Available primarily to upper level undergraduates or recent graduates, the internships offer room and board in exchange for the opportunity to actively participate in research projects of mutual interest to the intern and the faculty member. Airfare and personal expenses are the responsibility of the intern. Past interns have gone on research cruises to Antarctica and the North Pacific Ocean, gone SCUBA diving on reefs in Bermuda and Florida, and published research in peer-reviewed journals.

Interested students may apply by contacting the faculty member whose work most interests them and who is willing to participate in the volunteer internship program. The faculty member will generally request an application, a letter of interest from the student, a curriculum vitae and one letter of recommendation from a qualified referee. There is no deadline for application to this program. 

Below is a current list of interested faculty members and specific research projects available to interns. Please contact the faculty member directly about the availability of an internship in their laboratory.

Dr. Michael Lomas  Oceanography
Dr. Andrew Peters  Environmental Quality
Dr. Gerry Plumley  Proteomics and Genomics
Dr. James Wood  Marine Biology

Introduction for Students (PDF)
Academic Credit for Volunteer Internships

Dr. Michael Lomas
E-mail: mlomas(at)bbsr.edu

Dr. Lomas' research interests include coupled oceanic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycling, methods of measuring oceanic new production, and phytoplankton community structure and its relationship with nutrient cycling in the ocean.

Research Topics:

• Dissolved Organic Phosphorus Utilization in the Sargasso Sea: Species-specific comparisons

• Relationships between phytoplankton community structure and elemental cycling in the Sargasso Sea: To what extent do phytoplankton really obey the Redfield Ratio?

• Development of Physiological Assay Applications for Flow Cytometry

These internship positions are available on a limited basis and extramural financial support would be a strong benefit.
 

Dr. Andrew Peters
E-mail: apeters(at)bbsr.edu

Dr. Peters is the PI of the BBSR Environmental Quality Program. His current research activities include: assessment of local air quality; long-range atmospheric transport of contaminants; and the sources, fate and behavior of mercury in Bermuda. Other research interests include environmental analytical chemistry and ecotoxicology. Recent interns have worked on passive sampling of NO2 and SO2 in ambient air, and groundwater contamination by hydrocarbons and pesticides.
 

Dr. Gerry Plumley
E-mail: plumley(at)bbsr.edu

Dr. Plumley's laboratory studies proteomics and genomics of marine and freshwater microorganisms, primarily bacteria and algae. They are currently focused on genetic factors involved in the synthesis of saxitoxin, one of the toxic compounds produced by marine and freshwater algae during certain red tide events. Interns will be provided opportunities to clone and sequence DNA as well as perform more complex experiments, such as transposon mutagenesis and/or complementation. This internship position is temporarily unavailable, except for those with their own financial support.
 

Dr. James Wood
E-mail: jwood(at)bbsr.edu

Dr. Wood's work includes cephalopod (octopus, squid, cuttlefish and nautilus) life history, physiology and behavior. In addition, he is involved with a number of distance learning education and outreach projects (The Cephalopod Page, CephBase, Counting Corals and the Census of Marine Life ). Dr. Wood is also interested in biological imaging and information technology.

Internship positions are currently available only for applicants at university level and above who can secure their own financial support for housing, food and facilities fees at BBSR. Dr. Wood will have no funded research positions, except those listed below, for undergraduate and graduate students in the near future. At this time, he will accept a select few students who are able to fund their own research. A number of government agencies and nonprofit foundations offer funding for such research opportunities. 

FUNDED POSITIONS: Please note that these are extremely competitive and that  numerous inquiries are received every week from students who wish to come to BBSR as volunteers or interns. Dr. Wood will choose the top applicants for the following positions.

Dr. Wood is a former NSF-REU intern and actively participates in the BBSR NSF-REU program as an advisor for one intern each fall. Applicants should be hard-working, field-oriented, intelligent students with top grades and dedication, who wants to work on a hands-on cephalopod project for this program. The next NSF-REU internship is in the fall of 2006. See the REU web page for details and application due dates.

If you are a Princeton or Eckerd student, Dr. Wood is available to serve as a summer intern advisor. More information on these programs is available through your university. If you are Canadian, you may qualify for a CABBS scholarship.

At BBSR, Dr. Wood teaches Marine Invertebrate Zoology and Scientific Photography, and co-teaches Sensory Physiology and Behavior of Marine Animals. These classes each have a teaching assistant. TAs are usually former students, interns or graduate students who are already familiar with BBSR and have a very strong background in the subject matter. Most are experienced divers. TAs are expected to be hard working and field oriented, and volunteer to help with ongoing cephalopod research and/or education projects. TAs do not have to be students. The next possible TA positions are for MIZ (Fall 2006) and Scientific Photography (August 2006).

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