Community Engaged Internship Program

 

Open CEI Positions

Community Engaged Intern at Maryland Sea Grant

The summer 2025 community engaged internship is titled "Watershed Communities in Extension." The intern will engage with the Watershed Stewardship Academy program, which works with local partners to raise community awareness and enable individuals to take action to improve the quality of local waterways. The intern will work with members of Maryland Sea Grant's Extension and communications teams to contribute to a new module for watershed steward programs. While working on this project, the intern will have opportunities to engage with communities, attend site visits, and explore watershed restoration efforts underway in Maryland alongside experienced extension specialists.

How to Apply

Interested students are required to submit an application through our application portal by Monday, March 31, 2025. From the landing page, or under the 'Internship' tab, choose the Community Engaged Internship position and enter or upload the requested information:  

• Applicant Information
• Personal and Career Goals Statement (up to 500 words that describes what skills and experience you will bring to the internship and how this internship will help you achieve your long-term career goals)
• Additional short answer questions
• Resume
• Transcript (unofficial undergraduate transcripts released to student acceptable, electronic PDF or hard copy)
• Example of your work

Questions? Contact Annalise Kenney at akenney@mdsg.umd.edu.

Location, Stipend, and Support

The internship will start after Memorial Day and is based in Baltimore County, Maryland. The internship will be hybrid, with time spent onsite in the office, working remotely, and visiting sites in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The 10-week internship includes a stipend of $6,000. 

Eligibility

You must be a current undergraduate from a Maryland or District of Columbia college or university seeking a degree in natural, social, or environmental sciences, environmental policy, or communications/writing fields. 

Networking and Professional Development

The intern will join a network of students participating in similar programs across the country. As part of this internship, the intern will attend an in-person field experience (all expenses paid) from July 20-24 in North Carolina, where they will network with other community engaged interns and learn about coastal and marine science projects and programs. Interns will be connected to additional professional development opportunities to expose the participants to career opportunities throughout the internship period.

About the Community Engaged Internship Program

The overarching goal of this internship program is to broaden participation in marine and coastal professions by providing training and mentorship to the next generation of scientists, decision makers and citizens. The program will do so by recruiting, retaining and engaging students in place-based research, extension, education and/or communication that respects and integrates local ways of knowing.

The key components of this program include:

• On-the-ground learning experience through an 8-10-week internship over the summer months, including:
  • Completion of a project that extends the knowledge of community members to address a coastal, marine or Great Lakes issue of environmental, economic and/or social importance, and
  • Participation in all CEI professional development and training opportunities
• Mentoring by Sea Grant professionals, Sea Grant-funded researchers and Knauss Fellows
• Virtual professional development sessions
• Peer discussions with other interns in the cohort through virtual platforms

Previous Interns

Sydney Sauls

Sydney Sauls, an undergraduate from Howard University, joined Maryland Sea Grant as a summer community engaged science communication intern in 2024. Originally from Baltimore, she's passionate about urban ecology and environmental justice, aiming to mitigate food deserts in urban areas. Sydney worked with the communications team on the fall 2024 issue of Chesapeake Quarterly magazine about blue catfish. She completed a literature review, carried out interviews, and conceptualized and storyboarded a comic illustrating the effects of aquatic invasive species on ecosystems. Sydney also contributed to On the Bay blog, publishing a reflection on her journey in science and a profile on MDSG's aquaculture projects specialist and a major aquaculture siting project.

Ashton Guildener

Ashton Guildener, an undergraduate from University of Maryland, College Park, joined Maryland Sea Grant as a summer science communication and outreach intern in 2022. They shot video for a video/multimedia project with our education department. Ashton, an environmental science and policy major, also wrote a blog post and interviewed MDSG's Knauss fellows. The communications team used this material to put together a multimedia piece on our social media channels.

Yazan Hasan

Yazan Hasan, an undergraduate from University of Maryland, College Park, joined Maryland Sea Grant as a summer science communication and outreach intern in 2021. He completed the internship virtually for the first part of the summer, then did some shooting in the field for his video project for the final two weeks of the program. Yazan, an environmental science and technology major, assisted the MDSG communication and education teams with photography needs, social media campaigns, and multimedia education content. He also wrote a blog post and researched and shot a series of videos on the impacts of salt water intrusion on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, which can be viewed below. See some of his other work completed during his internship on this online portfolio.

Logan Bilbrough

Logan Bilbrough, an undergraduate from Salisbury University, joined Maryland Sea Grant as a summer multimedia intern in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. He completed the internship remotely via teleconference and carefully planned socially distanced shoots, assisting with photography needs, social media campaigns, and video production. He also wrote a blog post and researched and shot a film on a community restoration project in the the town of Templeville, Maryland, which can be viewed below. See some of his other work completed during his internship on this online portfolio.

Contact Information

For more information, please contact:

Annalise Kenney
Assistant Director for Communications

Maryland Sea Grant College
5825 University Research Court, Suite 1350
College Park, Maryland 20740
E-mail: akenney@mdsg.umd.edu