Available DAWN Internships

University of Minnesota (Twin Cities, MN)
Project Focus: Establish Proactive Extension to Engage Stakeholders for Coproduction

University of Minnesota (Twin Cities, MN)
Project Focus: Establish Proactive Extension to Engage Stakeholders for Coproduction

University of Nebraska (Lincoln, NE)
Project Focus: Build the DAWN Science Modeling and Decision Support System

University of Nebraska (Lincoln, NE)
Project Focus: Establish Proactive Extension to Engage Stakeholders for Coproduction

University of Nebraska (Lincoln, NE)
Project Focus: Build the DAWN Science Modeling and Decision Support System

University of Maryland (College Park, MD)
Project Focus: Build the DAWN Science Modeling and Decision Support System

Kalamazoo College (Kalamazoo, MI)
Project Focus: Establish Proactive Extension to Engage Stakeholders for Coproduction

Position Description (In-person prefered): The goal of DAWN is to build a decision-support system that helps to increase land, nutrient, and water use efficiency in order to maximize crop production in corn, soy, and bioenergy fields. A core aspect of the project is to support social science research related to extension and engagement. The goal of this project is to support stakeholder engagement to improve the design, refinements, and support the use of DAWN to improve water and nutrient management decisions on-farm. Wide-reaching communications strategies are one impactful approach to sharing about DAWN to different audiences in the US Corn Belt. https://dawn.umd.edu

The student intern will work with Dr. Kenney, the DAWN communication manager, and the extension team on impact-oriented communications.Duties will include helping to draft updates/news releases, social media posts, 2-page fact sheets, student blog posts, or other emerging communication priorities. The work requires strong written communication skills and attending multiple virtual (and potentially in-person) meetings to learn and communicate about different DAWN activities.

About the Lab: The Environmental Decision Support Science Lab, housed at the University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment, conducts multi-disciplinary social science research at the intersection of the environment, technology, and society. Strategies and decisions made at this nexus often encounter significant uncertainty about scientific evidence and involve stakeholders with conflicting objectives and values. The goal of our team is to understand and improve the processes and tools that aid these decisions, both in the public and private sectors. By focusing on co-production of knowledge with stakeholders, we produce actionable science relevant to climate adaptation and mitigation, coastal resilience, food-energy-water-environment nexus, and water quality. We are most known for our innovative work on participatory indicator design and evaluation http://environment.umn.edu/. The University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment is committed to becoming and anti-racism organization that advances equitable and just sustainability solutions in an inclusive and diverse workplace. All are welcome.

Position Description (In-person prefered): The goal of DAWN is to build a decision-support system that helps to increase land, nutrient, and water use efficiency in order to maximize crop production in corn, soy, and bioenergy fields. A core aspect of the project is to support social science research related to extension and engagement. The goal of this project is to support stakeholder engagement to improve the design, refinements, and support the use of DAWN to improve water and nutrient management decisions on-farm. https://dawn.umd.edu

The student intern will work with Dr. Kenney and the extension team on stakeholder-engaged research. Duties will include research tasks such as helping to set up and test surveys, supporting the coordination and stakeholder interviews to develop a decision calendar, and conducting literature reviews for Extension. The work will include attending multiple virtual (and potentially in-person) meetings with the research and extension teams as well as supporting the technical facilitation of stakeholder meetings.

About the Lab: The Environmental Decision Support Science Lab, housed at the University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment, conducts multi-disciplinary social science research at the intersection of the environment, technology, and society. Strategies and decisions made at this nexus often encounter significant uncertainty about scientific evidence and involve stakeholders with conflicting objectives and values. The goal of our team is to understand and improve the processes and tools that aid these decisions, both in the public and private sectors. By focusing on co-production of knowledge with stakeholders, we produce actionable science relevant to climate adaptation and mitigation, coastal resilience, food-energy-water-environment nexus, and water quality. We are most known for our innovative work on participatory indicator design and evaluation http://environment.umn.edu/. The University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment is committed to becoming and anti-racism organization that advances equitable and just sustainability solutions in an inclusive and diverse workplace. All are welcome.

Position Description (In-person preferred):  The innovative fertilizer research project (NRATE) is a multidisciplinary collaboration at UNL that focus on Advanced N management, enhanced efficiency fertilizers, conservation practices (cover crops), nitrogen and carbon emissions, soil health, soil microbial, nitrogen leaching and water quality, plant health, climate, and crop modeling and economic analysis.

The intern will assist with research data collection (soil samples, georeferenced crop scouting, tissue sampling), data processing, and visualization for the NRATE Project. The candidate will closely work with graduate students, technicians, and other interns to achieve team goals regarding data collection and analysis. Skills required are good written and oral communication and basic familiarity with data science and visualization principles. Responsibilities based on skills and desired experiences of the intern.

About the Lab: The nutrient management and Digital Ag Lab provides a collaborative environment where educators, students, technicians, and student interns work together to co-discover solutions to challenging nitrogen management issues and implementation of Digital Agriculture. Research is conducted on UNL research station farms and farmers’ fields across Nebraska.

Position Description (In-person preferred): On-farm research can provide a great avenue to accelerate learning about topics that impact farm productivity and profitability. It is research conducted on farmer fields, using farmer equipment, and with farmer production practices. This means the research is directly applicable to their operation. The Nebraska On-Farm Research Network approaches topics that are critical to farmer productivity, profitability, and sustainability. These topics include nutrient management, pest control, irrigation strategies, conservation programs, new technologies, soil amendments, cultural practices, and hybrid and variety selection. Research comparisons are identified and designed to answer producers’ production questions. Projects’ protocols are developed first and foremost to meet individual cooperator needs.

The intern will be assisting with research data collection (soil samples, georeferenced crop scouting, tissue sampling, aerial imagery acquisition) for existing on-farm research studies (anticipate approximately 120 studies, of which nearly 50 will be related to nitrogen management). Depending on skills and background, can also assist with data processing and analysis. Contribute to extension outcomes such as: 1) Film and produce short video updates of research studies and results for web and social media use; 2) Assist in the development of articles for CropWatch and the Nebraska On-Farm Research Network newsletter to share research summaries and updates for farmer and agronomist audiences, and 3) Conduct interviews with participating farmers to use in web and social media. Co-present at field days and precision ag crop management clinics (assuming we can resume normal activities). Can adapt activities based on skills and desired experiences of the intern.

About the Lab: The Nebraska On-Farm Research Network provides a collaborative environment where educators, students, and farmers work together to co-discover solutions to challenging nitrogen management issues. Research is conducted with farmers, on farmer fields, allowing farmers to discover solutions that will work for their unique farm operation. You can learn more about the Nebraska On-Farm Research Network at https://cropwatch.unl.edu/on-farm-research and learn more about our Precision Nitrogen Management project at https://cropwatch.unl.edu/precisionnitrogen-management-farm-research-project

Position Description (In-person preferred): The summer intern will work on testing the Spatial EvapoTranspiration Modeling Interface (SETMI) model in the DAWN DSS by supporting farmer collaborators, helping them understand the model and conduct irrigation scheduling of their irrigated fields during the 2024 growing season. This will involve the use of satellite imagery and climate data to run the model.

The interns will interface with farmers, helping them run the DAWN DSS and the different tools while obtaining feedback useful for the project.  They will follow the progress of the DAWN DSS recommendations and collect data and results They will also help prepare a report at the end of the season.  

About the Lab: The position will be hosted at the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute at the University of Nebraska, at the Nebraska Innovation Campus in Lincoln, NE. https://waterforfood.nebraska.edu/. The intern will have access to computers and University of Nebraska-Lincoln facilities.

Position Description (Virtual or In-person position): Agricultural producers are navigating increasingly complex decisions as they produce food and energy crops while facing increasing climate anomalies, economic pressures, and environmental concerns. Routine decisions such as crop choice, fertilizer use, irrigation scheduling, and reservoir operations have wide-ranging impacts on water availability, nutrient loss, agricultural production and agrohydrosystem sustainability at local to national scales. Predicting these complicated cross-sectoral interactions requires complex coupled Earth system models, cutting-edge technologies, and significant computational resources. Because of the computational challenge of running coupled models to deliver timely information at decision-relevant scales, there is an urgent need for effective predictive tools that support field-scale agricultural and water decisions while taking a holistic systems approach. Machine learning/artificial intelligence technologies provide a proofed approach to develop such cost-effective tools.

The student interns will work with members of Dr. Liang’s Lab at UMD/ESSIC to develop machine learning models that use observations and climate model outputs to predict agricultural outcomes such as crop growth and yields. Interns will also have the opportunity to develop manuscripts that report their modeling results. Candidates should have some coding experience and an interest in applying machine learning techniques to analyze large data sets.

About the Lab: The Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC) is a joint center between the UMD Departments of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, Geology, and Geographical Sciences. ESSIC faculty primarily conduct research on topics related to climate variability, atmospheric composition, and the global carbon and water cycles. Dr. Liang’s Earth System Model Research & Development (EaSM) Lab uses integrated global and regional models, alongside machine learning/artificial intelligence technologies, to study climate dynamics, seasonal climate and hydrology predictions, climate change projections, and associated environmental and agricultural consequences. Lab members include undergraduates, graduate students, and postdocs who work together in a supportive and collaborative environment.

Position Description (Virtual or In-person position): The goal of DAWN is to build a decision-support system that helps support strategic decision-making for land, nutrient, and water use management practices that also maximize corn crop production. A core aspect of the project is to support social science research related to extension and engagement. The goal of this project is to support stakeholder engagement to improve the design and support the use of DAWN to improve water and nutrient management decisions on-farm. Wide-reaching communications strategies are one impactful approach to sharing about DAWN to different audiences in the US Corn Belt. https://dawn.umd.edu

The student intern will work with Dr. Nupur Joshi, and the extension team on stakeholder-engaged research. Duties will include research tasks such as transcribing interviews, analyzing them, and assisting Dr. Joshi in writing a research article. The work will include attending multiple virtual (and potentially in-person) meetings with the research and extension teams as well as supporting the technical facilitation of stakeholder meetings.

About the Lab: The environment and society research group is housed at Kalamazoo College led by Dr. Nupur Joshi. We conduct local and international social science research at the intersection of the environment, society, and policy. The goal of the group is to support students to conduct environmental research, in collaboration with communities and government stakeholders to drive meaningful societal change.