Internships at MTRI
Our mission
is to provide a real world experience for high school, undergraduate,
and graduate students in a research institute that addresses
advanced technology to sense and understand natural and
man-made environments.
Preparing Today’s Students for the Future
- Tasks are varied and include field data collection, image processing, programming, data analysis, contributing to reports, and presenting results to colleagues.
- Opportunities to learn more about various scientific and technical disciplines, and to work with MTRI sponsors such as EPA, GLOS, NIH, USGS, USFWS, NASA, US BLM, USDOT, MDOT, and DoD.
- Interns are compensated with an hourly wage based on schooling and other experience.
- 23 Michigan Tech students have completed summer internships at MTRI and area university and high-school students also participate.
- Internships include opportunities to learn about using your talents in a team environment, working on a project with experienced scientists on real-world problems, and experience in presenting your accomplishments during the internship.
Internship qualifications and requirements:
- Experience with major remote sensing and GIS software, such as ERDAS Imagine, ENVI, Definiens Developer, and ESRI ArcGIS is preferred.
- Familiarity with spatial concepts, including the workflow of preparing and analyzing remotely sensed imagery, is preferred.
- Skills with editing publications, preparing reports, and cartographic production are preferred.
- Experience with web page editing is preferred.
- Currently pursuing or recently received a Bachelor’s degree, with preference to those in environmental/earth science, electrical or environmental engineering, or computer science.
- Comfortable working within a Windows PC environment and be familiar with MS Office (Word, Excel, Access, and PowerPoint). Linux experience is helpful.
- Experience with programming (such as C#, VB.NET, MATLAB) would be helpful.
- Familiarity with statistical analysis software (R, SPSS, JMP) is helpful.
To be eligible for an internship, you must:
- Be a student in good standing at an accredited college or university.
- Be majoring in a field appropriate to the job opening.
- Have a minimum grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, or equivalent.
- Be a U.S. citizen.
In the field
Phragmites
In the summer of 2011 one field team assisted the Radar Detection and Monitoring of Invasive Phragmites in the Coastal Great Lakes project. The team collected data on vegetation type, density, and height, as well as water condition measurements at 286 locations throughout the basin. These field measurements help to provide accurate identification of ecosystem types when classifying the PALSAR imagery.
Great Lakes Water Monitoring
Interns assist MTRI staff by research the Great Lakes in many ways, such as, 1.) Mapping Cladophora extent and estimate biomass for the entire U.S. and Canadian nearshore region in the four lower Great Lakes, 2.) Developing a satellite algorithm for the retrieval of chlorophyll, Dissolved Organic Carbon, and Suspended Minerals for the Great Lakes, and 3.) Support ecosystem restoration and protection efforts in five pilot tributaries in the Great Lakes.
Seatbelt Study
Interns spent a few weeks this summer recording how many people were using their seatbelts while driving. From our research, MDOT has a better understanding of driving characteristics and more people are wearing belts due to the proactive campaigns. We focused more on specific unbelted populations and how seatbelt usage is linked to other driving behaviors.
Bridge Condition Using Remote Sensors
Student interns assisted Michigan Tech and MTRI researchers in using remote sensing technologies to monitor the condition of bridges to help improve efficiency of inspection and repair. They are using radar and 3-D optics systems to scan bridges to help determine the condition based on possible delaminations and other current unforeseen effects.
| For Additional Information
Colin Brooks
Research Scientist
734.913.6858
colin.brooks@mtu.edu
Nancy French, Ph.D.
Senior Research Scientist
734.913.6844
nancy.french@mtu.edu
2011 Participants
- Total of 34 interns
- Schools represented: Michigan Technological University (10 interns), Notre Dame, University of Michigan, University of Michigan (Dearborn), Western Michigan University, University of Toledo, Lawrence Tech, Florida Atlantic University, State University of New York (SUNY) Central Michigan University, Grand Valley State, Eastern Michigan University, Michigan State, University of Wisconsin, and Nazareth College
Impacts and Implications of Increased Fire inTundra Regions of North America
 Using remote sensing and GIS to monitor changes in climate change and increrased impacts to tundra.
- Mapping historic tundra fires across the Arctic.
- Searching for evidence of fires in Canadian tundra in summer 2010.
- Monitoring tundra fires across the arctic region in 2011.
- Assisting with preparation and logistics for field trip to assess effects of 2010 fire in Noatak National Preserve, Alaska.
Vulnerability of North American Boreal Peatlands to Interactions between Climate, Hydrology, and Wildland Fires
Intern Anne Santa Maria spent the summer in Alberta, Canada, as a field based intern, assisting the Vulnerability of North American Boreal Peatlands to Interactions between Climate, Hydrology, and Wildland Fires project. The project goal is to understand how interactions between climate, hydrology and the fire regime impact ecosystem processes and carbon cycling in boreal peatlands. |
