Urban Monarch Conservation Internship Program

This internship program is a partnership between the Environmental Science and Ecology Department at the University of Texas at San Antonio, the Chicago Field Museum, and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). It is open to current undergraduate and graduate students as well as recent graduates. The program introduces interested students to career opportunities in positions in the USFWS and to job settings where the student will gain practical experience and training in natural and cultural resource fields. The program is funded by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service as part of their efforts to promote student internship opportunities and develop excellent candidates for future USFWS positions.

Successful interns will be placed with the Chicago Field Museum and become members of the Field Museum's Keller Science Action Center Department working on an Urban Monarch Conservation Program – a program aimed at coordinating efforts of individuals, communities, governments, and organizations in answering key questions about how best to conserve monarchs in urban areas along their migration flyway connecting the butterflies' overwintering sites in central Mexico to the landscapes of the Upper Midwest.

Interns will gain experience working as key team members in developing community pollinator interaction programs and perform such duties as: working with community members to facilitate metropolitan pollinator gardens; creating new and updating existing community engagement resources for the Museum staff; attending outreach events in order to gain new volunteers for the Museum; as well as seek opportunities to increase volunteer engagement with a diversity of community members. Additionally, interns will provide informed public outreach skills to Museum staff, volunteers and potential volunteers by answering questions about the Urban Monarch Conservation Program and pollinators in general.

Interns may be asked to conduct training sessions, write weekly news letters, organize large data sets, must be comfortable with public speaking, will perform other administrative duties as assigned, and will be expected to comply with all Chicago Field Museum rules, regulations, and procedures.

Participants

Ursula Alvarado-Miller, M.S.
Monica Juarez, M.S.
Jasper Klein, B.S.
Alexandra Ornelas, Undergraduate Student