NCICS
North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies

Current Internship Opportunities

NCICS Internships - make a difference!

Current Internship Opportunities

NCICS is currently seeking students interested in a summer internship.

Please review the project needs below and, if interested, apply through the NCSU Jobs site linked at the end of the description (do not email applications). In your cover letter, please be sure to note any relevant training.

Project #1: Drought product evaluations

Three drought products have been developed from a selection of satellite (CMORPH-CDR, IMERG) and in-situ (NClimGrid) gridded precipitation products datasets. The standardized precipitation index (SPI), a normalized measure of rainfall anomalies, has been computed over various time scales (30-, 90-, 180-, 270-, 365-, 730-day) at the daily scale.

The three daily drought products generated (CMORPH-SPI, IMERG-SPI, NClimGrid-SPI) have different periods of record and spatial resolutions, and rely on different physical principles (i.e., satellite or in-situ input precipitation products).

We are looking to evaluate the three drought products (CMORPH-SPI, IMERG-SPI, and NClimGrid-SPI). This would include:

  • Generating time series for selected locations for each one of the SPI products.
  • Generating area statistics such as percentage of area under drought conditions.
  • Comparing the differences between the three drought products for well documented historic drought events over the Continental United States.
  • Eventually extend the comparison of the three drought products with existing droughts monitoring resources and in particular the US Drought Monitor (USDM).

The ideal candidate would be familiar with Python or R programming packages and would have some experience working with large datasets (GB to TB) and netCDF and Zarr files. Prior experience working in a cloud computing environment would be a plus.

This will be a paid, part-time internship position working remotely or in-person. For details and to apply, please go to: https://jobs.ncsu.edu/postings/183322

Project #2: Estimating soil moisture conditions prior to wildfires

Soil moisture conditions have an important influence on vegetation stress and have been linked to curing rates (drying out vegetation) and the buildup of fire fuels. However, there are several types of soil moisture measures that can be used to determine how dry conditions impact areas by linking these observations to historical context (i.e., climatological departures) or soil characteristics (i.e., water holding capacity). We are interested in evaluating differing types of soil moisture metrics in the lead-up to several wildfires in proximity to U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN) stations. The goal of this project is to determine not only if a particularly measure of soil moisture is more advantageous for wildfires but also over what depth (i.e., surface to 5 cm, 10 cm, 20 cm or total column down to 100 cm). The results from this analysis will be particularly useful to the inclusion of soil moisture information into the fire danger warning system. This will be a paid, part-time internship position working remotely or in-person. For details and to apply, please go to: https://jobs.ncsu.edu/postings/183322

Project #3: Climate and health

The North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies is recruiting for a summer intern with expertise in environmental epidemiology, environmental sciences, or population-based health research. This work will involve developing climate data indicators for near-real-time monitoring of tornadoes, hurricanes, temperature extremes, flooding, and air quality relevant to public health planning, early warning, and policy efforts. We’re looking for an intern to help develop analysis-ready climate datasets that can be used by the public health community. Interns on this project will perform epidemiologic analyses that explore single- and multi-hazard frameworks for how climate change impacts population health, with a focus on the most at-risk subgroups. The intern will need experience in statistical modeling and the use of SAS, R, or Python statistical software. This will be a paid, part-time internship position, working remotely or in-person. For details and to apply, please go to: https://jobs.ncsu.edu/postings/183322

Other Applications

To apply for an unpaid internship position, please submit the following materials to internships@ncics.org:
  1. Cover letter, including:
    • Proposed project plan based on an NCICS program area (visit our Expertise and Portfolio pages for additional information) or a statement of general interest
    • Brief description of prior experience and interest
    • Proposed dates for the internship
  2. Official information regarding approved enrollment or participation in an internship program with a school/home institution, if applicable
  3. Recommendation letter
  4. Most recent transcripts
  5. Resume

For questions, email: internships@ncics.org