This award provides renewed funding for a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program at the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center of Monterey Peninsula Community College (MPCC). Although this program represents a new site for REU, the PI had funding for an internship program (NSF/OCE 0510158). The requested program will provide twelve internships per year for undergraduates who are interested in careers as marine technicians. The interns will work on U.S. academic research vessels represented by the University National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) and United States Coast Guard vessels. The interns will spend from one to eight weeks (with an average of 4 weeks per internship) working on these vessels.
The MATE Center's marine technical internship program helps to prepare undergraduate students for ocean-related occupations. The program targets community college students enrolled in marine science and technology programs and university students interested in marine technical careers. The program makes a substantial effort to recruit students who are traditionally unrepresented in science and technical disciplines. MATE interns will work with marine technicians and scientists onboard research vessels, which provides them with the opportunity to develop their technical, scientific, seamanship, and interpersonal skills. To date, more than two-thirds of the student interns have gone on to work in a marine related science or technical field or to continue their education in a marine-related discipline.
The site will be supported by the Department of Defense in partnership with the NSF REU Program.
MATE Technical Internship Program The MATE Center’s marine technical internship program helps to prepare undergraduate students for ocean-related occupations. Technical training programs that prepare students for these careers are few, mainly because it is prohibitively expensive for most programs to offer substantial time at sea and time working with state-of-the-art equipment. Students who choose to pursue marine technical careers are often caught in the paradox of not being able to acquire a job without work experience, and not being able to get work experience without a job. At-sea technical internships help undergraduate students gain the experience they need and ocean-related employers to gain access to qualified technical professionals who can fill their workforce needs. The MATE Center’s marine technical internship program for community college and university students began in 1999. Since its inception, the program has placed 253 students in at-sea and shore-based internship positions. MATE interns work with marine technicians and scientists onboard research vessels, which provides them with the opportunity to develop their technical, scientific, seamanship, and interpersonal skills. Interns are provided a stipend and the internships last between two weeks and six months. The program targets community college students enrolled in marine science and technology programs and university students interested in marine technical careers: 61% of the interns in 2008-2010 were from community colleges. The program makes a substantial effort to recruit underrepresented minority (URM) students: 24% of the interns in 2008-2010 were URM students. To increase URM participation, a "barriers to participation" study of 136 students from six colleges and universities was completed as part of this grant. The results helped inform successful modifications to program materials which are being shared at conferences and via webinars. To date, more than two-thirds of the student interns have gone on to work in a marine-related science or technical field or to continue their education in a marine-related discipline (see www.marinetech.org/education/internships/Wherearetheynow.pdf for a complete list of all past interns and where they work now). Twenty of the 49 interns (46.5%) in 2008-2010 are already working in marine technical fields, and 16 (37%) are continuing their education toward a degree in some science, engineering, or other technical field. For more information on the program, visits www.marinetech.org/internships.
