The Environmental Health Sciences Division of the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley proposes to continue its summer research internship for undergraduate students, to introduce them to the field of environmental health science with the long-term aim of increasing the number of talented students who pursue graduate degrees and careers in this field. Students will be recruited from the University of California, Berkeley, San Francisco Bay Area colleges, and targeted universities across the state and country that meet diversity criteria. Students admitted to the program will be matched to faculty conducting environmental health research of interest to the intern. Student interns will conduct research with the designated faculty member and, when appropriate and in accordance with the learning objectives, members of the research team, including staff scientists, graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. The interns will attend twice weekly seminars including topics on environmental health sciences and the responsible conduct of science, as well as participate in research discussion groups and group field trips. They will meet at least weekly with their faculty mentor. The faculty mentors will define projects suitable for their intern, monitor the intern's progress on a weekly basis, and provide written feedback on the performance of the intern and the structure and administration of the program. Likewise, the interns will provide written and verbal feedback about their mentor and the program as a whole. Research projects may include direct data collection, literature reviews, laboratory experiments, computer-based modeling, data analysis, and research to practice initiatives, among others. The grant management team will maintain its Advisory Committee made up of project management staff, faculty, and students to ensure that the summer internship program benefits from experience and services available on the UC Berkeley campus. It will improve its recruitment process to better reach minority and disadvantaged students and maintain an evaluation process to ensure that the program continuously improves over the five- year period of the grant.
There is continued concern about the negative impact of environmental exposures on human health and a shortage of qualified young scientists entering the field of environmental health sciences (EHS) who seek to elucidate the environmental causes of injuries and illnesses. Recruiting talented, energetic undergraduates to the field of environmental health sciences and encouraging them to seek advanced degrees in EHS or related fields is critical to advancing public health as it pertains to protecting the public from the negative impact of environmental exposures.
