Delaware Sea Grant is supporting a pathway program for students matriculating into the Environmental Science major at the University of Delaware, specifically focused on students in the University of Delaware Associate in Arts program and from Delaware Technical Community College. This internship program is intended to teach students science communication and teaching skills by co-creating activities and lessons on coastal environmental issues. The goal of the program is to provide critical skills for students that are interested in pursuing future careers in environmental and marine science education. This program is also available for students enrolled at Delaware State University.

The Delaware Resilient and Sustainable Communities League (RASCL) is a network of organizations working to support all Delaware communities in taking the necessary actions to thrive in the face of changing environmental conditions through collaboration, information sharing, and technical assistance.  Delaware Sea Grant seeks an intern to support the newly established RASCL Hazards and Preparedness Committee with a project aimed at translating technical information and data in order to provide communities with more accessible information about natural hazards, sustainable planning, and the State’s efforts to improve community resiliency. The intern will specifically assist with the following tasks:

- Identify, map, and analyze the benefit-cost ratios of completed mitigation activities in Delaware over the past 25 years using ArcGIS and FEMA’s Benefit Costs Analysis tool to assess whether or not mitigation activities have achieved their intended results, and how much money state and local governments may have saved by completing these projects.

- Coordinate with the State’s PLUS (preliminary land use survey) program to identify and map new neighborhoods/construction encroachment into hazard-prone areas and determine the potential change in risk associated with the change in land use.

- Other ideas relevant to the committee’s areas of focus that align with the intern’s personal research interests.

The intern will work approximately 15 hours per week for 12 weeks.

A variety of climate change data, information, and tools are available to inform local climate adaptation and hazard mitigation efforts. While many of these products are relevant to flooding and sea level rise in Delaware, many environmental practitioners are either unaware that the resources exist, or do not fully grasp the ways in which the data, information or tools can be applied to their on-the-ground efforts to assist Delaware communities.

Delaware Sea Grant seeks two undergraduate students with relevant coursework in climate science or adaptation, environmental studies, meteorology, engineering, geology, geography, public policy, urban planning, communications, or computer sciences to help educate private sector consultants and engineers on climate information, data, and tools. Selected interns will be expected to assist with the following tasks:

- Identify private sector consultants and engineers working with communities in Delaware on municipal planning issues.

- Interview these professionals to determine what types of climate information and decision support tools they use now, and what additional needs they have (e.g., What problems are they trying to solve? What approaches are they going to use? What information on flooding and sea level rise are they missing? etc.)

- Coordinate with an advisory committee of key resilience professionals from Delaware and NOAA to identify information and tools that would help address these needs. Examples of the tools that may be considered are the Delaware Climate Information Center, the NOAA Coastal Flood Exposure Mapper, and Delaware Coastal Flood Monitoring System.

- Plan one or two virtual webinars. Planning tasks include development of participant lists, distribution of invitations and tracking of RSVPs, developing approaches appropriate to virtual meeting software, and working with the steering committee to develop the agenda and identify speakers.

- Convene the webinar(s) that will demonstrate NOAA and Delaware data and decision support tools that could address the needs heard during the interviews, as well as encourage a broader conversation about needs and gaps.

- Develop a reference document that can be distributed to consultants and engineers on where to find useful climate information from NOAA, Delaware, and other sources.

Interns will be expected to work 20 hours per week for 10 weeks during the summer months and 10 hours per week for 8 weeks during the fall semester.  This internship is a remote / virtual opportunity.

Conscious Connections Inc., a non-profit 504(c)3, exists to uplift communities through education, exposure, and economic opportunities by supporting healthy living and active community engagement. The primary avenue to achieve these goals is urban farming, which Conscious Connections uses as mechanism to engage youth, uplift communities, and open the door to important conversations about urban and rural land and water connections, as well as composting and environmental sustainability efforts.

Delaware Sea Grant is seeking a student intern to assist Conscious Connections in their environmental education efforts at their urban farm in Wilmington Delaware.  Approximately 15% of the work will be completed remotely / virtually, while 85% will be performed at the urban farm.  Selected interns are expected to work 20 hours per week for 10 weeks.

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) Division of Climate, Coastal and Energy (CCE) Climate and Sustainability Programs Section (CSPS) is working to make climate action more equitable across the state of Delaware and recognizes that that communities most at risk to climate change impacts may also be those already facing disproportionate social or economic vulnerabilities..  Delaware Sea Grant seeks a student intern to support the program in identifying frontline communities for targeted outreach, engagement, and collaboration on climate change action.

This internship will introduce and expose the intern to the approaches, practices, and challenges of environmental planning at the statewide level and from a governmental perspective. Particular focus will be paid to climate change planning, both in terms of better understanding Delaware’s climate change impacts — specifically, coastal hazards (e.g., sea level rise, tidal flooding) and increased temperature impacts — and determining how such impacts may disproportionately impact Delaware’s communities. The selected intern will work approximately 22.5 hours per week for a 12 week period during either the summer or fall of 2021.

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, Water Supply Section issues well and water allocation permits and licenses water well contractors.  The Section also oversees statewide drought management, groundwater quality monitoring, and wellhead and source water protection programs.  While national awareness of water quality issues and potential contaminants that might affect water quality have risen over the past few years, many citizens of Delaware remain unaware of the “quality” of their potable water source. Delaware Sea Grant seeks an intern to assist Section staff in developing a “Pilot” Citizen Groundwater Quality Monitoring Program where citizens can collect water samples from their drinking water wells and submit these samples to the Department for analysis.

  The intern selected for this project will specifically assist and support Section field staff responsible for field sampling including water quality sampling associated with the Nanticoke River Watershed Quality Assessment project.  These efforts are aimed at determining and increasing consumer awareness as it relates to the quality of their drinking water.  The intern will work 37.5 hours per week for ten weeks.