THE NATION’S LONGEST-RUNNING GEOSCIENCES INTERNSHIP PROGRAM AT 60: AND OTHER OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS AND POST-DOCS THROUGH NAGT AND USGS

In 1965, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Association for Geoscience Teachers (NAGT) established the Cooperative Summer Fellowship Program. This partnership placed students into internships that would help launch the careers of thousands of geoscientists, including the current USGS director, Dr. David Applegate. Hosting an average of 50 students, annually, nearly 3000 interns have been served, many of whom have continued their careers with the USGS. In this, the 60th year of the program, we look back at the successes and forward into the future of the NAGT/USGS Cooperative Summer Fellowship Program.

Initially, the program focused on traditional geologic mapping and invited field camp directors to nominate their top students for the program. However, both the field geosciences and the NAGT/USGS internship have evolved a great deal since 1965. For example, the USGS currently employs about 1000 hydrologists, 1200 biologists, and only 900 geologists. These numbers reflect a shift from traditional, boots-on-the-ground geologic mapping to increasingly multidisciplinary approaches that utilize geophysics, remote sensing, and GIS, and often integrate aspects of hydrology, ecology, and biology. Similarly, the geoscience education community has embraced more inclusive and interdisciplinary approaches to preparing students for a range of careers. One result is that traditional field camps are no longer required for many geoscience degrees, and a variety of capstone experiences (including mentored research) are now available to students.

In response to these changes, the program has evolved. In 2017, we expanded the nominating partners to bring in students with GIS and ecological field experience. In 2023, we invited geoscience department chairs and program directors to nominate students involved a broad range of capstone experiences. In 2024, an alumnus of the first year of program made a gift to NAGT to establish the Gary Fuis and Stacey Andrews Scholarship to provide support for some of the housing and travel-related costs incurred by student nominees during their internships. The result is that among our 61 student interns for 2024, <50% had geoscience field camp experience and the rest were nominated based on other skills; six received scholarship funds. Interns at USGS today have skills more closely matched to the research they will be doing.