BUILDING PROFESSIONAL AND TECHNICAL SKILLS FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS THROUGH INTERNSHIPS WITH A STATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

Connecting students with mentors and providing opportunities to work on projects in a professional environment outside of the classroom can help bridge the gap between the academic curriculum and demands of geoscience careers. Internships provide students with hands on experience, expand students’ networks, and build their skillset for pursuing a career in geoscience. Recently, the California Geological Survey (CGS), in partnership with UC Davis, piloted an internship for credit program, which just concluded its first year. Students select how many credits they enroll in, which determines the number of hours they are expected to spend on projects each week. While a paid internship is often ideal for student assistants, this program has found some students prefer working for credit because of the increased flexibility in time commitment and the ability to fill gaps in academic schedules, maintain minimum unit requirements for financial aid, and participate in the internship despite otherwise busy academic or work schedules. These students are sponsored by a faculty member who is the instructor of record for the course while they work directly with CGS staff, who can also become mentors. Projects focused on digitization of legacy mapping in GIS, Esri’s ArcGIS Pro software, and conversion of those maps into a GeMS database (USGS Geologic Map Schema) for use in current and future geologic map projects within the CGS geologic mapping program. Projects are selected based on the student’s experience, interest, and availability. When possible, a cohort approach is taken, with students meeting both as a group and individually with the CGS staff member. This allows the students to act as peer mentors while learning more about regional geology and different approaches to mapping. As students gain experience during the internship they are given increasing independence. Through these projects, students build skills in ArcGIS Pro beyond what is typically taught in introductory GIS classes, become familiar with the representation of geoscience data in a GIS, and connect with a wide range of geoscience professionals. Towards the end of their project period, students accompanied CGS staff on a field trip to see how the digital product they made is used in the field and to learn more about mapping at a regional scale.