An 8-week summer internship supported by USDA-NIFA
Thank you for your interest and to everyone who has applied! Please contact bigdataagbpp@gmail.com
The Undergraduate Learning Experiences in working with Big Data in Agriculture Internship summer program aims to provide undergraduate students classroom and experiential learning experiences in working with big data relevant to agricultural research and extension.
Big data is being collected at scales previously unimaginable and is transforming research and extension in agriculture. Consequently, there is tremendous demand for scientists who have deep domain knowledge in the life sciences, skills in quantitative thinking, as well as sufficient abilities to communicate and work effectively within transdisciplinary teams. To help prepare students for the needs of the current workforce, we will provide students a hybrid course that integrates classroom learning experience with research experience.
Students will learn fundamentals to gain familiarity with skills and ethics of computational biology and train in research and extension labs to work with real world BIG datasets relevant to agriculture. Students will learn in peer cohorts and be mentored by groups of scientists who are linked on the basis of sharing common research interests.
Students will get first hand experience to gain an understanding of the scientific process, the appropriate use of quantitative methods, and an ability to work in teams and communicate effectively across disciplines.
Each student awarded with an internship will receive a stipend of $1500 in addition to travel support and on-campus room and board.
Undergraduate students from any US institution are eligible to apply. Priority will be given to students from traditionally underserved minorities, first-generation college students, and students from institutions with limited research opportunities.
Applications are due on Friday, February 26, 2022. Decisions will be made by Friday, April 29, 2022.
In an 8-week summer program (June 13 through August 5, 2022) students will:
"The two-week course was thorough and provided the skills and resources needed in order to navigate through the remaining weeks of the internship. The course helped me to learn the basics of bioinformatics which greatly assisted me in figuring out the things I needed to do later on in the internship."
- Shawn McMurtrey, 2019 intern
"This was such an amazing experience and I definitely would recommend this internship to anyone who has: 1.) Wanted to conduct their own research project involving quantitative analysis on real data sets and 2.) Explore all that the Pacific Northwest has to offer!"
- Lin Thura, 2019 intern
BPP is supported by a grant from USDA-NIFA-REEU (2019-67032-29072). Funds were used to support travel, room and board, as well as a stipend for students.