Internship Procedures

URBAN Ph.D. trainees as well as master’s students in the URBAN Internship Track have the opportunity to co-develop an internship project with a partner organization that is a nonprofit, government entity, or private sector organization (in other words, a non-academic collaborator). This helps trainees develop the skills to translate their research into policy and practice and to communicate their work accessibly to a broad audience. The goal of the internship is to collaborate with a partner organization on a project that is focused on a local, “real-world” environmental problem that has environmental policy implications. The internship experience also provides practical career exposure to a field outside of academia.

The first step in planning for an URBAN Internship is setting up a time to meet with Emily, the URBAN Program Manager, via email (urban@bu.edu) or through this scheduling link.

Sometimes trainees have connections to internships they wish to pursue, sometimes they apply to specific internship programs, sometimes they connect with internships through their faculty advisor, and sometimes they have no idea what they want to do and need ideas and connections. In all cases, the URBAN Program Manager is ready to support. The key to finding the right internship is frequent communication between trainees and the Program Manager.

Once trainees are connected with a possible URBAN Internship and are beginning to plan their internship with a partner organization, trainees should address the questions below with their host and email responses to Emily (urban@bu.edu). A downloadable copy of these questions can be found here.

  1. Project title: High-level description of project or project theme (short and catchy is preferable)
  2. Partner organization:
  3. Host name and email:
  4. Project overview: Provide a 1 paragraph overview of the urban environmental problem you will be tackling with your partner organization and what you will be doing to address it.
  5. Scope of Work & Deliverable(s): Provide an itemized (or estimated) list of activities you will do to complete your project, including specific final deliverables/products (e.g., reports, briefs, write-ups, presentations, etc.)
  6. URBAN-alignment and urban-relevance: In 2-3 sentences, describe how the project touches biogeoscience and environmental health in an urban system.
  7. Project scope: Please provide the total number of hours planned, the overall timeframe and cadence, and the planned start and end date. Example: I plan to work 120 hours, 8 hrs/week for 12 weeks, starting on June 1 and ending on August 17.
  8. Interaction with partner organization: Describe your working relationship with your partner organization. Will you be working remotely? Are they providing you a desk? Will you have regular meetings?
  9. Funding plan: Please share how you would otherwise be funded during the duration of your internship (e.g., non-service fellowship such as a training grant, research grant, teaching fellowship, etc.).
  10. Advisor Approval: Please state whether or not your faculty advisor has approved your internship plan.

Emily will create an Agreement Letter based on your responses and seek your approval, as well as that of your advisor, before sending it your host for a formal sign-off.

Next, before you begin your internship, complete the Pre-internship assessment and register for the internship companion course (CDS DS 795: Urban Biogeoscience and Environmental Health: From Research to Policy).

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After you complete your URBAN Internship, please address the following items:

First, complete the Post-internship assessment.

Second, email the following for our Internship Impacts page to Emily (urban@bu.edu):

  • Project Title
  • Project Partner
  • Project Summary (200 word maximum). Try using the structure of  Problem. Action. Findings. Impact. if possible.
  • Project Deliverables
  • At least one relevant picture

Please view this page as an opportunity for self-promotion, for example, by including not just deliverables but any other media coverage or documentation, etc. Be sure to check with your internship host before posting anything that might be confidential or proprietary. 

This product page should also be 1) helpful to future URBAN trainees developing their internship, 2) inspiring to prospective URBAN trainees, and 3) useful for potential URBAN partners that want to host trainees. 

Finally, all trainees must make a presentation about their internship experience during either the Fall Intro Workshop or the Spring Symposium. 

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