EPA is pleased to collaborate with the National Science Foundation (NSF) and other federal agencies to provide internship opportunities through the Graduate Research Internship Program (GRIP).

GRIP provides NSF graduate fellows with internship opportunities for professional development and network expansion at federal facilities. Here at EPA, GRIP interns can grow professionally with a rewarding research experience and receive mentoring from our scientists, all while focusing on the protection of human health and the environment.

Join GRIP fellows and other graduate students and educators in active discussions that are focused on higher education challenges and innovating ideas for improvement. NSF Graduate Education Forum Exit

How it Works

Opportunities will be offered by scientists in EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD). Internships will range from 3 to 12 months. Students should review the current opportunities and contact the EPA researcher listed. Students are expected to take the lead on preparing the NSF application. Successful applicants will be required to pass a background check.

• Air Research (10)

  Topic: Development of an innovative measurement method for carbonyls in air
  This opportunity involves the development of an innovative measurement method for carbonyls in air which are an important class of hazardous air pollutants.

  Topic: Combining Measurements and Modeling to Better Understand Ammonia Air-Surface Exchange Processes
  The objective of this project is to characterize the sensitivity of EPA’s bi-directional ammonia flux model to inputs of meteorology, air concentrations and biogeochemistry, focusing on the role of soil and vegetation compensation points.

  Topic: Improving Characterization of Atmospheric and Deposited Nitrogen Across Multiple Spatial and Temporal Regimes
  This internship will utilize air quality modeling and precipitation measurements to improve characterization of atmospheric nitrogen to support the development of national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS).

  Topic: Smartphone App to Predict Air Pollution Exposure
  EPA's National Exposure Research Laboratory is developing iPhone Apps for an innovative and potentially high impact project. These apps will predict near real-time air pollution exposures to reduce exposures for susceptible individuals (e.g., asthmatics).

  Topic: Performance Evaluation of Low-Cost Air Quality Sensors
  The objective of this opportunity is to evaluate the performance of a low-cost sensor for ambient air quality measurement.

  Topic: Fundamental UV/IR Reference Spectra Analysis and Evaluation
  The reference spectra used for pollutant emissions quantitation by typical spectral absorption analyzers are based on empirical derivation from gas standards where possible. However, in the absence of quality reference gas standards, they are many pollutants reliant on theoretical spectra (e.g., HITRAN, PNNL, etc) generated by computational means based on multiple spectroscopic parameters. The quantitative quality and appropriateness of these modeled spectra in the absence of empirical confirmation is an uncertainty for EPA relating to the quality of regulatory emissions measurements.

  Topic: Wildland Fire Exposure Modeling
  A need exists to accurately simulate the impacts of wildland fire to ambient ozone and particulate matter. These needs include retrospective regulatory assessments, human exposure studies and forecasting. EPA’s National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL)’s modeling system needs to be compared with special field study and routine surface measurements to identify priority areas of model development to improve wildland fire representation.

  Topic: Particulate Matter and Black Carbon Emissions Inventories and Measurement Techniques
  The intern would have the opportunity to work with EPA Office of Research and Development (ORD) researchers in Research Triangle Park, NC to complete a literature review of black carbon emissions in the Arctic Region with particular emphasis on residential heating. The intern would also have the opportunity to learn about black carbon measurements and work hands-on in the laboratory with source emissions.

  Topic: Prescribed Fire Air Quality Modeling
  A need exists to accurately simulate the impacts of prescribed fire to ambient ozone and particulate matter using numerical models. These needs include retrospective regulatory assessments, human exposure studies and forecasting. EPA’s National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL)’s modeling system needs more realistic information about prescribed burning management techniques to improve wildland fire representation. This type of data will replace default information that often does not reflect actual land management practices.
  
  Topic: Advanced Statistical Analysis and Modeling of Data from Mobile Monitoring Designed to Map Major Population Areas in California
  This opportunity involves the development of an innovative measurement method for carbonyls in air which are an important class of hazardous air pollutants.

• Climate Change Research (5)

  Topic: Black Carbon Emissions from Residential Combustion in Arctic Nations 
  The Arctic Council Expert Group on Black Carbon and Methane has identified emissions from residential biomass combustion as a significant uncertainty in the global BC inventory for Arctic Nations. This sector accounts for approximately 11 percent of BC emissions from Arctic States.

  Topic: Ocean Acidification Research
  The research aims to understand how projected increases in atmosphere C02 may adversely affect marine organisms. We are using laboratory exposures of coral and estuarine species to test the effects of ocean acidification and other stressors.

  Topic: Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Water Impoundments
  Conduct field work, lab work and data analysis to quantify the magnitude of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from water impoundments (i.e. reservoirs). This research will be used to improve the nation’s GHG inventory.

  Topic: Development of an Algorithm-based Climate Change Risk Assessment Framework for Near-coastal Species
  The intern would help develop a climate change risk assessment framework. Areas of focus could include downscaling risks, ocean acidification, or advancing the use of life history traits.

  Topic: Vulnerability of Arctic Species to Climate Change: Likelihood of Colonization of Warm Genotypes from Temperate to Arctic Ecoregions
  Arctic species will be at low risk to warming if warm genotypes from the south migrate northward. The intern will evaluate the likelihood of such migrations through data synthesis and/or modeling.

• Ecosystems Research (6)

  Topic: Combining Measurements and Modeling to Better Understand Ammonia Air-Surface Exchange Processes
  The objective of this project is to characterize the sensitivity of EPA’s bi-directional ammonia flux model to inputs of meteorology, air concentrations and biogeochemistry, focusing on the role of soil and vegetation compensation points.

  Topic: Ecosystem Services -- Translating Data to Information
  Identification of what biophysical features matter directly to specific ways in which people benefit from ecosystems.

  Topic: Emerging Contaminants: Nanomaterials
  EPA’s National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) conducts research to improve the Agency’s ability to assess human and ecological exposures to environmental stressors. The development and use of new materials being released into the environment presents a challenge in understanding how humans and wildlife may be exposed to them. These emerging contaminants, such as nanomaterials, have increased over the years, yet it is unclear how these contaminants move through the environment once they are released. A team of researchers at NERL is currently researching processes governing the fate and transport of these contaminants, so that we can incorporate them into current environmental fate and transport modeling frameworks.

  Topic: Phosphorus Legacies in U.S. Landscapes
  Human alterations of the phosphorus (P) cycle associated with agriculture and food consumption have had a profound impact on water quality across the U.S. Phosphorus balances in watersheds tend to favor the retention of P in soils and ecosystems, which means that P can accumulate rapidly in systems, and then be released in unpredictable ways. This project will examine the inputs of P to the U.S. landscape over time and determine the impacts of these P legacies on watershed P balances and release of P to aquatic ecosystems.

  Topic: Integrated Nitrogen and Phosphorus Footprints in Food Production
  Efforts to support sustainable food and energy production require an approach that accounts for multiple sources of pollution. Environmental footprint calculators are being developed at a variety of scales to provide this information to decision-makers. The fellow would contribute to a multi-institution research project looking to quantify the phosphorus footprint of food production in the U.S. and Canada.

  Topic: Quantifying the Consequences of Spatio-temporal Dynamics of Mangroves Forests in the Provision of Ecosystem Goods and Services
  Mangrove forests provide important ecosystem goods and services to the world’s dense coastal population and support important functions of the biosphere. The forests are under threat from both natural (e.g. typhoons, sea level rise) and anthropogenic forces (rapid economic development, population growth). The loss of these ecosystems can lead to the loss of critical functions of mangroves including coastal protection, carbon sequestration and biodiversity—thus threatening the resiliency and vitality of coastal social-ecological systems. However, our scientific understanding is limited in regards to the rates, patterns and causes of changes to mangrove forest cover and their impact in providing ecosystem goods and services. The proposed research aims to examine dynamics of mangrove forests and associated change in ecosystem good and services of from 1985 to present.

• Health Research (2)

  Topic:  Using Zebrafish to Detect Developmentally Neurotoxic Chemicals Research
  This internship will use a cutting-edge laboratory model, the zebrafish, to assessing the variables that affect zebrafish larval behavior and developing new tests that assess nervous system function.

  Topic:  Science Communication: Importance of Complex Experimental and Computational Models for Evaluating Impacts of Chemicals on Health Outcomes
  Apply science journalism tools to communicate importance and impact of research on complex models to predict impact of chemicals on biological systems. Target audience is policy analysts, decision makers in government and industry, and the general scientific community.

• Safer Chemicals Research (5)

  Topic: Liquid Chromatography- Quadrupole Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry
  There is a need to develop new methods and approaches that can generate exposure data on the growing number of chemicals in commercial use. NERL's Exposure Methods and Measurements Division is developing suspect screening and non-targeted analysis (NTA) methods to gather xenobiotic data in a variety of environmental and biological media to understand the totality of lifetime exposures.

  Topic: Identifying Neurophysiological Signatures of Neurotoxicant Action
  This project will utilize data from microelectrode array recordings of neural networks and ToxCast endpoints to identify signatures acute and developmental neurotoxicity. It will improve prediction of these important endpoints by identifying neurophysiological and biochemical "fingerprints" for known compounds that can then be applied to previously untested compounds.

  Topic: Development of an Innovative Mobile App for Assessing Honey Bee Colony Health by Citizen Scientists
  Protecting honey bee health is a recognized national priority.  This innovative project involves the creation of a mobile app for citizen scientists to monitor the health status of their honey bee colonies.

  Topic: Development and Application of Methods for Assessing Immunocompetence in Bees
  Diminished immunity may be a central factor in bee population declines.  The goal of this project is to evaluate the effects of pesticide exposure on immunocompetence across species of bees.

  Topic: Using Gene Expression to Predict Toxicity Caused by Environmental Chemicals Research Area: Safer Chemicals
  This internship will use cutting-edge laboratory and computational techniques to link chemical-induced gene expression changes generated in different cell models to predictions of adverse effects in animals and humans.

• Water Research (11)

  Topic: 100 Resilient Cities (100RC)
  EPA-Rockefeller Foundation Partnership on 100 Resilient Cities (100RC) – Joining the Office of Research and Development Team to transfer EPA resiliency tools to cities.

  Topic: Analysis of Water Quality Data for Satellite Validation Efforts
  Conduct research and analyses to detect cyanobacteria blooms and other water quality parameters using satellites to support the environmental management and public use of lakes and reservoirs. Cyanobacteria Assessment Network (CyAN) Project

  Topic: Modeling Water Quantity in Narragansett Bay Watershed
  The Intern will learn and apply watershed models to calculate the quantity of the water that proceeds from the Narragansett Bay watershed to the Bay.

  Topic: Intern at Urban Watershed Research Facility (UWRF)
  EPA advocates green infrastructure (GI) as a cost-effective approach to managing stormwater runoff. The Agency needs data on long-term performance, effectiveness, interaction with the existing environmental systems collected, and life-cycle costs of GI collected on a real-world scale. Research is needed to provide the information that can be extrapolated to the national scale using larger watersheds.

  Topic: Development of Gene Centric Modeling for Nutrient Cycling
  The Graduate Research Fellow will participate in the development of a gene-centric model to help predict potential changes in the biogeochemistry of diverse lakes that may arise from anthropogenic stressors and management decisions.

  Topic: Use Multidisciplinary Science to Develop Coral Reef Biocriteria Protective of Biological Communities & Final Ecosystem Goods & Services
  Work with a dynamic scientific team to develop bioindicators and approaches to assess the condition of coral reef ecosystems. Research collaborations provide professional opportunities in a regulatory governmental lab setting.

  Topic: Examining the Co-occurrence of Nutrients and Fecal Microbes in an Estuarine Watershed
  This opportunity involves the development of an innovative measurement method for carbonyls in air which are an important class of hazardous air pollutants.

  Topic: Drivers and Impacts of Coastal Acidification in Pacific Northwest Estuaries
  The intern selected for this position would develop a project focused on the role of eutrophication in influencing coastal acidification and the impact of this acidification on estuarine ecosystems.

  Topic: Influence of Saharan Dust on Seawater- and Coral-associated Vibrio spp
  Studying the influence of Saharan dust on the role and interactions of Vibrio spp. within the microbiome of a coral reef through the application of metagenomics and metatranscriptomics.

  Topic: Using Water Isotopes to Determine Flow Sources and Test How Landscape Characteristics Inform the Hydrologic Behavior of the Columbia River
  We propose to use stable isotopes of surface water to explore how well hydrologic characteristics of landscape units reflect their contribution to flow within the Columbia River Basin.

  Topic: Land and Water Remote Sensing Research
  This internship provides an opportunity to conduct a research project in collaboration with EPA and NASA on utilizing airborne remote sensing for collecting data to support water and land research needs. The proposed research includes field work and aircraft flight support.

• Other Research Areas (2)

  Topic: Assessing the Benefits of the Natural Environment to Individual Well-being
  This internship involves analyzing survey data and measures of ecosystem services to evaluate the association between the natural environment and individual well-being, along with factors including demographics and socio-cultural characteristics that influence that association. EPA is particularly interested in identifying the benefits or salutogenic influence of the natural environment.

  Topic: Spatial and Temporal Components of Composite Risk in Port Communities
  Port communities are potentially exposed to multifocal risks as a result of their proximity to dense infrastructure, intense commerce and a dynamic environmental setting. Approaches are needed to aggregate and compare risks and to incorporate these considerations into urban design and port operations.