Citizen Science Internship

The Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST), a citizen science program based at the University of Washington’s School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, is looking for 3-4 undergraduate students to assist with data entry and management; volunteer recruitment, training, and communication; and program outreach.

COASST works with approximately 800 citizen science volunteers, using their data on beach-cast carcasses of marine birds and marine debris to establish the baseline, or ‘normal’ pattern of deposition on North Pacific beaches. Baselines of seabird mortality are crucial for assessing the impacts of oil spills, fisheries, and climate change in the marine environment, while marine debris data speaks directly to the source and transport pathways of debris, as well as to the potential harm to people, wildlife, and local coastal ecosystems

COASST interns work as a team directly with staff and gain valuable, hands-on experience with citizen science programs and the complexities of volunteer-collected data. These positions will involve a combination of office-based tasks, occasionally requiring travel to coastal data collection sites.

Internship tasks may include:

•Recruiting, tracking, and communicating with citizen science participants

•Managing incoming data and photos from beach surveys

•Entering beached bird, marine debris, and social science data

•Preparing materials for beached bird and marine debris trainings

•Representing COASST at outreach events

Opportunities are available in Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer quarters, and the internship can count towards 2-3 college credits meeting departmental requirements. Each credit requires 4 hours of work per week.

Interested students should send an email with Citizen Science Internship in the subject line to: Jackie Lindsey (Participant Coordinator) at coasst@uw.edu.

Please attach your resume and include a statement of interest that contains:

•applicable background in marine biology (coursework, job/intern experience)

•experience with data, statistics packages, databases (excel, R, catalyst etc.)

•experience with volunteers, volunteer programs, and/or other research labs

•days and times of availability between 8am and 8pm for the upcoming quarter

Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team

University of Washington School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences ◼ 1122 NE Boat St. ◼ Seattle, WA 98195 ◼ (206) 221-6893

www.coasst.org