Internships

Students are encouraged to participate in internships as part of their meteorological education. Normally, students participate in their internships during the summer and then register for one of six internship courses listed below during the following fall semester. For three credits, students need to devote at least 100 hours during their entire internship. The final grade for the internship course will be determined by the student's adviser and is based on weighing the evaluation from the internship supervisor and the evaluation by the adviser of the written paper that summarizes the internship experience. Although there is no minimum or maximum word count for the paper, students are required to address each of the criteria summarized in the internship contracts in a thoughtful and reflective way. Before signing up for an internship course and before beginning the internship experience, each student must meet with his or her adviser and reach an understanding of the paper requirements.

Fall 2009 internship course descriptions are given below. Eventually, the permanent numbers will be 395X and 495X and there will be prerequisites for each.

• METEO 296: Internships for students who have completed only METEO 101, 201, or 300 (3 credits).
  
  Note that the internship contract is the same as that given for the same type of 400-level internship. The only change in the contract is that in the written paper for the first four types of internships, the documented event that occurred during your internship must be linked clearly to a specific facet of one of your meteorology courses.

The following six courses will be used for students who have completed at least one Meteorology 400-level course:

• METEO 497A: Communications Internship (3 credits)
  Supervised internship of at least 100 hours at a facility that focuses on disseminating weather forecasts or weather-related information. 

• METEO 497B: Private Sector Internship (3 credits)
  Supervised internship of at least 100 hours at a private company that focuses on creating or applying meteorological knowledge.

• METEO 497C: Operations Internship (3 credits)
  Supervised internship of at least 100 hours at a governmental facility that focuses on operational weather forecasting.

• METEO 497D: International Internships (3 credits)
  Supervised internship of at least 100 hours at an international meteorological facility.
  

• METEO 497E: Off-Campus Research Internships (3 credits)
  Supervised internship of at least 100 hours in which the student engages in off-campus research.

• METEO 496: Independent Studies (1-3 credits)
  METEO 480W (3 credits), or METEO 480M (3 credits) will be used for on-campus research.