The 30th UPRM-ERDC Summer Internship Program will be celebrated for ten weeks beginning June 2020. Up to forty students from various disciplines at UPRM may be selected, based on availability, to participate in undergraduate and graduate research experiences in various laboratories at the Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) of the US Army Corp of Engineers. Seven research and development laboratories are located as follows: Vicksburg, MS (Geotechnical and Structures-GSL, Information Technology-ITL, Coastal and Hydraulics-CHL, Environmental-EL); Champaign, IL (Construction Engineering Research-CERL); Alexandria, VA (Geospatial Research-GRL); Hannover, NH (Cold Regions Research and Engineering Research-CRREL)
If you are aiming at graduate programs and terminal degrees, learned specialized research techniques and training, learn the job environment in federal agencies, and search for a job in the federal government, this internship may be the best pathway to your professional future.
General Areas of Expertise
• Environmental (biological, chemical, and physical pollutant impact and treatment in water, waste water, solid waste, hazardous waste, and others)
• Plants and vegetation distribution, characterization, protection, preservation, identification in natural or disturbed ecological environments
• Environmental, climate, and weather change and modifications
• Coastal and ocean hydrodynamics, physical and numerical modeling, coastal erosion estimates and measures, data analyses
• Water–structure interactions in coastal or riverine environments
• Environmental impact of civil and military activities on plants, animals, and humans
• Computer applications such as software development, computer programming, android programming, model developments, data analyses, data mining, data representation.
• Software applications, mapping, and geomatics applications such as may be but not limited to C++, C#, JavaScript, Python, MSSQL, Matlab, GIS and Image Processing (ENVI, ERDAS Imagine, ARCVIEW, ARCGIS), many others
• Pavements, terrain, and airfields modeling, analyses, and simulation for civil and military wheel and tracked vehicles (e.g., airplanes, tanks, trucks, and others)
• Composite, ceramic, plastic, bioinspired, and high performance materials and innovative material analyses, testing, characterization for mechanical, structural, and environmental behavior (e.g., concrete)
• Static and dynamic structural analyses and testing of structural elements, components, and systems like dams, bridges, walls, buildings
• Geotechnical studies of soils, aggregates, soil structures like levees, dams, foundations
• Mechanical systems design and operations (hydraulic gates, equipment, and machinery, and many others)
• Electrical and power systems and networks for equipment and laboratory facilities
• Impact of weapon blast effects on structures, soils, and protection systems
• Hydrological and hydraulic analyses and design for riverine, coastal, and drainage systems, modeling, data analyses, and infrastructure
• Construction methods, procedures, and technologies (sustainability, cost analyses, life cycle analyses, standards, and many other related to civil and military infrastructure and others)
Benefits of the program:
• Payment through undergraduate and graduate assistantships (based on Federal Scale-GS-05; GS-07; GS-09):
GS-05 approximately $19.59 per hour
GS-07 (Engineering) approximately $23.91 per hour
GS-09 approximately $28.91 per hour
• Round trip air tickets
• Help identify shared housing
• Ground transportation (a car for every four students)
• Challenging federal government job experience and real research team work under the supervision of ERDC researchers in their research laboratories
• Registration in a three credit-hour research course payed by the ERIP program
• Practical experience in technical writing and communication (technical reports, oral presentation, technical paper writing)
• Participation in a national summer research symposium
• Social and cultural experiences in the United states
• Opportunity of being hired as job positions become available
• Being trained to address graduate challenges in research
Requirements
To participate in the UPRM – ERDC Education and Research Internship Program the following requirements must be met:
1. Be a USA citizen or permanent resident
2. Comply with the minimum academic requirements:
• Minimum GPA : 3.0/4.0
• Minimum credits approved : 2/3 of the required total
credits of the undergraduate program
3. Apply online: https://www.uprm.edu/inci/erdc-erip/
4. Enter demographic information
5. Upload an updated resume
6. Upload transcripts (BS, MS and PhD) (Can be student copy from your counsellor)
7. Select preferred project (SOW) in order of priority as soon as available
8. Sign the agreement documents
9. Fill traveling orders
10.Participate of the orientation meetings
11.Register in a three credit-hour course with the advisor’s recommendation
12.Have authorization from your Graduate advisor (just for graduate students)
