2026 Internship Opportunities

Today, coral reefs are the cradle of marine biodiversity, but very little is know about the role metazoan reefs played in more ancient animal evolution and extinction.  ~520 million years ago, virtually all of the animal body plans still around today were invented in one very short period of time called the Cambrian explosion. In this internship, you will test the hypothesis that the first animal-built reefs roughened the seafloor, creating new habitat, nutrient supplies, and shelter, driving the unique Cambrian radiation of diversity and disparity, and setting off the next 500 million years of coevolution between animals and climate that is still playing out today.  You will spend the first 3-4 weeks of this internship collecting field data in the Flinders Mountains of South Australia. The remainder of the internship will be spent on Princeton’s campus performing lab work on the samples returned from Australia, and writing code to analyze our data.

In Australia, interns will take part in all the same activities as the PIs, from making campfires, cooking dinner, cleaning dishes, and packing the truck, to flying drones, running differential GPS surveys, collecting rocks, imaging outcrops, and digitizing data.  Back at Princeton, interns will prepare rock samples for imaging and geochemical analysis, run a mass spectrometer and the one of a kind grinding and imaging reconstruction instrument (GIRI), and write python code for image processing, machine-learning based classification and segmentation, and simple modeling.

Interns will learn how to conduct all phases of geological field work, from wilderness camping to measuring stratigraphic section and mapping geological units.  Interns also will learn how to run geochemical and geophysical instrumentation in the lab, and to analyze data using python code and various ML/AI/Computer vision approaches.

No background or course prerequisites are strictly required. However, we prefer students have experience backpacking and writing python code.

Wilderness camping, python coding

Strenuous hiking with heavy rock-filled backpacks. Cold nights below freezing. Long days of work, from camp work to field work to data entry. No strictly 'off days', although we do have driving days. Up to 10+ days with no running water or showers.

Laptop, tent, sleeping, bag, and other camping supplies.

• Students will meet with internship mentors in the winter and spring, prior to the internship start date. Reading materials may also be provided.
• Students are responsible for securing accommodations for the duration of their internship. On-campus summer housing is typically available the first week of June until the first week of August (details to become available in Spring 2026). If the internship falls outside of on-campus housing availability, students will need to secure alternate housing.
• Students will need to consult UHS for travel medical requirements. It is the responsibility of the student to be aware of entry requirements and to obtain any necessary documentation. Valid passport required. Students are required to register their travel with the University through Enroll My Trip. Information related to the University’s Permissible Travel Guidelines can be found here. Funding is contingent on travel registration and University approval.