Internships: A Taste of the Working World

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Reflections on my Undergraduate Internship Opportunity

 During the summer between my junior and senior year of undergraduate work at Truman State University, I had the opportunity to participate in a joint internship program between the National Weather Service (NWS) Office of Kansas City and the Truman State Physics Department via my academic advisor, Dr. Maria Di Stefano.  This was an unpaid position, but one which allowed me to receive credit hours at Truman, pending the completion of a research paper and oral presentation.

 For the last four years, I have been attending graduate school in environmental atmospheric science and will be completing my PhD this fall.  Although I did not follow the exact career path available via the National Weather Service (i.e. weather forecasting), the internship experience helped me find my current field of research. 

 During the internship, I was exposed to several different possible career paths in meteorology.  For example, the office provided me with “field trips” across the state.  I visited a local television station for an opportunity to meet a broadcast meteorologist and see the filming of the nightly news.  As interns, we had the opportunity to participate in educational outreach through a program titled SKY-WARN.  This program teaches farmers how to spot severe weather, both for their own protection and to assist the NWS in informing others.  Finally, we also visited automated weather stations, which sparked my interest in my current research of atmospheric trace gases both at the ground level and via aircraft platforms.

 In addition to the exposure to the many different types of jobs available within the field of atmospheric science, this internship also helped me make valuable contacts.  I still often call upon these contacts for references, when applying for research grants.  It is also comforting to see a face from the past at conferences across the nation.

 Technology is an expensive endeavor, especially with the field of atmospheric science.  It requires fast computers along with very specific software packages, cutting-edge instrumentation, plus a strong engineering and information technology staff.  It would impossible to provide these types of resources for every sub-field of science within any university.  Thus, the internship provided me with hands-on computer and laboratory experiences, not available within my coursework at Truman.  For example, I was able to create a climatology web-site during my time at the NWS office.

 Most importantly, this internship helped me narrow my interest, such that I was able to make a more decisive decision for a graduate program.  Not only did I discover my specific interest, but maybe more importantly, I discovered what did not interest me.  This internship had a direct effect on my choice of graduate schools and research groups during my senior year at Truman.  Overall, I am extremely grateful for this experience and would encourage students to participate in the future.

Anna Gannet Hallar
Graduate Student/ Research Assistant
Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics
Program in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science
University of Colorado