2019 Mosaics in Science Interns have been selected. It is a difficult decision each year, but final decisions have been made and 24 interns selected to participate in Mosaics in Science (MIS). Interns will work side-by-side with scientists and other professionals. Interns are part of bat research, bird surveys, seed collection projects, geological surveys, archeological explorations, and much more. Interns receive additional training through weekly webinars and help to share the mission of the program through this Blog. During a post-internship career workshop, participants have a first opportunity to meet other interns face-to-face and share their summer’s work during an oral or poster presentation. Guest speakers provide additional information about science careers and federal jobs. The goals of MIS are to provide science-based internships for racially and ethnically undergraduate and graduate students, and recent graduates to increase relevancy, diversity and inclusion in the National Park Service (NPS). We also strive to promote the mission of the NPS and to support high priority natural resource management and visitor education and interpretation projects in some of America’s most beautiful places. 
The Great Walden BioBlitz
I spend a lot of my time putting together The Great Walden Pond BioBlitz (it’s on July 6th, come join us) . We’re bringing together teachers, scientists, naturalists, and the public to explore the parks Read more…
So What Am I Working On?
This summer, I am working on developing a map for conservation initiatives. There are over 4,000 species of bees native to North America itself, and each U.S. state has its own catalog of species. The Read more…
Outreach Events
World Oceans Day As one of the partners of Underwater World, the War in the Pacific park had an interactive booth on World Oceans Day. Josh, a summer intern under the PIPES program, and I Read more…
Down By the River
Minute Man National Historical Park (MIMA) sits on a historic landscape which has been carefully maintained for over two hundred years. In fact, the building I work out of overlooks the Old North Bridge along Read more…
Field Trip Frenzy
As of late, many more school groups have been taking interest in field trip opportunities here at New River Gorge National River. The ranger staff cannot handle several groups at a time, so unfortunately they Read more…
A Story about Sickness, Survival, and Sustainability
Badlands National Park is located in South Dakota. Although South Dakota or Badlands NP may not come to mind immediately when thinking about places to visit within the United States, Badlands NP is truly one Read more…
Not Just the Honey Bee
Before this internship began, I had no idea about the breadth of native bee species found in North America. Over 4000 species of bees call North America home. Essential to the process of pollination, it’s Read more…
Dynamism
A few weeks back, I thought of national parks as static. I thought of the world around them as developing at an ever increasing pace while they stayed the same.Yet this couldn’t be further from Read more…
New Supe for You
The staff at Capulin Volcano is thrilled as our acting superintendent, Fermin Salas, has arrived on-site. Fermin has a lot of great ideas for the park and has been a very warm addition to the Read more…
Site Visits – Alejandro and Vishva!
On June 11, 2019, Environment for the Americas’ (EFTA) Latino Outreach Coordinator, and I completed a site visit at the Rocky Mountain National Park in Estes Park, Colorado. We were about an hours drive from Read more…
My Project at Mt Rainier
My main project that I am going to be doing at Mt. Rainier National Park is guano collection, emergencies counts data, and contacting staff from other parks in the Pacific Northwest that are collecting guano Read more…
Bat, Chats, and Fun Facts
If four bat skeletons, three stuffed animals, two coloring pages, and one aggressively friendly smile can’t convince visitors to talk to you about bats, nothing can. I stock my Bat Chat table with all these Read more…
Keying In #3: My Summer Project
😯 I just started my 4th week here at Biscayne already! Last week (5 June) I was able to drive down to Marathon, FL and learn how to better work with the RVC (reef visual Read more…
How WNS spreads
Something interesting that I learned in my internship is that there are multiple ways we can identify white nose syndrome in bats. We can DNA test there guano to see if they carry the disease. Read more…
Ice Cream Rocks!
Being in the park service has truly changed how I look at natural features in the wild along with its sheer size. Petrified Forest National Park is a big park that takes 45 minutes to Read more…
Keying In #2: About Biscayne
Biscayne National Park, located about an hour south of Miami and nearest to Homestead, Florida, preserves Biscayne Bay, offshore barrier reefs, Elliott Key (the first Florida Key), and the northern part of the Florida Reef. Read more…
Born To Be Wild: A Yellowstone National Park Adventure
Greetings from Southern California! My name is Alyssa Canova. This summer, I am interning as a Biology Assistant for 1) Yellowstone National Park’s Center for Resources and 2) the Greater Yellowstone Inventory and Monitoring Network. Read more…
Venturing into Very Valuable Vegetation
I am three weeks into my internship working with the Great Plains Inventory & Monitoring Network and Badlands National Park. It is mind-blowing how differently I look at plants in this very short time. Plants Read more…
It was Dino-mite
Last week was a lot of fun because the park hosted a great event called Dinosaur Day. It is hosted on June 6 in memory of the discovery of the oldest dinosaur ever found in Read more…
Underwater Laboratory
For the past two weeks, I have been tasked to do background research on Guam’s coral reefs and start preparing a draft on a poster that will be used for future outreach events. In addition, Read more…
Rock the Rhyolite
USMP for Federal Land Management Agencies My main project during the summer will be the Unstable Slope Management Program (USMP) for federal land management at Chiricahua National Monument. This project is intended to provide map Read more…
Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park
Hello from up north! Since my last couple blogs were dedicated to introducing myself and the area I just moved to, I thought that I would focus this week’s post on Klondike Gold Rush National Read more…
Microbial Forests and Bat Nets
In the past week, I have had the pleasure of attending two fascinating talks here at Carlsbad Caverns National Park—Superbugs, Wonder Drugs, and Amazing Caves: Lechuguilla Cave and the future of antibiotic resistance by Katey Read more…
Memorial Day Weekend Camping
The Mojave Desert can be a hostile environment to live in, however, life continues to flourish despite extreme temperatures. Environment for the Americas organized a 2019 Memorial Day camping trip to bring together interns from Read more…
Surveying Bald Eagle Nests
“Did you know that, in movies, they rarely use the actual call of a bald eagle?” After hiking through pines trees, down a cave, over a trench, and up one of the tallest buttes in Read more…
Rocky’s Enigmatic Glaciers
This summer, in addition to assisting with citizen science projects, my focus will be on glaciers in Rocky Mountain National Park. This will take the form of an institutional memory project (a collection of scientific Read more…
Big Time, Tule Grass, Plastic Waste…Oh My!
In this week’s blog I will present my projects for the summer so that you can know all about the work I am doing here in Point Reyes! I have also included a weekly update Read more…
Cuyahoga Valley: From Toxic Dump to National Park
Dear reader, Descending into the fog of the valley every morning, I see people finishing up their runs and setting off for work. In the evening, as I leave the park, I observe lots filling Read more…
A Brief History of Capulin Volcano
It dawned on me that though this is my fourth week here, I haven’t shared much about the park itself. In 1890, inspector WD Harland of the General Land Office visited Capulin. After his visitation, Read more…
From Mountain Time to Island Time: An Intern Intro
My name is Camilo Jose Acosta-Garcia and I have the great honor of participating in this 2019 Mosaics in Science Internship. I am from Washington, and fittingly love hiking and wearing flannel shirts. I am Read more…
A Warm Welcome to Skagway – Literally
Greetings from Skagway, Alaska! Time feels like it’s been passing so quickly, I can hardly believe that I’ve already been in this beautiful town for a couple weeks. Time flies when you’re having fun, I Read more…
Working in the Dark
My site is like other towns in the Mt Rainer National Park. We have bat boxes on building and structures all across the park major town and buildings. We also set up data recorders in Read more…
Introducing: The Dunes
Located along the southern edge of Lake Michigan, Indiana Dunes is the United States’ newest National Park. Formerly Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, the Park contains some of the most abundant plant diversity in the United Read more…
Wonder and the Unfamiliar
This past Tuesday I found myself at McGraw Ranch, a complex nestled into the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Here gentle, forested hills converge at a stream that traces the front periphery of the complex Read more…
Send Dunes
Since starting my internship at the park, I’ve come to realize there is a lot that goes to interpretation in the park service. We have done work with school and college groups to teach them Read more…
Pollen and Pecos
There are pollen slides collected from birds going back to 2014. It’s slow work, but I’m planning to get through all the slides by the end of the summer. Just to give you an idea Read more…
Week 1: Getting to Know the Author
Hello, my name is Aliya Khan. I am a Mosaics in Science intern working at Manassas National Battlefield Park this summer. I am originally from Washington DC but grew up abroad in Malaysia, Thailand and Read more…
The National Park Service’s Southeast Arizona Group (SEAZ)
Hello all! The first expedition into the Southwest of the United States was in 1540 by Francisco Vázquez de Coronado. The park commemorates that expedition. Coronado National Memorial is distinguished by its high mountains around Read more…
Carlsbad Visitor Use Management Project
The framework starts with defining the limits of acceptable change, or the minimally acceptable conditions, then developing and carrying out monitoring studies, if the data show the park has surpassed the limits of acceptable change, then park management must take an action to address this. The cycle repeats always relying on data driven analysis.
The Scientists The Rangers Go To
Last post, I mentioned that I am the new intern at the SFCN office in Miami. You might have wondered what that meant. The South Florida/Caribbean Inventory & Monitoring Network (SFCN) is one of 32 Read more…
A River Runs Through It
Hello reader, This past week I’ve been busy laying the foundation for the project I will be working on for the rest of the summer. My end goal is to develop a sustainable citizen science Read more…
Volcano Views
With my first week at Capulin in the books, I have a pretty good idea of how I’m going to be spending the summer. For the past few years, people in my position have worked Read more…
My Introduction to Point Reyes
Stretching along the Northern California coast and home to over 1500 species of plants and animals, Point Reyes National Seashore offers plentiful opportunities to connect with the area’s several cultures and diverse habitats. One of Read more…
Exploring Heppe Ice Cave
Lava Beds National Monument has over twenty developed caves for visitors to discover, but, if a cave contains bat maternity colonies, then the cave is shut. The caves are shut for the bats’ protection because, Read more…
Home Sweet Home
Håfa Adai! My name is Brittany Tominez. This summer I will be interning as a natural resource interpretive assistant at the War in the Pacific National Historic Park on Guam. I was born and raised Read more…
Living at Carlsbad Caverns
About Carlsbad. Carlsbad Caverns National Park is in the Guadalupe Mountains in southeastern New Mexico, very near the border between Texas and Mexico. The land here was once an ocean reef during the Permian period Read more…
The New River Gorge National River
The New River Gorge is the most diverse river gorge in the central/southern Appalachians. The 53-mile river flows in a northward direction from North Carolina up through West Virginia. The park itself exist within West Read more…
Keying In #1: Introduction
Welcome to my 10-week blog: Keying In! My name is Patricia Alquiza from McKinney, Texas and I will be a senior at the University of Notre Dame this fall, majoring in environmental sciences and Spanish with Read more…
A Summer in Arizona
Hello all! My name is Estefanía Vicens-Clavell, I am from San Juan, Puerto Rico and I am very happy to be a Mosaics in Science intern this summer! I am interning as a geomorphology assistant Read more…
At first I was afraid…I was Petrified
Hello everyone, my name is Sebastian. I am returning Mosaics intern this year and I will be working in the same state I did last year. This time I will be working as a Natural Read more…
Welcome to Lava Beds
Hello! My name is Zoe Flores and I am thrilled to be a Mosaics in Science intern this summer! I am a rising senior at Cornell University in New York, but this summer, I will Read more…
Seeing the Hiding Mountain
I am going to be interning as biology assistant at Mt Rainer National park. I am from Cleveland, Ohio. I have a passion for the outdoors and learning as much as I can about different Read more…
Bad at Badlands Backyard Botany, but getting Better
Hau mitakuyepi. Chante wasteya napechiyuzape. Christian Knutson emaciyapi. Waniyetu ma wikcemna nunpa samn nunpa. Black Hills State University el wablawa na Outdoor Education unspemic’ichiye. Oglala Lakota hemacha. Ogle Luta el wathi. — Hello! I shake Read more…
Don’t Fear the NEPA and Other Adventures
Hello reader, It feels like my first week has been a whirlwind of trainings and introductions, but it has been hectic in the best way possible. I have been relishing the beautiful hikes and the Read more…
A Revolution Begins: An Ecologist Meets a Historic Park
When I was eight years old I visited Minuteman National Historic Park in Concord Massachusetts. That very day just happened to National Ranger Day. I wondered why everyone was wearing these flat brimmed straw hats, Read more…
Wild, Wonderful
Hello All! My name is Nicole Esch and I will be working as the citizen science and education outreach assistant in New River Gorge National River this summer. I just graduated a few weeks ago Read more…
Three Months of Caving
My name is Sonia Meyer. I grew up in Northern Virginia, just outside of Washington DC, but I’ve called Santa Clara, CA my home for the past year. Caving has been a great passion of Read more…
Introducing Me: Ansley
My name is Ansley Watkins, and I’m entering my third year at The Ohio State University. I’m majoring in Natural Resource Management and minoring in Community Outreach Education. Though I go to school in Ohio, Read more…
Hello!
I’m Vishva Nalamalapu, a rising fourth year Biology major and Environmental Studies minor at Grinnell College. I was born and raised in the lovely suburbs of Portland, Maine, but my mother recently moved to Washington’s Read more…
A Fish-Out-of-Water: Leaving the World of Ichthyology Behind for a Summer in the Alaskan Wilderness
Hello again, everyone! I’m back and ready for another season with the Mosaics in Science Diversity Internship! It’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything on this website – so much has changed for Read more…
What’s Next?
When I was young, pre-school age, I would tell people I wanted to be “a vet without the blood.” About ten years after that, I went to ecology summer camp at the local university and Read more…
Cross Country
Hello! Welcome to the Xavier Rivera edition of the Capulin Volcano National Monument blog. It will be hosted by yours truly, Xavier Rivera. As I write this post, I have arrived at my yurt in Read more…
¡Hola! Welcome to our Mosaics in Science Diversity Internship program ! I am Sheylda Díaz-Méndez, the MIS coordinator for Environment for the Americas, a partner based in Colorado. Last year, I was invited to collaborate with MIS to do site Read more…
Welcome to Mosaics
Hello Everyone! Welcome. My name is Christine Louis-Jacques and I am a Project Manager with the Greening Youth Foundation. After obtaining my Bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, I moved to Washington, DC Read more…
A GYF Welcome
Welcome to the Mosaics in Science Diversity Internship Program! My name is Eboni Preston, and I am a Director of Programs at the Greening Youth Foundation (GYF). For the last few years I have worked Read more…
Greetings and Welcome
Hello! Congratulations on your acceptance into the Mosaics in Science Diversity Internship program! My name is Stephen Poblete and I am an Internship Assistant with Environment For The Americas. In 2016, I graduated from the Read more…
Dinosaur National Monument: The Prequel
Hi there! My name’s Tut, and I’m serving as the Mosaics in Science Paleontology Assistant at Dinosaur National Monument in Jensen, Utah this summer. My position doesn’t begin until June, but earlier this month, I Read more…
Welcome to MIS!
Mosaics in Science Diversity Internship Program is special in many ways. I am Susan Bonfield, the Director of Environment for the Americas. As a biologist and educator, I love the opportunities MIS provides you to Read more…
Returning to Cuyahoga Valley
Hello reader, My name is Crystal Zhao and I am a rising sophomore at Johns Hopkins University studying environmental science, English, and economics. This summer I will be interning at Cuyahoga Valley National Park as Read more…
A Summer ’19 Welcome
Welcome to my very first Mosaics in Science blog post! This summer I will be an interpretation and resource education assistant at Point Reyes National Seashore, and these posts allow any reader to follow along. Read more…
Welcome to Mosaics in Science!
Welcome to the National Park Service and the Mosaics in Science Diversity Internship Program! I am happy that you are joining us as a Mosaics in Science intern this summer. Your role is critical in fulfilling the Read more…
Welcome to Mosaics in Science!
Hello and Welcome! I am the NPS Program Assistant for the Mosaics in Science Diversity Internship Program. I was first exposed to careers in the National Park Service through the Geoscientists-in-the-Parks Internship Program, where I Read more…
There and Back Again: Reflections on my Summer at Point Reyes National Seashore
It’s the end of week 12, and thus my summer adventure has reached its conclusion. My how time flies! It seems like only yesterday that I was preparing for my road trip to California and Read more…
Dirty Jobs: Fisheries Technician Edition
Perhaps you’ve always wondered what it’s like to be a field scientist, maybe you’re considering applying to the Mosaics program, or perhaps you’ve never really given it much thought but now I have you questioning Read more…
Heading for the hills: escaping California beaches for the mountains of Colorado
Like I mentioned in my last blog, during the beginning of this month all of the Mosaics in Science interns (including myself) attended a 5 day end-of-internship conference in Colorado! While at the conference we Read more…
Getting Batty
This week I had the opportunity to help out on a brand new bat monitoring project over in the Everglades. Just a bit of background – there are currently 5 bats in the species list Read more…
Not a Goodbye but a See You Later
It’s hard to fit all my experiences this summer into this last blog post. It was not only an internship at Glen Canyon; it was 12 weeks of traveling, friendships, good food, and even better Read more…
Forging Lasting Relationships at Valley Forge Park
What a time it’s been. I’ve finally successfully adopted my 6:30 wake-up call, gotten my much-delayed personal identity verification card (which grants access to the park’s data store of years bygone), and gotten into the Read more…
The beginning of the end
Mt. Rainier played host to a wonderful summer season of meaningful connections and vibrant beauty. The experience could not have been more perfect. The ribbon that tied this beautiful gift together was the entire staff, Read more…
All play and no work on a mountain
Established as a national park in 1899, before the National Park Service was created in 1916, Mount Rainier National Park is a prized jewel of the Pacific Northwest. 2 million people visit annually, most coming Read more…
Oh, the Places Rhys’ll Go
Less than a year ago, I was selecting classes for my spring 2018 semester with the intent to graduate. I was 2 courses away from graduation. Due to the unavailability of a second class in Read more…
Last Blog, More Adventures to Come
As the MOSAICS internship is coming to a close, and my time in Rocky Mountain in nearing an end, I’d like to review my time here and where I’ll be going forward. Overall, I’ve learned Read more…
A Green Desert Landscape in Arizona
Going over the last 11 weeks I been here in Coronado National Memorial, I have learned many new things that will help in my future in the Geosciences. This summer has a been a a Read more…
Week 9: My Results
Over the course of the last 12 weeks I have participated in a number of projects for the NPS; however, my primary task has been to conduct field work and write the preliminary report for Read more…
Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee, Secrete Formic Acid like an Ant
This past week my fellow interns and I, along with our Youth Conservation Corps members, went to see Philadelphia’s Academy of Natural Sciences. We did the usual rounds and saw dioramas of African, Asian, and Read more…
A vocabulary lesson
It’s a great hike!” About seven and a half miles round-trip, 3000 feet of elevation gain. No problem. You’ll only reach the saddle, but you can do a ten-minute scramble to reach the peak. “A Read more…
Shell-Mates: Turtles in Traps
August 2, 2018 For the past few weeks, Karl and I have been tracking 7 Western Pond Turtles in Redwood Creek. Using the transmitters attached to their shells, we can get a pretty good idea Read more…
Beyond One Fish, Two Fish: Shocking Ways to Count Fish
This past week, I’ve teamed up with the The Point Reyes Fisheries Crew (and their Mosaics intern, Katlyn!) to collect data that can help determine population numbers of Coho in Redwood Creek. This time of Read more…
Something Special
Besides working on G.I.S. and data points for trees I have been given the chance to work on other things also. One my most faorote side projects was working on the Mount Vernon Trail along Read more…
Learning Something New!
As my final project deadline approaches I have began to create my first Story Map using ArcMap online. This is an new tool and website for me but it is very critical to present my Read more…
See ya later Yellowstone!
This summer has gone by in a the blink of an eye! As I come to my final days in the park, I have been reflecting on all I have learned and experienced in Yellowstone Read more…
Into the Humidity
I know when you start an internship you are supposed to have an idea of what you are getting into and what your goals are to grow within the positon. I remember telling my supervisor, Read more…
The Big Time Festival at Kule Loklo: Celebrating the First Peoples of Point Reyes National Seashore and Beyond
This past weekend the National Park Service and Point Reyes National Seashore Association hosted the 38th annual Big Time Festival at Kule Loklo. This annual event celebrates the First People, the Coast Miwok, who once Read more…
Sunset on a Volcano
This summer has flown by, just as I knew it would. This is my last full week at Capulin Volcano National Monument, before heading to Denver for our Mosaics in Science workshop in Lakewood, Colorado. Read more…
Ironwork at Hopewell Furnace
As part of our Summer Challenge series meant to expose park employees to park experiences outside of their day-to-day departmental duties, I recently attended an iron moulding and casting event at our sister park, Hopewell Read more…
A Summer of Wonders
Eleven weeks sure do fly by when you’re having fun. I swear I was just sitting in a room with 30 strangers learning about what the difference between a national park and monument was. Those Read more…
The Fault in our Caves
I’ve had a blast this summer at Jewel Cave. I’ve done so many cool things in such a short time! Although I didn’t answer every question I had about this place, I know my efforts Read more…
So What’s The News?
The overall purpose for this project was to get started on a 5+ year plan to predict how moose herbivory impacts vegetation on Isle Royale. As stated in a previous blog because of the limited Read more…
Raising Wild Fish
This week, Karl and I turned an errand to pick up fish food from the Don Clauson Hatchery (for an experiment later this summer!) into a field trip to learn about the Russian River’s Coho Read more…
Many Props Needed
Reflecting back on my past 10 weeks, I’m asking myself, “what haven’t I done?” One of the first things I did when I got to Lava Beds was to analyze the last two years of Read more…