Paleontology Intern

About the Role

The San Diego Natural History Museum (The Nat) offers a part-time, temporary Paleontology Internship through the Jacobs Center for Science and Conservation. This program provides training and mentoring in curation, imaging, databasing protocols, and collections-based research to prepare students for careers in the natural sciences, including academia, research, and environmental consulting.

About the Department of Paleontology

The Department of Paleontology manages the Museum’s fossil collection and its supporting documentation, conducting research and providing information about the paleontology and geology of southern California and Baja California to the public, media, and scientific community.

Responsibilities

• Microscopic “picking” of wet-screened sediment concentrate for micro-invertebrate and micro-vertebrate fossils.
• General sorting and taxonomic identification of invertebrate and vertebrate fossils.
• Organizing sorted fossils into individual species lots and placing them in archival specimen unit trays, plastic vials, glass vials, and/or gel capsules.
• Entering or updating collection locality and specimen identification information into the SDNHM Paleontology Collection Database.
• Writing locality and specimen tracking numbers on catalogued fossils.
• Placing organized, trayed, catalogued, and numbered fossils into steel drawers and storage cabinets.
• Photographing specimens for curation and research purposes.
• Participating in a general inventory and reorganization of the SDNHM Paleontology Collection.

Fossil specimen projects may include:

• Late Pleistocene terrestrial and marine microvertebrate fossils from coastal southern California.
• Early Pleistocene terrestrial macrovertebrate fossils from inland southern California.
• Late Pliocene and late Miocene marine invertebrate and vertebrate fossils from coastal and inland southern California.
• Middle Eocene terrestrial vertebrate fossils from coastal southern California.
• Late Cretaceous marine invertebrate fossils from coastal and inland southern California.

Requirements

• Interest in natural history, paleontology, and/or geology.
• Technology and communication skills.

Qualifications

Applicants must:

• Be a student in the final 2 years of an earth science and/or evolutionary biology undergraduate degree program or a very recent graduate of such a program.
• Live in San Diego County or be willing to commute.

A special emphasis is placed on recruiting students in San Diego County who are members of groups underrepresented in STEM careers.

Schedule

The internship requires up to 14 hours of work per week over approximately 24 weeks.

Pay

$20/hour.

Benefits

• Free admission to all Balboa Park museums.
• Free admission to the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park.

Additional benefits information is available here.