Unveiling Plant Science Internships: Cultivating the Next Generation of Scientists

Fostering the next generation of plant scientists is critical to solving some of our planet’s biggest challenges. Plant science internships offer invaluable opportunities for students to gain hands-on experience, working directly with researchers and contributing to cutting-edge discoveries. These internships serve as a gateway to careers in agriculture, environmental science, and biotechnology, equipping students with the skills and knowledge necessary to address pressing global issues.

Diverse Opportunities in Plant Science Internships

Plant science internships span a wide array of disciplines, catering to students with diverse interests and academic backgrounds. Some of the areas explored in these internships include:

Plant diversity
Molecular biology
Systematics
Taxonomy
Morphology
Development
Bioinformatics

These internships are available to undergraduate, high school, and postgraduate students, providing opportunities at various stages of their academic journeys.

New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) Internships

Each year, NYBG places undergraduate, high school, and postgraduate students in paid plant science internships. Interns work directly with Garden scientists and participate in cutting-edge research on plant diversity, molecular biology, systematics, taxonomy, morphology, development, and/or bioinformatics. Part-time school year internships are available during fall and spring semesters for New York City students through NYBG’s participation in the Sci Network NYC. In addition, a small number of summer internships may also be available. In rare circumstances, unpaid internships may be permitted with documentation that interns receive course credit or fulfill a requirement of their academic program.

For more than ten years, Taft School and The New York Botanical Garden have enjoyed a growing and meaningful partnership. Each year, the Garden welcomes Taft students to its classrooms, laboratories, libraries, and research spaces.

The SCI Network NYC

The SCI Network NYC is a consortium of eight science-based cultural institutions-including the New York Botanical Garden-that together provide high-quality, paid STEM internships for New York City youth. The program has provided training for students in all legislative districts in New York City.

USDA Internship Programs

The USDA offers federal internship and employment opportunities for current students, recent graduates, recent veterans, and those with advanced degrees. There are three pathway opportunities:

The Pathways Internship Program: This program provides year-round paid work experiences for current degree-seeking high-school, undergraduate, and graduate students. Interns may work during the summer, fall, spring, or year-round and are eligible for non-competitive conversion upon program completion.
The Pathways Recent Graduates Program: This program is for graduates within two years of degree or certificate completion, and for veterans within 6 years of obtaining a degree. Fellows are placed in a one-year career development program that may be non-competitively converted upon completion of program requirements.
The Presidential Management Fellows Program: This program is the flagship leadership development program for advanced degree candidates. In addition to salary and benefits, fellows earn a two-year appointment that may be converted to a permanent appointment.

USDA Scholarship Programs

1890 National Scholars Program: As a partnership between USDA and the 1890 historically black land-grant colleges and universities, the USDA 1890 National Scholars Program provides full tuition, fees, books, room and board to selected students pursuing a bachelor's degree in agriculture, food, natural resource sciences, or related academic disciplines at one of 19 designated 1890s land-grant universities. When the student has completed the academic and summer work requirements of the scholarship, USDA may at its discretion convert the student to a permanent employee without further competition.
1994 Tribal Scholars Program: The USDA 1994 Tribal Scholars Program seeks to increase the number of American Indian and Alaska Native students studying agriculture, food, natural resource sciences, and related disciplines. Eligible students are those that plan to attend and are enrolled, currently attend, or recently graduated from a Tribal College or University. The program provides full tuition, employment, housing or a living stipend, employee benefits, fees, and books each year for up to 4 years to selected students at one of 35 federally recognized Tribal Colleges and Universities and continuing at other higher education institutions.

USDA Opportunities for Young Adults

American Climate Corps: As part of historic efforts to combat climate change, advance environmental justice, and build the clean energy economy, USDA is excited to announce its participation in the American Climate Corps. The American Climate Corps (ACC), is a groundbreaking, workforce training and service initiative that will prepare tens of thousands of young people for good-paying jobs in the clean economy and for climate resilience. In year one, American Climate Corps will put more than 20,000 young people on career pathways in the growing fields of clean energy, conservation and climate resilience.
Indian Youth Service Corps: The Indian Youth Service Corps (IYSC) is a Department of the Interior (DOI) initiative designed to engage Native youth in meaningful public service projects on federal and Tribal lands for the benefit of Native communities. Participants engage in projects related to natural resources; parks and recreation; environmental conservation and restoration; infrastructure and construction; energy; and a broad range of cultural, historic, and archaeological resources. These projects provide education, employment, and training to Native American and Alaska Native individuals ages 16-30 (or veterans up to the age of 35) and can serve as an invaluable community resource and hiring pipeline to careers in several critical fields.
Public Lands Corps: The Public Lands Corps provides meaningful, paid work experience for young adults between 16 and 30 to advance conservation and stewardship of public lands through wildfire risk reduction, trails and recreation management, habitat restoration, research, visitor services, and more, developing skills necessary to join the next generation of conservation leaders.
Resource Assistants Program: The Resource Assistants Program (RAP) is a rigorous, immersive, paid internship for individuals 17 years and older who are interested in natural and cultural resources careers. Forest Service staff to complete mission-critical projects that develop leadership, critical thinking, and strategic communication skills.
Youth Conservation Corps: Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) is a summer youth employment program that engages young people, ages 15 to 18, in meaningful work experiences in national parks, forests, wildlife refuges, and fish hatcheries. Youth are engaged in fun, exciting work projects designed to develop an ethic of environmental stewardship and civic responsibility. Projects include building and repairing trails; preserving and repairing historic buildings; removing invasive species; helping with wildlife and land research; and leading environmental education.

Third-Party Internship Programs

USDA partners with a wide variety of organizations to provide students the opportunity to work with our 29 agencies and offices and gain practical experience in different fields. Each of these programs provide differing benefits for students. Recruitment and selection are completed by the host programs.

HEP/CAMP Internship Program: USDA offers a paid 10-week internship program for students from migrant and farmworker backgrounds. Interns will gain work experience and learn about career opportunities available within USDA while working at USDA headquarters in Washington, D.C. The program is run in partnership with the National HEP/CAMP Association, comprised of universities, colleges, and nonprofit organizations that administer a High School Equivalency Program (HEP) and/or a College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP). Participating interns will be current or former participants of HEP and/or CAMP programs at their respective institutions. This internship program is administered by USDA’s Office of Partnerships and Public Engagement (OPPE). Eligible students are current CAMP students, alumni, and HEP graduates attending a post-secondary institution.
Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities National Internship Program: The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) is a nonprofit organization that advocates on behalf of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) representing more than 500 member institutions across the United States. The HACU National Internship Program places students in federal and corporate internships. USDA has partnered with the HACU for more than 28 years to provide over 3,000 college students with paid spring, summer, or fall internships at various USDA offices in Washington, D.C. as well as field offices. The program gives undergraduate and graduate students valuable professional experience in the federal sector.
NextGen Program: USDA made a historic $262.5 million investment in 2023 in over 60 minority-serving institutions across the United States and Insular Areas to recruit, train, and retain the next generation of leaders in food, agricultural, natural resources and human sciences fields. Forest Service (USFS).
Research and Extension Experiences for Undergraduates: The Research and Extension Experiences for Undergraduates (REEU) Program Area Priority promotes experiential learning opportunities for undergraduate students at two- and four-year institutions such that upon graduation they may enter the agricultural workforce with exceptional skills. This grant program allows colleges and universities to design paid internships programs that provide undergraduate students with research and extension/outreach opportunities components in the food and agricultural sciences. Each project funded has its own timeline, disciplines supported, and selection process.
Thurgood Marshall College Fund Internship Program: TMCF supports students in the fields of science, technology, engineering, agricultural, mathematics, and business at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. This program accepts undergraduate students with at least a sophomore standing, graduate, and professional students. Applicants must maintain at least a 3.0 GPA with strong verbal and written communication skills.
Wallace-Carver Fellowship Program: Working with the World Food Prize, USDA offers college students the opportunity to collaborate with scientists and policymakers through paid fellowships at USDA research centers and offices across the United States. Fellows help analyze agricultural and economic policy; assist in the management of food, nutrition and rural development programs; and take part in groundbreaking field and laboratory-based research. Fellows also participate in a weeklong symposium hosted by the USDA in Washington, D.C. Named for Henry A. Wallace and George Washington Carver, two of American leaders in agricultural science and policy who made significant strides toward ending hunger, the Wallace-Carver Fellowship seeks to educate, inspire, and train the next generation of agricultural leaders.

Career Development Programs

These programs offer participating students opportunities for professional growth and career exploration by providing opportunities to develop their skills through real-world experiences at USDA agencies and increase their professional network and awareness of careers at USDA and the agricultural sector.

Agricultural Scholars: The Farm Foundation Agricultural Scholars program engages graduate student scholars working in agricultural economics or related agricultural policy work with a year-long series of learning experiences focused on gaining a deeper understanding of production agriculture, agribusiness, and government, in hopes of inspiring and training the next generation of agricultural economists interested agricultural policy, commodity market analysis, agricultural finance, and other applied fields of economics.
Mayor Marion S. Barry Summer Youth Employment Program: The Mayor Marion S. Barry Summer Youth Employment Program is a locally funded initiative that provides District of Columbia youth ages 14 to 24 with enriching and constructive summer work experiences in the private and government sectors. Eligible youth will have the opportunity to earn money and gain meaningful work experience; learn and develop the skills, attitudes and commitment necessary to succeed in today’s world of work; and gain exposure to various career industries.

Other Programs

Forest Service Job Corps: The Forest Service Job Corps is a residential career training program for young people ages 16 to 24 to conserve the nation’s natural resources while helping them complete their high school education, train them for meaningful careers, and assist them with obtaining employment.

Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) Internship Programs

For over 20 years BTI has been inspiring undergraduates to discover how a career in research can have a positive impact on our world. Undergraduate researchers who participate in our NSF & USDA funded programs will gain knowledge of plant systems, plant genetics and genomics, digital agriculture and scientific research by working closely with their research mentors in a laboratory setting. Since 2001, BTI has provided High School students the opportunity to participate in hands-on real world research projects for 7 weeks each summer. The goal of the program is to introduce students to plant science and computational biology during the summer of their junior year to provide them with valuable insight about their future career and major.

Read also: Early Learning in Plant City

Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU)

For ten weeks each summer, students in our Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) and other summer internship programs are immersed in a rich research environment that lays the foundation for a career in plant science. Our FLLiPS program gives students experience with all aspects of modern scientific research, from design to experimentation to reporting. Faculty, mentors and staff provide insight into the personal characteristics that make a good researcher, the process and training involved to become a scientist, and the broader impact of scientific discovery.

Interns will:

Work on a research project with their mentor.
Attend weekly seminars on issues related to biotechnology.
At the end of the summer session, each intern will present a summary of his/her research before an audience of scientific peers. A brief written report is also required and students will be carefully guided through the process of preparation of the written report and oral presentation.
Participate in a community outreach project, where they will help design and lead a hands-on plant science activity for local K-12 students.

Success Stories

An Oberlin University undergraduate majoring in Biology and minoring in Rhetoric and Composition, Emily Humphreys joined BTI’s Plant Genome Research Program summer intern program in 2020. In addition to utilizing the program’s primary purpose of gaining research experience and learning about scientific careers, Emily approached the communications team to gain additional scientific writing experience on top of her regular workload.
Originally from Elmira, NY, Brandon was an undergraduate REU intern in Maria Harrison’s lab in 2017, when he studied transcription factors involved in the symbiosis between arbuscular mycorrhizae and the barrelclover plant with Penelope Lindsay as his mentor. After obtaining his bachelor’s degree in biology from SUNY Cortland, he entered the Ph.D. program at Cornell, where he is working to use synthetic biology to create plants that act as biotic sensors.
Emmanuel spent his summer in the Giovannoni Lab researching cold tolerance in tomato hybrids. “I wanted to gain the skills to become a scientist and eventually use them to bring about good to human and plant life.

Gaining Valuable Experience

Plant science internships provide students with invaluable experience, including:

Hands-on research experience
Mentorship from leading scientists
Networking opportunities
Skill development in areas such as data analysis, scientific writing, and oral presentation

The Impact of Plant Science Internships

Plant science internships play a vital role in shaping the future of the field by:

Inspiring students to pursue careers in plant science
Equipping students with the skills and knowledge necessary to address global challenges
Fostering a diverse and inclusive scientific community

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