Over the 2024 summer, I worked in Asheville, North Carolina with the National Environmental Center for Information. My mentor there is a physical scientist and GIS specialist, and together we decided the project I would be working on would be about heat resilience in Texas. On a day to day basis for the first half of the internship, I spent most of my days doing policy and environmental research on the Travis County area, and beginning to learn how to use ArcGIS Online. I spent the second half of the internship, after learning the basics of GIS, producing maps that highlighted how different meteorological, environmental and political factors affect central Texans. During the summer in Asheville, I toured the NOAA weather station on top of the Grove Arcade, and the basement archives at the National Center for Environmental Information. The center still receives one set of paper records that come from the Navy research vessels, who avoid using electronic communications for security reasons. Asheville is a beautiful area with many natural splendors to explore.
During my time here, I camped on a homestead in Weaverville with goats, ducks, chickens, and dogs. I also camped near a secluded pond in Swannanoa near Warren Wilson College. In Swannanoa, I made acquaintance with a couple of friendly bears who visited me every morning for the last 3 weeks of my internship. I camped on Lake Jocasee at Devils Fork State Park over the Fourth of July weekend, and saw Andrew Bird and Nickel Creek play an amazing concert at Rabbit Rabbit, and ate some really good North Carolina BBQ!
At the end of the ’24 summer internship, I traveled to Washington D.C. to present my work at the NOAA Education and Science Symposium and volunteer as a heat expert with the NOAA DMV Made/Social Arts and Culture Project. After completing the summer symposium and DMV event in Washington D.C., a fellow intern and I took a road trip to Pittsburg, Detroit and Cleveland to cap off our Northeastern baseball park tour with 10 parks under our belts!
The first internship I completed as a part of the EPP/MSI program, was during the 2023 summer working for the National Ocean Mapping Exploration and Characterization Council doing policy analysis in Washington D.C. I worked on updates for the Implementation Plan for the National Strategy with a team of executive secretaries and policy analysts. I was able to attend Capitol Hill Ocean Week (CHOW) and sat in on the Water, Wildlife and Fisheries oversight hearing on the impacts of NOAA’s proposed changes to the North Atlantic Right Whale Vessel Strike Reduction Rule. It was illuminating seeing how congress members interact with scientists and other professionals when making congressional decisions. At the conclusion of that internship I was asked to write a paper for the NOMEC Council on best practices for tribal engagement and am in the process of collaborating with the NOMEC Council and Sea Grant Knauss fellows to get the paper published.
The NOAA EPP/MSI scholarship experience was an incredible 2 year journey that included over $40,000 in financial assistance, two trips to Washington D.C., two trips Asheville, NC, trips to conferences to present my work during the 24/25 year that haven’t been completed and priceless networking opportunities with people who work in NOAA, NC State, the NOMEC Council, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, ITEP, Rising Voices, NOAA Corps, legislative and executive government officials and executives and beyond.
St. Edward’s University also supported my ’24 summer internship experience by awarding me the Dr. George E. Martin Presidential Scholarship Recipient. This funding helped to support the further cultural experiences I was able to do over the summer, including stops to Poverty Point, Cathedral Caverns and Lake Enid on the trip back to Austin. Poverty Point is the only UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Southeastern U.S., an ancient archeological trading site with thousands of artifacts from Native American tribes who came to barter and socialize at the point.
I highly recommend applying for the NOAA EPP/MSI Scholarship and would be happy to provide guidance and support to any motiviated and passionate Freshman or Sophomore interested in the program.
Written By: Suzanne West
Suzanne West at DMV Made Event Washington D.C. 2024
