2025 Environment and Policy Internships (EPIC): California State Water Resources Control Board, Office of Information Management and Analysis (SWRCB-OIMA)
Job Title: California State Water Resources Control Board Intern
Department/Team: Office of Information Management and Analysis at the California State Water Resources Control Board
Location: Remote, or hybrid in Sacramento, California
Duration: 35-40 hours per week for ten weeks over the summer
Reports to: Anna Holder (Open Data Science, Equity & Tribal Coordinator), Greg Gearhardt (Deputy Director), and/or Andrew Hamilton (Assistant Deputy Director)
Areas of Interest: Data science, water data accessibility, water data visualization and storytelling, tribal water data
About the California Water Resources Control Board:
The State Water Board’s mission is to preserve, enhance, and restore the quality of California’s water resources and drinking water for the protection of the environment, public health, and all beneficial uses, and to ensure proper water resource allocation and efficient use, for the benefit of present and future generations.
About the Office of Information Management and Analysis:
The Office of Information Management and Analysis (OIMA) was established in 2008 to serve as an advocate for data management, a bridge between data collectors and users, as well as provide transparency of the Water Board’s information management infrastructure. Our goal in OIMA is to collaborate monitoring efforts, build systems to ensure data quality, accurately analyze data, make data easily accessible, and create visualizations and reports that make data understandable across all audiences.
Position Description/Scope of Work:
The OIMA charge provides many candidate projects related to turning water data into useful information. When recruiting new fellows and interns in our office we try to match the skills, interests and focus of the people with our candidate projects. One candidate project area would be to focus on one (or more) of the common "tests" for drinking water and designing storytelling projects around the data ecosystem(s) needed to inform on safety, reliability, and affordability. An example project in the “affordable” space would be to help wrangle water rates data as well as the secondary datasets that could inform conversations about affordability.
Another thematic area of potential work is the intersection of water resource management and racial equity, tribal data, and public health, working with a new, statewide team of data scientists in public service trying to develop new data tools. The successful candidate intern working in OIMA could do data science work, host workshops where "competing" ideas get discussed and inform the regulatory and policy world with visualizations and data stories.
Finally, there are several thematic areas that are encompassed within the California Water Quality Monitoring Council workgroups and turning the data collected by programs throughout California including but not limited to those led by the Water Boards. Projects continue to evolve and OIMA is confident we can find a project that will suit candidate interests and skill sets with some part of the Water Boards.
List of Potential Projects:
We have had fellows help with the following general types of activities: (1) Explore how to improve geospatial data related to public water systems (2) Prototype an Indigenous Language Isolation Data tool, (3) Aid in the development of web services (e.g., application program interfaces, or APIs) and creation of public data products; (4) Help manage data and increase the value and accessibility of the Water Board’s data via scripts and visualization software to transform and flow data towards open data publication sites; (5) Help improve how the Water Board’s monitoring programs collect, use, manage, and publish data; (6) Help improve the Water Board’s data quality and how data quality is measured and communicated; (7) Help ensure Water Board data is available, reliable, consistent, accessible, secure, and timely; and (8) Develop a Tribal Water Data Map and associated User Manual to increase awareness of and access to the Water Board’s water data resources that intersect with Tribal matters and needs.
Some of the work our team has helped create can be seen in this year’s Water Quality Status Report and at our github site.
Desired Skills/Qualifications:
In addition to a strong interest in water resources, water quality, and how human and environmental systems interact with water data, the successful candidate will have one or more of the following desired qualities, skills and abilities:
- Engaging with the public using data or technology to address stakeholder interests and achieve outcomes
- Ability to analyze data using various levels of data science skills to identify insights or build decision-support tools
- Interest and ability to work on a team
- Experience or interest in learning more about interest-based stakeholder processes
- Experience or interest to build knowledge of watershed management principles and water quality assessment procedures and policies
- Knowledge of current suite of methods and approaches needed to efficiently collect, store and make accessible data to inform management questions about bioaccumulation, bioassessment, ecological flows, watershed/stream health
- Knowledge of principles and practices to apply statistics and biometry to the design and review of water quality monitoring programs aimed at answering complex management questions
Logistics:
- EPIC fellows are required to work full-time (35-40 hours per week) for 10 weeks over the summer, and will receive a stipend of $8,000 - $9,500, depending on financial need. This stipend is intended to help cover living and transportation expenses during the fellowship, which the student is expected to arrange and coordinate.
-
Preferred start date is in mid-June 2025 (exact date to be agreed upon by you and the supervisor).
2024 Stanford EPIC Fellow: Kevin Song
2023 Stanford EPIC Fellows: Sam Prieto-Serrano and Josh Davenport
2022 Stanford EPIC Fellow: Alexis Perez
2021 Stanford EPIC Fellow: Brook Thompson
2020 Stanford EPIC Fellow: Jennifer Wang
2019 Stanford EPIC Fellow: Lindsay Young
Eligibility:
Stanford undergraduates from all academic disciplines are encouraged to apply, and applicants may vary in academic interests, public service involvement, and experience. Learn more about our previous EPIC cohorts! Students must be enrolled for winter and spring quarters of this year and be in good academic standing to be eligible for a fellowship. Applications will only be accepted from students who will be enrolled as undergraduates for the following academic year, so unfortunately, graduating seniors cannot apply. The one exception to this rule is seniors who will be working toward a co-term degree during the following academic year. Co-term students must be in the undergraduate billing group in spring quarter. Please refer to the Haas Center for Public Service's website for additional Cardinal Quarter Undergraduate Fellowship Program Policies and Requirements.
Note: students are only eligible for one Stanford-funded full-time experiential learning opportunity during the summer, and are not permitted to engage in another full-time internship, job, coursework, or volunteer opportunity. Students are responsible for arranging and paying for their own housing and transportation during the fellowship.
Requirements:
-
Spring Quarter:
- Commit to working full-time (35-40 hours week) for 10 consecutive weeks
-
Complete an online program orientation through the Haas Center for Public Service
- This will include designing a personal learning plan that you will share with your site supervisor and academic mentor
- Complete the Engaging in Ethical and Effective Service in-person workshop or worksheet
- Meet with your assigned Stanford academic mentor at least once prior to the start of the fellowship (more check-ins during and after your experience are encouraged)
- Attend EPIC cohort building events and activities in spring quarter, as your schedule allows
-
Complete and submit all required forms and paperwork
-
Summer Quarter:
- Engage in your full-time fellowship (starting no later than July 7, 2025; exact start date to be determined with your site supervisor)
- Attend EPIC cohort building events and activities in the summer, as your schedule allows
- Submit a mid-summer evaluation
-
Submit a final project report, complete a program evaluation, and correspond with donor(s) as requested by program staff
-
Fall Quarter:
- Debrief with your academic mentor at least once
- Attend a de-briefing meeting for the purpose of reflecting upon and evaluating summer experiences
- Participate in outreach activities to share your experiences and help publicize the program
