Smithsonian Institution, Insect Surveys Internship, Summer 2025
Every summer, The Bill Lane Center for the American West offers many opportunities for Stanford undergraduates (including graduating seniors and co-terms) to work with organizations throughout the West. Through these internships, students can explore careers in natural history, conservation, land use, museum curation, resource management, energy and more.
All internships are full-time for nine to ten weeks during the summer. They are fully funded by the Lane Center with stipends ranging from $7,500 to $10,000.
The Lane Center has placed hundreds of interns in positions across the West since 2005. It has developed strong relationships with host organizations and works hard to ensure interns have successful and enriching experiences.
For more information about the internship program, please visit the FAQs page, or email Education Manager Corinne Thomas.
Details about previous summer student interns and their placements can be found here.
Student reflections about the internship experience can be found by visiting the Out West student blog and the Lane Center Instagram channel.
Stipend Information:
The Bill Lane Center will provide a base stipend of $7,500 with additional funding for student financial aid and location, if applicable, up to $10,000. The stipend is provided to cover living expenses and, if applicable, part of the summer earnings expectation of the Office of Financial Aid.
The stipend is not intended to be, and is not, a paid, hourly wage. An internship is an educational and experiential learning opportunity intended for the student to apply their academics and gain real-world experience.
PLEASE NOTE: A background check may be run for full Smithsonian internship status. International students are eligible and welcome.
Description of the Agency and the Internship:
The Smithsonian Institution, the world's largest museum, education, and research complex, encompasses 21 museums and galleries, the National Zoological Park, and nine research centers. The Smithsonian is a national and world treasure and is dedicated to its founding mission, “the increase and diffusion of knowledge.”
The Great Plains Science Program conducts basic research and works toward conservation of grassland ecosystems.
In this project, the intern will assist a graduate student with a Smithsonian-led project examining orthoptera, ant, and plant responses to use of insecticides for grasshopper control. Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets, and katydids) are dominant herbivores in many grassland habitats, with implications for plant biomass, plant communities, and nutrient cycling. A subset of Orthoptera species go through periodic dramatic increases in population which have the potential to decrease the amount of forage available for livestock. Aerial applications of insecticides is a common method used to control orthoptera when densities are high. However, recent policy may result in a switch from aerial spraying to use of vehicle-deployed carbaryl bait in public lands with populations of Sage Grouse.
Control of Mormon crickets on public lands in Idaho has been implemented using carbaryl bait as the primary control mechanism for a number of years. Sites in Idaho provide a useful gradient spanning sites treated with carbaryl bait in the current year to sites treated several years prior. The study will also include control sites where there has been an absence of insecticide use. Both treated and untreated sites will be sampled to test both basic questions of system responses when insects are reduced, and applied questions regarding the effects of carbaryl bait on target and non-target insects. Sites will be located on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land in SW Idaho and NE Montana. Sites will be selected based on current knowledge of the insecticide applications conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA APHIS).
The intern will assist a graduate student with sweep net surveys to assess grasshopper species composition and ring counts to access grasshopper densities. To collect data on species composition and density of ants, a non-target taxa that is a key seed disperser, the intern will assist with capture ants using baited vials. The intern will help conduct both plant biomass surveys, using a pasture meter, and plant nutrient surveys by clipping aboveground plant biomass. This study will be of direct benefit to inform future policy of the Idaho Bureau of Land Management in deciding when and how to treat public lands for grasshopper control.
Internship Work Environment:
This is an in-person internship; 80% Outdoor, 20% Indoor.
The intern will primary work with graduate students and will have opportunities to interact with a larger field team. The intern will have access to 2-10 college-age field personnel across the field season.
Fieldwork will be conducted in small teams of 2-4. There will be opportunities to work with multiple teams, including conducting work on prairie dogs, and socialize with more field personnel.
Early summer fieldwork will involve longer hours in the field conducting field surveys and driving between field sites. Later summer work will include a mix of field and lab work such as sorting insect and plant samples.
Outdoor conditions will expose candidates to various challenges associated with working in a prairie/sagebrush ecosystem including biting-insects, rattlesnakes, extreme heat, sun-exposure, and primitive road conditions. All candidates must be prepared to handle these challenges and maintain a positive attitude throughout the duration of the internship.
Housing:
Housing will be provided for the field component of this internship at both a Bureau of Land Management bunkhouse in rural SW Idaho and the American Prairie properties in NE Montana.
No family housing is available for this internship. Housing is in a shared setting with common living room, kitchen, and bathroom facilities in a furnished house or small dormitory-style building.
This is a REMOTE location, so candidates should be prepared to live and work closely with a small group in an isolated setting, including other interns who may be working on different projects. Trips to town will be limited. Cell phone and internet service will be available.
Interns may be expected to share a bedroom with one other person. Each person is responsible for cleaning their own space and common areas, as well as removal of all trash and recycling. There are laundry facilities onsite. Pets are not allowed in shared housing.
Transportation:
It will be more fun to have a car so the intern can get away on weekends for external activities.
A provided field vehicle will be used by the team for all field activities and grocery store runs.
You MUST have a driver's license (for safety reasons in case of an emergency).
Location: Owyhee County, Idaho: rural southwestern Idaho and NE Montana.
- Assist with orthoptera and ant sampling
- Collect plants and measure plant biomass
- Sort and curate collected insects
- Enter and organize data
- Assist with maintenance of equipment
Bill Lane Center internships are part of Cardinal Quarter opportunities and students from all disciplines are encouraged to apply. The opportunities are full-time (40 hours a week) for 9-10 consecutive weeks during the summer.
Specific start and end dates during the summer can be coordinated directly with the supervisor.
All undergraduates of any year, including graduating seniors, are eligible. Graduating seniors are eligible only if they are graduating in spring quarter. Students who have already graduated, e.g., fall or winter quarter of this academic year are not eligible.
Preference is given to students who have not previously been awarded a Bill Lane Center West internship and to students who will be enrolled the following fall quarter.
For more application advice, please visit the BLC’s FAQs page.
Please note:
- Students are not permitted to engage in another full-time internship, job, or volunteer opportunity (whether funded by Stanford or otherwise) during this full-time, summer internship.
- Student athletes should confirm the impact of any awarded stipend on their athletic eligibility by contacting the Compliance Services Office prior to committing to an internship.
- New Stipend Policy per the U.S. Department of Education: A stipend is considered a resource and it may have an impact on a student’s financial aid. To comply with US Department of Education regulations, student payments, awards, prizes, and gifts that are made available to the student because they are a Stanford student, must be reported to the Financial Aid Office. The Financial Aid Office is responsible for the disbursement of stipend funds to undergraduates. For more information, please visit the Financial Aid Office's webpage about the student stipend policy.
Application Guidelines for this Internship:
PLEASE NOTE: A background check may be run for full Smithsonian internship status. International students are eligible and welcome.
This is a very remote internship so students must be independent.
All class years are welcome to apply.
Required Skills:
- Be enthusiastic about drylands insects and plants
- Have a driver’s license that is valid in the US
- Must be able to live and work in a remote setting with a small group
- Be prepared to work outdoors in challenging conditions including biting-insects, rattlesnakes, extreme heat, sun-exposure, and primitive road conditions
- Be able to conduct physical activity including a lot of walking in challenging outdoor conditions, lifting and carrying heavy equipment, bending, and cleaning
- Be willing to spend long hours in the lab processing insect and plant samples
- Have strong communication skills and be respectful to all team members
- Be able to follow safety guidelines
Preferred Skills:
- Knowledge of plant and/or insect identification, especially if relevant to grasslands/sagebrush ecosystems
- Field or lab experience with an ecology or entomology project
- First aid training
- Interest in pursuing a career in entomology, ecology, or conservation
Selection of applicants:
Complete applications are screened by Lane Center staff and the top candidates are contacted for a first-round interview with staff from The Bill Lane Center for the American West.
After the first-round interviews, top candidates for the position are then selected by a Lane Center committee to be forwarded to the host organization for consideration and possible second-round interviews with their potential supervisors and other staff. Preference is given to students who have not previously been awarded a Bill Lane Center West internship and to students who will be enrolled the following fall quarter.
After consideration, host organizations will then notify the Lane Center of their preferred candidate and that applicant will receive an internship offer from the Bill Lane Center by email.
The applicant is expected to respond promptly (within 48 hours) via email to the offer or the offer will be rescinded and another candidate may receive the offer.
Once an applicant accepts the offer, they should promptly notify all other Stanford and non-Stanford programs to which they have applied that they have accepted the Lane Center internship offer and withdraw their candidacy from those other opportunities.
Applicants not selected will be notified by Lane Center staff as soon as possible.
