BIOS offers internship opportunities to both undergraduate and recent graduate students.  Volunteer internships may run for 8, 10 or 12 weeks in the summer, with flexible timing and duration.  BIOS interns can expect to work in BIOS laboratories with faculty and staff mentors,  participating in active research projects of mutual interest. A BIOS Volunteer Intern could have the opportunity to participate in an open-ocean research cruise aboard the R/V Atlantic Explorer, SCUBA dive on Bermuda’s coral reefs, learn progressive techniques from scientists at the forefront of their field, gain hands-on experience with cutting-edge laboratory equipment, and engage in workshops and seminars with peers and BIOS staff.

For the last nine years, students in the Earth Science program at the University of Oxford in England have visited BIOS to gain first-hand knowledge of coastal and deep-water oceanography, as well as the unique geology of Bermuda.

When David Picton first arrived at BIOS in 2013 as a work study intern, he had no intention of pursuing a career in research science, wanting—instead—to become a medical doctor. At 19 he had just finished his first year of studies in biomedical sciences at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom and was simply looking for an opportunity to travel and try his hand at something new, with the hopes of gaining a few skills in the process.

Each year, as part of the ongoing Princeton University-BIOS collaboration, a group of undergraduate students in Princeton’s Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) and Princeton Environmental Institute (PEI) programs visit BIOS for a month-long course in marine biology. Co-taught by Dr. James Gould (Princeton EEB) and Dr. Samantha de Putron (BIOS), the course is designed to cover all aspects of marine biology, with a special focus on coral reefs.

Since 1999 undergraduate and graduate students from around the world have traveled to BIOS each summer to participate in the Microbial Oceanography course. This three-week intensive course is co-taught by Dr. Craig Carlson (University of California, Santa Barbara), Dr. Stephen Giovannoni (Oregon State University), Dr. Craig Nelson (University of Hawaii), Rachel Parsons (BIOS), and Dr. John Heidelberg (University of Southern California), which provides students with a truly multidisciplinary learning experience that taps into the combined expertise of top scientists in their respective fields.  This course has been made possible over the years with funding from BIOS, the National Science Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Agouron Institute.

Dr. Eric Hochberg, one of the CRE course instructors, said, “I have two goals with CRE. The first is to teach the students our most current understanding about how coral reef ecosystems work, from the biology to the chemistry to the physics. The second goal is to give the students practical experience studying real coral reef systems. This means strapping on a SCUBA tank, getting in the water, and making scientifically rigorous observations. This is training that cannot be taught in a classroom.”

Kelly Speare, a 2012 Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) student and 2013 BIOS summer intern, was chosen from a pool of qualified candidates to represent BIOS at the 2014 Ocean Sciences Meeting in Honolulu, HI. This bi-annual meeting is convened by the American Society for Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO), The Oceanography Society (TOS), and the American Geophysical Union (AGU), and brings together scientists from around the world to discuss current topics in marine science, technology, and education.

BIOS researchers and their colleagues from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution have refined a common survey method to better account for a marine bacterium known as SAR11. Since BIOS adjunct scientist Steven Giovannoni discovered SAR11 in 1990, scientists have found the Sargasso Sea bacterium is ubiquitous in the world’s oceans and accounts for roughly one in every three cells at the ocean’s surface.  These bacteria have power in numbers: each cell contributes to the marine carbon cycle, and with approximately five million bacterial cells inhabiting every tablespoon of seawater, SAR11 is so abundant that its combined weight would outweigh all the fish in the ocean.

In the Molecular Discovery Lab at BIOS, a deli-style fridge with sliding glass doors houses vials and bottles of chemicals used to track proteins, stain cells, and analyze DNA – as well as a small bunch of lettuce in the corner.  It’s been picked fresh from the garden to satiate the appetites of the lab’s current visitors.

For many students, especially during their undergraduate college years, the difference between thinking about potential careers and knowing what career they want to pursue boils down to one thing: experience.