2018 Summer Internship Announcement

A summer research internship is available to work with the Iowa Geological Survey (IGS), a unit of IIHR—Hydroscience & Engineering, and the Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination (CHEEC) at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.  The research project will focus on the development of a groundwater well forecasting application for Johnson County.

Presently, a well forecast generally requires several hours of staff time to produce. IGS staff search through electronic data and paper records to locate all available information about the geology and groundwater of the area. That information is then studied to develop a well forecast, which contains the depth below the ground surface to reach competent rock, the depth to reach the top and bottom of water bearing rocks at that site, and an estimation of well yield, the rate at which water moves through rock to a well.

The intern will work to develop an application to automate well forecasting. Ideally, the application will create the well forecast using raw electronic data from the IGS GeoSam database, which is a relational database using MySQL.

Objectives

The specific project objectives will be to: 1) create a well forecasting application using GeoSam data for Johnson County; 2) evaluate the application by comparing its aquifer predictions to aquifer elevations on existing IGS maps; and 3) provide an initial assessment of the potential to extend the application beyond Johnson County to the rest of Iowa.  

Who May Apply

This internship is opened to qualified graduate students that have experience with programming, algorithm fundamentals, and predictive analytics. MS and PhD level students in Informatics, Computer Science or Statistics graduate programs at the University of Iowa are preferred and encouraged to apply. Prior coursework in environmental science or geology is desirable.

Hours:

The position is part-time, up to 20 hrs per week, for 10 weeks from June 1, 2018 until August 10, 2018. Including salary and fringe benefits, the total internship will pay $5,660, or approximately 28.30/hr.

How to Apply

Please submit a resume or CV (2-page limit), a 1-page letter of support from your current academic advisor, and a personal statement. The personal statement should describe in a maximum of 500 words, your interest in this internship and how this experience will further your graduate training and professional development at the University of Iowa.

All application materials should be submitted to cheec@uiowa.edu by 5:00 PM on Monday, May 25, 2018 in order to be considered. Late or incomplete applications will not be reviewed. Any questions on this opportunity can be directed to cheec@uiowa.edu