Marine Technician Mentoring and Internship Program in Partnership With the University National Oceanographic Laboratory System and the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program

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0510158LunsfordThis award to Monterey Peninsula College in California extends a program of support for internships on academic ships conducting oceanographic research. The MATE Center, based at Monterey Peninsula College in California, was established with support from the NSF Advanced Technology Education Program (ATE) in 1997. A component of the curricular and educational activities developed under this program is an internship program, placing students from community colleges and universities involved in marine technology studies in career training situations where they can obtain work experience in marine technology careers. Seagoing experience is a particularly important component of this training, but one with limited opportunities that can readily be integrated with classes and the academic calendar. MATE has for six years sponsored a collaborative internship program with research ships of the US academic fleet (UNOLS, or University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System) and the Ocean Drilling Program, both supported by NSF. The present proposal is to provide funds for fifteen student interns to sail on research vessels annually for each of the next three years, developing technical, scientific, seamanship and interpersonal skills. The internship program includes skills evaluations and project evaluations by both student and mentor, and data on prior years' internships is maintained by MATE to track successes and failures and improve program operations.***