Marine Technology Mentoring and Internship Program on Oceanographic Research Vessels

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This award provides renewed funding for an internship program at Monterey Peninsula College's Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center. The MATE Center is a national network of community colleges, high schools, universities, research institutions, marine industries, professional societies and individuals working together to improve marine technical education and better prepare America's future workforce for marine science and technology occupations. The at-sea marine technical internship program, which represents a 12-year partnership with University National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) and the United States Coast Guard (USCG), coordinates internships for student marine technicians aboard research vessels. The program will provide 14-17 undergraduate students with two to eight-week internships and one student with a six-month internship each year for the next three years (2011-2013). The MATE Center's marine technical internship program began in 1999. Since its inception, theprogram has placed 236 students in at-sea and shore-based internship positions. MATE internswork with marine technicians and scientists onboard research vessels, and these experiencesprovide them with the opportunity to develop their technical, scientific, seamanship, andinterpersonal skills. Although the need for qualified marine technicians is at an all time high,especially in the wake of the Deep Horizon Oil Spill, training programs that prepare students formarine technical careers are few, mainly because it is prohibitively expensive for most programsto offer substantial time at sea and time working with state-of-the-art equipment. Students whochoose to pursue marine technical careers are often caught in the paradox of not being able toacquire a job without work experience, and not being able to get work experience without a job.MATE's marine technical internship program is an essential solution to this problem; at-seatechnical internships help undergraduate students gain the experience they need and ocean relatedemployers to gain access to qualified technical professionals who can fill their workforceneeds.The MATE Center has 56 formal community college and university partnerships from which theinterns are actively recruited. The program targets community college students enrolled inmarine science and technology programs and university students interested in marine technicalcareers and continually reaches out to colleges and universities located in geographic regionsrich in marine technology industries to invite them to participate in MATE activities. Further,MATE makes a substantial effort to recruit students who are traditionally underrepresented inSTEM disciplines. The program's primary target audience is students enrolled in communitycolleges as these students tend to be more diverse (age, socioeconomic and ethnic) than four-yearuniversity students and are not typically provided with research opportunities. This program supports workforce development efforts related to at-sea technology both for the ocean science community and ocean industry.