Information for Faculty of Prospective Interns
The Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center is now in its 13th year of placing college students in at-sea and land-based internships. Since 1999, MATE has placed 225 students in internships, 135 of which were on University National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS) vessels. The internship evaluations that we have received from both students and their supervisors have been outstanding, and it is clear that the MATE internship program has been beneficial to both students and the vessels that have hosted them.
The MATE Center is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to place 12-15 college students on UNOLS and USCG vessels each year. The funding covers the students’ travel and stipends and the vessels provide the intern with a bunk, food, and a mentor. Applications are due on March 25, 2013, for the summer 2013 internships.
Make a difference in the lives of your students—download this flyer for you and this flyer for your students to learn more about the MATE Internship Program!
If you are interested in giving a presentation to your classes about the MATE Internship Program, please contact the Internship Coordinator, Tami Lunsford, by email at tlunsford@marinetech.org or by phone at (302) 731-3035.
Show a video showing interviews with marine technicians and a MATE Intern
Show a video giving a tour of a research vessel
Give a PowerPoint presentation on the program to your students
Responsibilities of the Interns’ Colleges and Universities
By encouraging students to participate in an internship, you are making an important contribution to their education. Internships provide students with critical job experience, help them to focus their educational goals, and give them a chance to develop skills they have learned in the classroom.
Students are required to submit at least one letter of recommendation as part of their application packet. Ideally, they should submit one letter from an instructor in a marine technology-related course and one letter from an employer who can speak to their work ethic.
If students from your school are selected for the MATE Internship Program, they will be required to complete all associated paperwork (see "I am a current intern" for more information). They must also enroll in an academic or cooperative work experience course that will allow them to earn academic credit for the internship. The course allows the student to be covered by the institution’s liability insurance. If your school does not have such a course, the student may enroll at Monterey Peninsula College at their own expense.
Following the internship, students are required to create a PowerPoint presentation about their internship experience. A template is provided to them. We ask that faculty members help MATE Interns schedule a presentation to a class to share their experience with other students.
