Internships are a great way for undergraduates, recent graduate and graduate students to get their hands deep into science (and the Chesapeake Bay!).  We have 3-5 paid interns every summer and occasionally an intern in the spring or fall.  As an intern, you'll gain a wide variety of field and lab experience while also working on a specific independent project that relates to one of the projects our lab is currently involved in.  Expect to work hard but have fun while spending time working in the field and lab, managing data, analyzing data, and giving a scientific presentation to SERC’s research community.

Visit SERC's Internships page for more information and to apply.

Postdoctoral, Predoctoral, and Graduate Fellowships provide excellent opportunities for engaging in Smithsonian science, developing new skills, and growing your professional network. We have diverse research interests in the ecology and conservation of fish and invertebrates, focusing especially on coastal and estuarine species. We apply field and lab experiments, field surveys, animal tracking technologies, multibeam sonar (DIDSON) and underwater video, genetic and biogeochemical analyses, and other methods to basic and applied questions in ecology, conservation and fisheries management. We strongly encourage prospective Fellows to contact us well before the application deadline in order to develop project proposals in collaboration with us. Projects linked to our current research, that take advantage of SERC’s long-term data sets, or that engage other labs at SERC or other Smithsonian researchers are particularly encouraged. We are particularly interested in identifying postdoctoral fellowship applicants with interests in:

• Movement ecology of estuarine and coastal species
• Evaluation of restored oyster reefs
• River herring spawning runs and population dynamics
• Blue crab ecology and fisheries
• Analysis of long-term fish and invertebrate community data

Visit SERC’s Fellowships page and MarineGEO page for more information about opportunities. Contact Dr. Matt Ogburn to learn more about how to apply to work with the Fish and Invertebrate Ecology Lab.

Many of our projects have opportunities for volunteer participation, with a particular focus on engaging volunteer scientists to assist with sample collection in the field, sample processing in the lab and data analysis. Our volunteers range from high school students (including STEM interns) to retirees. We especially seek volunteers who can commit to a fairly regular weekly schedule and can work a ½ day or full day per visit.

Contact SERC’s Volunteer and Participatory Science Program to learn more about current opportunities.