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3. Students have two weeks to contact sponsors, interview with sponsors, and submit completed applications.
See: Suggestions for Interviewing Students
4. Sponsors have the same two weeks to interview students and submit their preferences to the WISP office.
5. Sponsors and prospective interns submit top choices to the WISP office indicating with whom they'd most like to work.
- Sponsors email Sharon Irwin the following:
- Total number of students that contacted you for an interview.
- Total number of interns interviewed. If you did not interview any students, please indicate that as well.
- Intern ranking, in order of preference, of those with whom you would like to work.
- How many interns you would like to sponsor.
- Comments - these help us with the matching process. Comments are not required and if included need not be lengthy.
- Interns indicate their top choices on their applications and bring them to the WISP office.
6. An internship selection committee matches prospective interns with sponsors, trying to match everyone with their first or second choice.
7. Matched sponsors and interns are notified in late October.
8. A second round of interviewing, matching, and notification follows in November for those internships that were not matched and/or for newly added internship opportunities. This is Round Two.
NOTE: If you will not be on campus for Round One interviewing, we suggest that your project description be part of Round Two.
9. Matched sponsors and interns are notified in late November.
10. Internships begin the first week of January (unless the intern is a sophomore and arrangements have been made to work spring and summer terms).
- WISP pays interns an hourly wage of up to 10 hours/week for 10 weeks @ $8.00/hour for two terms.
- Any sponsor willing to financially support their intern, please contact WISP. Your generosity enables more students to participate. Sponsors interested in taking a second intern are asked to support that intern's wages ($1600 maximum) from their own funding.
After matching, expectations for sponsors
(and/or assistant sponsors):
- Contact your intern before fall term ends to initiate the relationship. The internship work begins with the start of winter term in January and continues through May (sophomores can work any two terms between winter and summer that works with them and the sponsor).
- Contact the WISP office if you are having any issues that could affect the intern's ability to meet and complete internship expectations.
- New sponsors and assistant sponsors should plan to attend the January orientation dinner.
- Sign a biweekly student time sheet for interns who are expected to work 8 – 10 hours per week. The WISP office will process and track all time sheets.
- Guide interns in developing a culminating poster of their work to be presented at the annual Karen E. Wetterhahn Science Symposium in May and prepare interns to communicate their work to a lay audience.
- Complete program evaluations at the conclusion of the internship.
Advice from past sponsors:
- Take care during the interview process to assess compatibility, commitment, and motivation.
- Make interns feel welcome and comfortable at the start with your specific disciplinary culture; make them feel a part of your lab group.
- Think through students' roles and responsibilities beforehand. Recognize that first year students have unique needs that differ from slightly older, more established students. First year students are often challenged by time management, over commitment, and unrealistic expectations.
- Mentor your intern: cultivate a relationship beyond lab supervising; take interest in their academic foundation year at Dartmouth, as well as their future in science.
- Recognize that a student's maturity level and work ethic can override their limited experience.
- Involve student in a credible research project or experience adapted to the student's level of ability (a project can usually be identified within your existing research). The "project" should not be completely independent; mainstreaming an intern's learning within your research is a good model. An internship should have clear objectives and outcomes.
- Articulate realistic expectations with an intern and be flexible to the need for adjusting those expectations over time. "Realistic" means expectations that fit the student as well as the sponsor.
- Communicate regularly and clearly with an intern about expectations, progress, and encouragement; be a good listener. Give and ask for feedback.
- Spend at least 2 hours per week (or 20% of their lab time) in direct contact with an intern instructing, advising, coaching, giving feedback, and talking about science in general; involve an "assistant sponsor" for day-to-day supervision.
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"Design project around student's interests - helps to insure that they have a stake in the project; help to meet their long range goals, ask them how much they feel they can do. I'm always surprised and impressed by the capabilities of Dartmouth undergrads."
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"Look for someone who is not only smart, but seems mature and knows how to focus and work."
- "Set realistic goals and trust in an intern's ability to do well."
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Writing a Project Description
- Good project descriptions invite interested students to seek an interview. Several sentences summarizing the context and the scientific question being pursued are sufficient.
- Identify some responsibilities the intern will assume, skills and knowledge to be developed, and necessary qualifications (or lack of) for the internship. While her specific responsibilities may be redefined or evolve overtime, this type of description allows a student to better relate a new learning situation to her current knowledge and interests. Many students are willing to pursue areas in which they have little or no familiarity.
- While the internship program culminates in a science poster symposium with each intern preparing a poster, the project need not be self-contained in the two terms or be an independent project. Many internships are "works in progress" as part of the larger group research effort. Some descriptions layout a range of possible directions; others are more narrowly focused.
- A description that is overly technical and uses jargon or acronyms without explanations may detract students.
- Assistant Sponsors: We recommend that you identify graduate students or others on your research team with whom the intern will have the day-to-day contact. It is also good to mention whether you plan to host more than one intern.
Sample Project Descriptions
[See last year's Opportunities Booklet for other projects from your department.]
Sponsor: Rebecca Irwin
Title: Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences
Project Title: The conservation of plant-pollinator interactions
Project Description: Pollination is an essential part of reproduction for most flowering plants. On a world-wide basis, almost 90% of flowering plants rely on insects or other animals for pollination service, and the conservation of native plant-pollinator interactions has both ecological and economic importance. Our lab studies the ecological and evolutionary relationships between plants and pollinators. Students taking part in this WISP project will have the opportunity to study how invasive exotic plants alter the pollination of native plants. Students will work with living organisms as well as pollen and seed samples collected from wild growing plants. During the first part of this internship, students will learn how to (a) develop and experimentally test hypothesis, (b) visualize pollen in multiple different dorms, and (c) quantify seed production. During the second part of this internship, students will use their new skills to develop and test a hypothesis, and will learn how to statistically analyze data. Because this project involves the use of living plants and insects and their tissues, we are looking for students who want a hands-on experience in ecology and who are patient, consistent and enthusiastic. We will accept up to two interns for this project.
Sponsor: Chris Bailey-Kellogg
Title: Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Project Title: Planning and interpreting experiments for protein structure and function
Project Description:
How do proteins carry messages into and within cells, how do they help chemical processes happen and how do they perform mechanical work? Many computational problems arise in trying to make sense of the experimental data produced in studying these questions. These computational problems can be made easier—and so can the experimental work—if some additional computation is done up-front to determine the most appropriate experiments for a given study. Our computational lab is working with biologists, chemists and statisticians on integrated approaches in which algorithms “sandwich” experiments, both guiding and experimental choices and interpreting the resulting data. The focus of the WISP project will depend on the interests of the intern, but could range from prediction and analysis of how proteins interact with each other, to development of software for determining how best to mix-and-match fragments of various proteins, to application of simulation techniques for studying how proteins structures flex over time. Since our lab works on computational issues, some background and an interest in computation is expected, although the intern’s primary interests and plans could lie in any of the relevant areas.
Sponsor: Dorothy Wallace
Title: Professor, Department of Mathematics
Project Title: Mathematics applications in biology or medicine
Project Description:
My research interests are in number theory, especially analytic number theory. I am interested in working with a motivated student who is interested in exploring some of the applications of mathematics to current issues in biology and/or medicine. The intersection of mathematics and biology is a rapidly growing field of interdisciplinary research spanning ecology as well as human biology. The selected intern will have studied mathematics at least through calculus and be open to creative thinking and problem solving beyond this discipline. The direction of the intern’s project will evolve from our initial conversations and the interests of the selected intern.
Suggestions for Interviewing Students
- Are you and the student a good match?
Interviewing prospective interns is a time for you to learn about a student’s expectations, motivation, dependability, and ability to communicate. If you have assistant sponsors, involve them in the interview. One of the qualities that contributes to a good match is how
closely the motivation of the student matches what your internship offers. Take note of this section of the student application form and discuss it with applicants.
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Consider which student(s) might benefit most from this experience. They may not be the ones who have the most AP courses, present themselves as the most polished, or have the clearest vision for their future.
- Realistic Time Requirements…
The interview is the appropriate time to clearly state the basic internship requirements, e.g., needing a 4-hour block of time to set up and complete a procedure, attending a weekly research group meeting, the ability to work independently at times, or the ability to work closely with another student. It’s beneficial to get the student to think and talk realistically about how an internship commitment fits in with their academic and planned extra-curricular commitments and to express where their priorities lie. Students may underestimate study time (including study groups), x-hours, office hours and sport time commitments (including practice). Use your previous experiences with interns to
emphasize what is most important to you in this internship. Listen to what they say
is important to them.
- Advice from their Peers…
You may want to suggest she contact your past interns to hear what the experience was like from a peer. While the prospect of an internship is quite exhilarating to a first year student, the experience can be very intimidating.
- Options for Managing YOUR Interview Schedule…
Should you have a large number of students interested in interviewing for your internship, you are not obliged to meet with them all individually if your schedule does not permit. Some sponsors use group or multiple interviews. You can announce to applicants a limit on the number of students you choose to interview. You can pre-screen their applications prior to setting up an interview time. You can encourage them to broaden their exploration by interviewing with other prospective sponsors. Don’t let large numbers of prospective applicants bog down your enthusiasm for the program.
This page was last updated on August 1, 2008
Questions or feedback concerning this page can be sent to the WISP Webmaster.
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