Watershed Management Internship Program

The WRI received funds under the USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education and Extensiuon Service (CSREES) program for Hispanice Serving Institutions, to prepare outstanding undergraduate and graduate students from underrepresented groups for careers in the USDA’s scientific and professional workforce that protects the natural resource base and environment.

Under the WRI's Watershed Management Internship program, students participate in paid supervised internships that address real-world impacts resulting from the explosive growth, changing land use patterns and expanding urbanization in the Santa Ana watershed.

The internships are individually designed to augment the each student’s field of study and provide an opportunity for the student to come in contact with the scientific and professional workforce. Students also receive IT and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) training to apply geospatial concepts to their watershed management internship. 

The project is sponsored by a local USDA agency, the Redlands Office of the Natural Resource Conservation Service in collaboration with other stakeholders in the Santa Ana Watershed of Southern California.

The Primary Investigator for the grant is Dr. James Noblet (Chemistry), Faculty Chair of the Water Resources Institute, working in collaboration with a Faculty Research Team consisting of WRI Faculty Council members from the Colleges of Natural Science and Social and Behavioral Sciences including Dr. Tony Metcalf (Conservation Biology), Dr. Joan Fryxell (Geology), Dr. Brett Stanley (Chemistry), Dr. Eric Melchiorre and additional faculty members including Dr. David Turner, (Computer Science), Dr. Sally McGill (Biology), Dr. Kim Williams (Botany) and Dr. Norman Meek (Geography). Susan Lien Longville, Director of the Water Resources Institute is the Project Administrator (slongvil@csusb.edu).

Projects from the 2007-2009 funding years can be found here.