Offer internships to UPMC students

RSMAS faculty with ongoing research projects might benefit from the work of a UPMC intern. This partnership will provide a stipend to selected UPMC candidates to facilitate their travel to RSMAS.

Educational context

The Master of "Oceanography and Marine Environment" at UPMC (Océanographie et Environnement Marin, OEM) lasts four semesters (two years):

  1. During the first semester, students take classes dealing with general environmental questions and techniques (GIS, statistics) and basic oceanography (physical oceanography, biogeochemistry, etc.).
  2. During the second semester, students follow a more advance oceanography curriculum, with classes at marine field stations, and spend a 2 months internship in a research laboratory. This semester can be done at RSMAS.
  3. During the third semester, students take short, intensive classes on specialized subjects in oceanography, choosing among four tracks: "pelagic environments", "coastal environments", "management and conservation of marine systems", and "modeling and data analysis".
  4. The last semester is entirely dedicated to a research internship, which is when RSMAS faculty can be involved. The internship starts in February. A 30 pages written report is due by the beginning of June. The report is defended in front of a jury of UPMC professors in Paris, at the end of June.

The work of the student would usually revolve around an ongoing research project in your lab, in which he/she can develop a sub-topic. The ideal internship topic is one in which the student can write a paper as first author in the months following the internship. This is not uncommon for the best students.

Students are expected to gain independent research experience through internships, that will benefit both them and your project. But, given the short time frame, you cannot expect them to start from scratch either. The grade they get for this internship accounts for a lot in their ability to get their Masters degree and apply for a PhD scholarship afterwards. So they are usually highly motivated as long as the subject is well defined and self-contained.

Financial involvement

The Partner University Fund's money will provide a stipend to selected UPMC students to help them cover the expenses related to an internship at RSMAS (air fare, visa, part of the housing, etc.). The selection will be made by the organizing committee, based on the academic merit of the student. Students are not paid during these internships.

Therefore, no cost needs to be covered by the supervisor at RSMAS, other than the research expenses of course.

Registration

If one of your projects can benefit from this opportunity, you can register an internship proposal. All OEM students will be able to read it and apply. This is a two (short) steps procedure:

  1. register the subject on OEM's website

  2. provide a one or two pages description of the work you expect the student to be carrying out, preferably as a PDF, to master.sduee-oceano@snv.jussieu.fr. It should contain:

    • Internship title
    • Name(s) and contact information of supervisor(s)
    • Location
    • Scientific objective of the internship + a few bibliographic references to get the students started on his/her literature review
    • Technical means available to the student
    • Whether there would be an opportunity to continue the project as a PhD

    You can download examples of previous internship proposals in english to guide you in the redaction of your proposal.

The project is then reviewed by the board of the OEM master and advertised to students on OEM's website (secure access).

Visa

Because the student will be staying more than 90 days in the US, he/she will need to apply for visa and the advisor in RSMAS (you) has to be involved.

The procedure is fully explained on the website of the International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) of the University of Miami. Please refer to this website as the prime source of information. In particular, the Exchange Visitor Program Policy and Procedure Manual for Coral Gables/RSMAS covers all possible situations.

The visa type will be J-1 for a short-term scholar.

We also outline your involvement in the procedure below:

From this point on, the student will receive the documents directly and will need to make an appointment at the US embassy in Paris apply for the J-1 visa. The full procedure is explained on the page describing these internships for students.