Research Assistant Intern
Sea Turtles 911, a non-profit organization in Hawaii, is now looking for interns for the upcoming winter, spring, or summer session. To advance sea turtle conservation, conducting research in all aspects of the biology of sea turtles is important to the scientific community, management agencies, and conservation organizations throughout the world. Interns will contribute to the expansion of sea turtle conservation through scientific investigations. Interns are encouraged to work on current research projects with graduate students and professors. Students will communicate their research ideas and findings through scientific writing.
Responsibilities:
- Assist in communication with professionals to develop strategies and investigate solutions to pertinent conservation issues.
- Assist in research and record observations
- Review literature, analyze data, draft research papers and protocols
- Develop sea turtle nutritional diet for green sea turtles at different life cycles
- Research environmental variables affecting the basking behavior of Hawaiian sea turtles
About the organization and its mission:
Did you know that thousands of sea turtles are slaughtered every year in Asia? Because Hawaii is such a wonderful refuge for sea turtles, it's easy to forget that in other places in the world, sea turtles are still the victims of human consumption. In Asia, green sea turtles are killed for their meat, and hawksbill sea turtles are killed for their shells
Many tourists in Hawaii are from Asia, where the illegal poaching and trade of endangered sea turtles are happening everyday. Together, our goal is to give the turtles a voice and educate the tourists about both the devastating decline of the turtle populations in Asia, including plastic pollution issues, and what they can do to help, such as adopting a sea turtle to give them a chance of survival. By educating tourists effectively, they return to their home countries and stop buying products made from sea turtles, thereby reducing the market demand and supply of endangered sea turtles. To help with this conservation effort in Hawaii, non-profit organization Sea Turtles 911 hosts an Internship Program in Hawaii which provides students and young professionals with experiences working on the 'frontlines' of endangered species conservation and research. Students gain unique work experiences while giving back to the community and living on the tropical Paradise island of Hawaii.
For more information about the program, please visit:
The summer 2020 interns created a video about their experience here: