NWS Cleveland 2023 Summer Student Volunteer Program

Applications Due: March 1, 2023

Application can be found here.

The National Weather Service in Cleveland is seeking two motivated students that desire to learn more about the operations in a local weather service office while conducting research that benefits National Weather Service operations. This is an unpaid volunteer opportunity.

The internship will be completed on site at NWS Cleveland in Brooklyn Heights, OH and will be split between the assigned project and shadowing the forecast desk, doing operational forecaster training, and going out into the field with NWS staff for meetings and surveys. This will give students the opportunity to determine whether a career with the National Weather Service may be right for them.

2023 Research Projects

Each student will be assigned a project based on their skills and interests.

Project 1: Natural Risk Hazard Assessment by County

• The student will help create a county-by-county climatology of natural hazards of the local forecast area. The student will help determine climatology, create maps, and create a product to display on the NWS Cleveland webpage for at least one county of their choosing. A reference to a similar project can be found on NWS Springfield's webpage here. 
• Special Skills Required:
  • Prior experience with data collection and analysis, including basic statistics
  • GIS mapping experience
  • Ability to summarize data succinctly and tailor information so it can be understood by the public
  • Experience in graphic creation via Microsoft Office and/or Google (optional, but helpful)

Project 2: Lake Effect Climatology

• The student will help with an ongoing lake effect climatology project for the snow belt of Lake Erie in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The student will help organize data from volunteer snow observers during known winter weather events. The data will be included in a database of events that will be used to make an event analog to help with future forecasting efforts. They will also have the opportunity to make a historical weather event page for an event.
• Special skills required:
  • Prior experience with scientific data collection
  • Experience with Microsoft Excel and performing statistical analysis
  • Good scientific writing ability to be able to describe lake effect snow events in a narrative
  • GIS mapping experience (optional, but helpful)

Requirements

Length of Internship

Students must be available to volunteer for at least 10 hours per week on average between mid May and early August (approximately 120 hours total for summer).

Eligibility

Students must fulfill the following requirements:

• Undergraduate or graduate students that are currently majoring meteorology or atmospheric science and are in good academic standing.
• At least half-time enrollment at a university that has (by summer 2023) completed their sophomore or junior year.
• Should be residing in the NWS Cleveland forecast area for the summer. NWS Cleveland will not be providing lodging/transportation.

How to Apply

• The application to apply can be found here. Applications will be open until March 1st, 2023. In addition to basic information, please be sure to include:
  • Education information including university, major, expected graduation date, and current GPA
  • A cover letter including your interest and why you should be selected
  • A resume
  • An unofficial copy of your transcripts
  • Contact information for at least one reference, including full name, email, and phone number

Important Note: All information in your resume/transcript submission will be viewed only by selecting officials. However, note that sending Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is a violation of U.S. privacy law and information security. Please ensure that all PII is removed or redacted from all documents. PII includes but is not limited to: social security numbers, date of birth, driver's license/passport numbers, and any other information that may distinguish individual identity.

If you have any questions, please contact salix.iverson@noaa.gov, alexa.maines@noaa.gov, and zachary.sefcovic@noaa.gov.