2013

We are very pleased to share with you the 2013 edition of EARTH, WIND, SEA, AND SKY, showcasing the summer research of 32 students from our three internship programs: Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science, SOARS, the Undergraduate Internship Program at the National Ecological Observatory Network, NEON, and the Spark-NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research) Pre-College Internship.

These three internship programs are designed to broaden participation in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. The demand for welltrained scientists, mathematicians and engineers continues to increase in the United States. In addition, there remains a significant discrepancy between the demographic makeup of the STEM workforce and the country as a whole. Our internships are designed to help overcome this by building community, exposing students to world-class science facilities and pairing them with scientists and engineers who are at the cutting edge of their fields. We encourage students from groups that are historically under-represented to enter the ecological, atmospheric and related sciences, and help prepare them to succeed in college or graduate school and subsequently enter the professional workforce with advanced degrees.

While we are justifiably proud of our interns, we realize that their success would not be possible without the support and dedication of a number of people and organizations. The biggest thank you goes to our funders, our many partnering laboratories, and of course to our mentors. Thank you for your careful guidance and teaching of the interns, and for modeling what an exciting science or engineering career looks like! Without you these internship programs would not be possible.

We hope that you will enjoy this volume of abstracts. Please join us in congratulating our 2013 SOARS protégés, NEON interns and Spark-NCAR Pre-College interns!

LIZ GOEHRING, Undergraduate Internship Program Director, NEON

REBECCA HAACKER-SANTOS, SOARS Director, Spark UCAR Science Education

SCOTT LANDOLT, Director of Spark-NCAR Pre-College Internship, NCAR