Join the Fun as an MAS Intern!

The MAS Science Outreach Internship Program is an outstanding way to earn either undergraduate or graduate credit! Offered to either science or nonscience majors, the Internship Program is located on the UMass Amherst campus, and is open to any student enrolled in one of the Five Colleges (UMass Amherst, Hampshire College, Amherst College, Smith College, and Mount Holyoke College). The Internship Program is offered in both the Fall and Spring semesters, and serves as a great way for students to gain hands-on experience in science outreach, fundraising, membership drives, caring for the MAS mascots, social media management, and even organizing events for the Academy. To date, we've engaged 37 interns!

Please contact us with any questions or for more information.

What exactly do our interns do, you ask? Well, read on to learn more about how our interns engage in science outreach and learn the ropes of running a non-profit!

Spring 2009

Our very first group of interns were small in number but wonderful contributors to our budding organization! These students created podcasts on a science topic of their choice, and interviewed faculty from UMass Amherst. These students engaged in our first ever classroom science demonstrations, and one intern, Gabriela Baquerizo even created our first MAS informational video! (You can check out all of our intern podcasts here!)

Fall 2009

This group of interns created more podcasts, and created and tested new science demonstrations to perform during classroom visits. These interns also staffed our booth at the 2009 Massachusetts Association of Science Teachers Annual Conference in Boxborough, Massachusetts.

Spring 2010

Interns formed three separate 'task forces': Science Outreach, Fundraising, and Social Media. The Science Outreach task force was charged with scheduling, preparing for, and performing the MAS's science demonstration requests from schools around the state. This group also staffed our booth at the 2010 Cambridge Science Festival. The Fundraising task force was charged with raising a certain amount of money for the MAS, and they had to propose how they were going to do so, get it approved, and make it happen! These interns chose to host a Boy Scout troop for an evening and invited their parents to attend and learn all about the MAS, while wowing the troops with amazing science demonstrations and our fabulous mascots. The Social Media task force was charged with recommending how the MAS can best utilize the growing world of social media by determining our target audiences and most effective means of communicating with them. These interns are responsible for the creation of the Academy's current social media and marketing plan.

Spring 2011

Interns have been charged with identifying all existing partnerships for the improvement and progression of STEM education in Massachusetts. They have each been assigned one of the state's regional STEM networks and their job is to identify relevant STEM industries, individuals, and not-for-profit organizations that are currently working together beyond the scope of their everyday work to improve STEM education in their region of the state. Students are performing research and making personal contacts to learn more about how these partnerships are structured and how they're working during the semester, and will provide their recommendations for ways that the MAS can best utilize and benefit from what they've learned in a presentation at the close of the semester.