Community Science is Built on Collaboration:

Gain Real-World and Hands-on Experience that goes Beyond Institutionalized Education

We have a long history of education within our collaborative field-based and lab-based programs and projects in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.  Since 1993, YERC has hosted nearly 150 MSU undergraduate projects/studies, hired over 400 field interns from across the US and abroad, and advised 44 graduate students, and 11 postdoctoral associates to support our research and monitoring projects that lead to data-driven decision-making to solve challenging problems in conservation.  These projects span many disciplines (see below). We welcome collaboration from anyone interested in applying their relevant skills, a passion for innovative conservation solutions, and a willingness to learn and support the needs of a small science-based non-profit organization.

These students have worked on an exciting variety of projects within our three field-based programs:  RiverNET, LandNET, and WildNET and our lab-based data science program called YellowstoneNET that built our cloud-based internet platform called EPIIC.  These projects with YERC serve as important portfolio-building experience for individuals seeking to advance their careers, obtain employment or gain valuable experience to shift their career tracks.  They can also serve as credit for a college course, directed study, undergraduate Capstone Project, Senior Honors thesis, or a graduate project.  Thus, we mentor and advise undergraduates, graduate students, post-docs, as well as post-graduate research fellows in these disciplines: 

BUSINESS MARKETING:  Social Media, Advertising, and Outreach 

YERC has regular opportunities for individuals to get hands-on experience helping us to grow our reach, capacity, and overall impact as an organization through marketing, development, and business strategies. Individuals with an interest in applying their skills in this area to help drive our mission as a conservation non-profit should reach out to tory@yellowstoneresearch.org 

COMPUTER SCIENCES:  Cloud-computing, Data Science, and Machine-Learning

With the release of EPIIC, an open source cloud services based platform for sharing of ecology data streams, we are working to develop new data streams and processes for our long-term research and ‘community science’ monitoring programs.  We are looking for individuals who want to make a difference by applying their data science and/or machine learning skills to further curate and analyze the data being collected.  We have a leading-edge cloud computing environment that will allow hands-on experience working with not only real data from the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem but also using services from the major cloud service providers.

MEDIA and STORYTELLING:  Film and Photography 

We are looking for creatives to share their talents in digital storytelling to help share our stories of science and conservation success in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Creative projects with YERC serve as important portfolio-building experience for individuals seeking to advance their careers.  They can also serve as credit for an MSU course, undergraduate Capstone Project, or graduate level film project. Interested in helping us tell our story? Reach out to tory@yellowstoneresearch.org