Virtual Internships

WolfPack Colombia Virtual Internships 2023

Call for Applications

We are looking for undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdocs interested in applied Plant Pathology for a virtual internship opportunity with faculty in the United States.

Eligibility

  • Only scientists from Colombia are eligible to apply.
  • A strong interest in Plant Pathology.
  • English proficiency to allow for oral and written communication needed throughout the internship.
  • Access to a computer with a good internet connection and availability of software such as Zoom and Microsoft Office. The program requires virtual writing in cloud platforms such as google drive and Zoom meetings.
  • Undergraduate students, Masters students, Doctoral students, Postdoctoral and other researchers from Colombia are welcome to apply. Because there are no visa requirements for the virtual internship, applicants do not have to be students.
  • Availability from June to August of 2023 to perform internship activities (40 hours per week, Monday through Friday from 8am to 5pm EST). Work can be self-scheduled except for pre-planned meetings with the Host Faculty, Mentor, and Dr. Lina Quesada. A schedule of meetings will be provided at the start of the internship.
  • There is no cost to the internship since it is virtual (Note: there is no funding support available for the virtual internships).

Program Description

The WolfPack Colombia program offers the possibility of conducting a virtual internship according to the conditions described on this page. Upon successful completion of the internship, the program will award a certificate of participation to the student. The WolfPack Colombia program does not guarantee that the internship can be recognized for academic credits at your home institution. If you are interested in exploring this possibility of credits recognition, please contact the academic coordination of your Department well in advance, even before starting the internship. However, the Department of Biological Sciences at UniAndes has indicated that for undergraduate students, they will recognize the internship for academic credits.

The goal of the virtual internship will be to generate a Diagnostic Guide for a disease of importance to be published in the journal Plant Health Progress from the American Phytopathological Society. This experience will provide the intern with: 1) writing experience in a second language, 2) the opportunity to interact with a plant pathology program in the United States, 3) experience doing collaborative writing, 4) a scientific publication if the work is of sufficient quality. 

What is a Diagnostic Guide?

Diagnostic Guides describe the methods used to identify nutrient and other abiotic disorders; diseases and their causal agents; and insect, nematode, or weed pests of specific plants. The articles should be illustrated with high-quality color photographs of symptoms and pathogen or pest structures associated with the subject. Diagnostic guides should not exceed 5,000 words in length.

We suggest you read the author instructions for developing Diagnostic Guides and read some recent examples such as: Black Rot of Sweetpotato, Boxwood Blight, and Ralstonia solanacearum.

How will the internship work?

The internship will begin in June and end in August. Because the internship is only 9 weeks, full-time availability (40 hours per week, Monday through Friday from 8am to 5pm EST) is expected.

Once we have received all applications, we will begin a selection process to match Interns with Host Faculty. Each Host Faculty has already chosen the Diagnostic Guide they want the Intern to develop. You can see the Host Faculty available and Diagnostic Guide options in the table below. Please indicate your interest in a specific Host Faculty (ok to select several) in your application based on your scientific interests.

Once an Intern is matched with a Host Faculty, we will have specific writing milestones to accomplish with set deadlines. The cohort of Interns will have monthly meetings with Dr. Lina Quesada to provide a social space for the cohort, discuss professional development topics, and check on writing progress. In addition, the Intern will meet with their Host Faculty as specified by the Host Faculty and potential collaborators in the Diagnostic Guide. In many cases the Intern will be working under a Mentor assigned by the Host Faculty that could be a Postdoctoral Researcher or Graduate Student so they can also take advantage of this international professional development opportunity. A suggested meeting schedule will be provided to Interns and Host Faculty to assist with progress tracking.

Because a potential outcome of the activity is to submit the Diagnostic Guide to the journal Plant Health Progress, it is possible that work on the publication beyond August will occur. However, that work should not require the full-time availability needed for the 9 weeks of the internship.