Extreme Heat and Wildfire Smoke Intern

Organization: Climate Impacts Group (CIG)

Available Internship Positions: 1

Total Hours: 25 (20 hours per week with the CIG and 5 hours per week with the EarthLab cohort)

Total Summer Stipend: $4,950 disbursed over the 9-week internship plus a one-time $180 transportation stipend

About Host Organization: The University of Washington Climate Impacts Group builds climate resilience by advancing understanding of climate risks and enabling science-based action to manage those risks. We are widely recognized for scientific discovery, as an experienced creator of impartial and actionable science and as a catalyst for building regional climate resilience.

Tasks and Activities: Extreme heat and wildfire smoke are significant climate resilience challenges for everyone, especially historically underserved communities. Extreme heat stressing infrastructure, intensifies health disparities, and increasing risks of heat illness for exposed populations. Wildfire smoke compounds these dangers by degrading air quality and overwhelming respiratory and cardiovascular health, underscoring the need for stronger preparedness and effective resilience strategies and planning.

The intern will work on at least one project that deals with the dual hazards of extreme heat and wildfire smoke. The goal of the internship ship is to identify effective resilience strategies, particularly for vulnerable and over exposed communities.

Tasks may include:

• Conducting a literature review on extreme heat and wildfire smoke hazards in relation to vulnerable communities
• Identifying key challenges and exposure risks of communities
• Interfacing with actors and stakeholders
• Supporting the development of a demonstration AQ and heat monitoring program
• Identifying case studies of most effective resilience strategies

Expected Products: may include but are not limited to a literature review, a policy brief highlighting key findings, a brief describing a potential air quality and heat monitoring pilot, and/or a completion of a community-engaged air quality and heat monitoring pilot project

Takeaways: The intern in this position will gain:

• Hands-on experience analyzing climate resilience challenges, especially related to extreme heat and wildfire smoke, and translating findings into actionable recommendations.
• Skills developing outputs from action-oriented science.
• Practical knowledge of climate adaptation processes, such as assessing vulnerabilities, identifying resilience strategies, and supporting local implementation efforts.
• Experience using Excel/spreadsheets to organize qualitative data, and qualitative research methods to evaluate climate impacts and inform policy and program design.
• Professional competencies in working with climate resilience actors, community organizations, or technical experts to build stronger and more equitable climate resilience.

The Candidate best suited for this position:

Preferred

• Interest in Climate resilience and adaptation
• Interest in learning qualitative social science research methods
• Interest in conducting a literature review
• Interested in climate hazards such as extreme heat and wildfire smoke
• Want to engage in community-centered climate research
• Passionate about building resilience for overburdened communities