Launched in 1996, MBARI’s Summer Internship Program is more than a traditional research experience. Open to undergraduate, graduate, and early-career professionals—including international candidates and educators—the 10-week paid internship is designed to help the next generation of marine researchers discover their passions, from marine biology and robotics to data science and communications.

For more than 30 years, the California Academy of Sciences’ Summer Systematics Institute has addressed critical topics at the intersection of science and society, such as threats to biodiversity, the origins and diversification of life, phylogenetic systematics, and evolutionary biology. This 10-week paid research internship offers students important insights into the contributions that museum-based research can make to issues facing society today.

MBARI and the California Academy of Sciences have a long history of collaboration that extends beyond internship programs. MBARI scientists frequently engage expert taxonomists from the California Academy of Sciences to identify deep-sea animals, and many of the specimens documenting MBARI’s species discoveries are housed in the museum’s scientific collections.

MBARI’s Summer Internship Program is generously supported through a gift from the Dean and Helen Witter Family Fund and the Rentschler Family Fund in memory of the late Frank Roberts, a founding member of MBARI’s Board of Directors, with additional support from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Dalio Philanthropies, and the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation. The California Academy of Sciences’ Summer Systematics Institute is made possible by the National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU), the Robert T. Wallace Endowment for Undergraduate Education, the Maxwell Hanrahan Foundation, the Dorothy Tapper Goldman Foundation, and Barbara Bakar.