Software Engineering Internship - Environmental Data & Governance Initiative

Application Deadline: 24 April 2025

Department: Environmental Data & Governance Initiative

Employment Type: Temporary

Location: Remote

Reporting To: Will Fitzgerald

Compensation: $25.00 - $30.00 / hour

Description

This summer internship is an opportunity to preserve and provide public access to federal environmental data, and to gain valuable skills in data extraction, transformation, and presentation in a range of data applications. It requires a self-directed individual with curiosity and data technology skills.  The Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI) is a research collaborative with a mission to advance the environmental right to know. We are a horizontally organized community of caring and committed members, mostly volunteer, from multiple academic institutions and non-profit organizations. EDGI focuses on issues of environmental justice, data justice, information accessibility, and corporate and government accountability. In November 2024, we formed a coalition with several other organizations, the Public Environmental Data Partners (PEDP), to preserve public access to federal environmental data, to support information integrity and civic engagement.  We expect all staff and interns to adhere to EDGI’s policies and procedures including our Code of Conduct and support EDGI’s mission, vision, and values, which include justice; environmental and human health; intersectionality; anti-facism, anti-racism, and anti-oppression; accessibility; participatory knowledge-making; and responsivity and proactivity. We also expect the intern to abide by the Public Environmental Data Partners Agreements.  This internship will be under the supervision of Dr. Will Fitzgerald, who has been the lead environmental data scientist for the EDGI and PEDP, and the intern will be in close communication with Dr Fitzgerald throughout the internship. It is a fully remote position, but there may be opportunities to meet in person if you are located in the Kalamazoo, Michigan area.

Eligibility Requirements:

• Must be currently enrolled in a college or university.
• Must be eligible to receive academic credit for the internship (documentation from your academic advisor or registrar may be required).
• Availability for 20 hours per week during the internship period.
• Must have work experience with computer engineering, software development, and/or data science. Experience with GIS data and data platforms preferred. 

To apply, please visit our Applicant Portal. Applications will be accepted until position is filled. Please include a cover letter in your application materials describing your relevant experience and qualifications. We respectfully request no follow-up calls or emails.

Key Responsibilities

●      Design and implement automated data collection systems for environmental datasets using standard technologies, including Python●      Develop web scraping solutions utilizing Playwright, APIs, and custom automation tools●      Create metadata documentation for acquired datasets●      Manage data publication workflows to repositories (such Zenodo, Dataverse, Internet Archive)●      Interact with stakeholders to understand data requirements and priorities●      Reverse engineer web interfaces to optimize data access

Special Instructions

If you are invited for an interview for the position, please be prepared to:

• Discuss your goals for the internship
• Your own data science history
• Discuss at least one coding project that you have made publicly available
• Explain the PEDP Agreements 

About EDGI

EDGI is a distributed collaboration operating under the fiscal sponsorship of the non-profit Multiplier, with volunteer members across North America. EDGI works to: 

1. Investigate and analyze the inner workings of federal environmental policy, through interviewing of agency staff, as well as data and documentary collection and analysis;
2. Monitor and analyze changes to, web-based information about the environment, energy, and climate provided by the federal government;
3. Develop new ways of making federal environmental data more accessible to the public;
4. Imagine, conceptualize, and move toward environmental data justice;
5. Advocate for improved federal data and