Achievement

Trainees completed internships this past year at National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Northeast Region, in Gloucester, MA; NMFS, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, in Seattle, WA and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, in Rome, Italy. Before starting, trainees rated internships as relating to their own research interests “to a moderate extent” at best. By the end, based on their internship presentations at the August 2011 program retreat, they spoke excitedly about learning new dimensions of policy and practice as a result of these internships, and appeared to be considering how to integrate their internship work into their dissertation research and/or career plans. Summer internships appear to be highly productive experiences for students, particularly in terms of students’ confidence in translating research into policy recommendations for agencies and organizations.