Student Opportunities
The IIC is committed to building a diverse cohort of students who bring unique perspectives, lived experiences, skills, and interests to develop integrative solutions for conservation challenges. Therefore, we are actively seeking students with a range of majors, minors, and professional goals for this program.
The IIC’s Conservation Research Program (CRP) offers W&M undergraduate students the chance to tackle pressing conservation challenges while benefiting from the program in several key ways:
- Skill Development: Students gain valuable research, leadership, and professional skills.
- Career Exploration: Participants explore various conservation career paths and build connections within the IIC conservation network.
- Travel Opportunities: Many students have the chance to travel as part of their involvement.
- Research Experience: Students typically complete the CRP with substantial research experience and tangible products, such as maps, reports, or even published papers, which enhance their readiness for conservation careers.
- Personal Growth: The program fosters personal reflection and development, helping students gain a deeper understanding of their own values and interests in relation to conservation work.
- Team Science: Students develop skills in collaborative, interdisciplinary research, learning to work effectively within diverse teams.
- Multicultural Awareness: The program enhances students' understanding of different cultures and perspectives, which is crucial for addressing global conservation challenges
Program Options
Year-Long Program
This one-year program allows W&M students to collaborate with W&M faculty mentors and conservation partners to design, conduct, and disseminate priority research for conservation partners.
Program Structure:
- Spring:
- Proposal Development: Students, with the guidance of their faculty mentor and conservation partner, develop a research proposal. This involves conducting a literature review, securing necessary permissions, compiling relevant data, and creating a summer research schedule. The proposal is completed and presented as a roadmap for the summer research phase.
- Summer:
- Research Execution: Students work full-time (30 hours per week for 10 weeks) to complete their research. They receive a $4,000 award to cover their expenses and have the opportunity to apply for additional travel support from the IIC if required for their project.
- Fall:
- Report Finalization and Communication: Students finalize their research report, which details the implications of their findings for advancing conservation solutions. They also complete all project deliverables as specified by the conservation partners and present their results to partners, the W&M community, and other stakeholders.
Throughout the program, students participate in lab group meetings, where they learn essential skills such as writing research proposals, communicating research results to diverse audiences, and preparing comprehensive reports.
Semester-Long Program
The semester-long Conservation Research Lab engages students in a lab where they work with a faculty mentor to complete a research project proposed by an external conservation partner designed to advance conservation outcomes. Throughout the semester, the students complete project deliverables for conservation partners and build research and professional skills. We post new projects and accept applications for semester research program at the beginning of each semester.
Conservation GIS Lab
The Conservation GIS Lab matches undergraduate students with external conservation partners to complete GIS or remote sensing projects needed to advance real conservation solutions. Part of a semester-long lab, students are matched with projects proposed by external partners that they will complete with support from conservation partners, GIS lab mentors, and the student cohort. This is a great opportunity for students who have taken at least one GIS class to apply their skills to support partners with advancing conservation outcomes. We accept students for the GIS lab at the beginning of each semester. The student application period for the Spring 2025 Conservation GIS Lab will open in early December.
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