Intern Alumni
From 2013 - 2017, NEON offered a variety of research internships for undergraduates during the summer, from helping to design sensor assemblies to testing sampling protocols and analyzing data. Interns worked alongside staff mentors and explored career options in weekly professional development seminars and networking events with interns from other scientific programs based in Boulder, CO. NEON interns have significantly contributed to NEON construction and operations through a variety of science, engineering, and communications projects.
Madeleine Ball | 2014
Affiliation: Tufts University
Team: Science – Airborne Observation Platform
Mentors: Shelley Petroy, Nathan Leisso, and Leah Wasser
Project: Madeleine conducted a comparative analysis of Landsat, AVIRIS, and NIS normalized difference vegetation indices in NEON Domain 17, the Pacific Southwest.
Scientific Poster: A comparative analysis of Landsat, AVIRIS, and NIS normalized difference vegetation indices in Domain 17, the Pacific Southwest
Wendy Barrios| 2017
Affiliation: Oregon State University
Team: Science Support
Mentors: N/A
Project:Wendy worked with our Science Support team to survey final instrument installations at and create maps of NEON field sites.
Scientific Poster: Collecting and Correcting Spatial Data
Gabriel Bromley | 2016
Affiliation: University of Wisconsin - Madison
Team: Engineering/Calibration
Mentors: David Durden, Stefan Metzger
Project: Gabriel worked to optimize the collocation of field sampling activities and tower-based instrument measurements during NEON construction.
Scientific Poster: Optimizing the collocation of field sampling activities and tower-based instrument measurements
Catherine Clark | 2015
Affiliation: University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Team: Science - Airborne Observation Platform
Mentors: Josh Elliott, Nathan Leisso, Leah Wasser
Project: Catherine completed a comparative analysis of field spectroscopy and NEON atmospherically corrected airborne reflectance data.
Scientific Poster: A Comparative Analysis of Field Spectroscopy and NEON Atmospherically Corrected Airborne Reflectance Data
Stephanie Cortés | 2014
Affiliation: Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia
Team: Science
Mentors: Michael SanClements, Sarah Elmendorf
Project: Stephanie's project was to modify and implement an automatic image analysis algorithm to process NEON phenocam images to allow for the study of tree canopy phenology.
Scientific Poster: Interpreting Canopy Phenology using an Automatic Image Analysis Algorithm to Process Phenocam Images
Nicole Dear | 2013
Affiliation: University of Michigan
Team: Science
Mentors: Jacob Parnell, Michael SanClements
Project: Nicole studied the successional changes in soil microbial communities in northeastern US hardwood forests as part of validating NEON sampling design.
Scientific Poster: Successional Changes in Soil Microbial Communities in a Northeastern US Hardwood Forest
William Ennis | 2013
Affiliation: University of Alabama
Team: Engineering
Mentors: Susan Tower, Andrew Sparks and Ryan Utz
Project: William's project was to design and prototype of STREON aquatic organism exclosure. [STREON was descoped from the NEON design in 2015]
Scientific Poster: Design and Prototype of STREON Aquatic Organism Exclosure
Kyle Feldman | 2016
Affiliation: Bard College; Biology major
Team: Science, Terrestrial Instrumented Systems
Mentor: Cove Sturtevant
Project: Kyle worked closely with NEON scientists to help analyze the potential effects that Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) safety lighting may have on the flux tower sensors that analyze radiation (visible light and heat). Currently, there are two NEON towers required to have FAA safety lighting due to their height.
Scientific Poster: Analyzing the Effects of FAA Safety Lighting on Radiation Measurements at NEON Test Sites
Ian Flores Siaca | 2016
Affiliation: University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus; Biology major, Sociology minor
Team: Data Products, Ecoinformatics
Mentors: Christine Laney, Claire Lunch
Project: Every day, we produce petabytes of data, which are stored in large and complex datasets. This big data, as it is known, is hard to analyze using the classical statistical frameworks. The scientific community has suggested the use of new visualization techniques with more advanced statistical frameworks to deal with the increasing data. However, multidimensional data analyses have been used as one of the frameworks to tackle this situation, yet, development of these tools has been extremely limited. This is a bigger problem if we take a look at how many of these tools are applicable to spatial ecology. To tackle this, we made use of the core fundamentals of the Information Visualization Reference Model, which allowed us to build a web-based application making use of the Shiny and R infrastructure. The resulting application allows users to visualize relationships of variables in up to three dimensions. In addition to these, it also allows for the visualization of the different spatial patterns that the species exhibit. It also allows for different spatial analyses such as Ripley’s K and its modification, Ripley’s L.
Scientific Poster: Making Science More Accessible through Data Visualization of Field-Based Organismal Data
Avalon Hoek Spaans | 2015
Affiliation: University of Florida
Team: Science - Terrestrial Observation Systems
Mentors: Cody Flagg, Katie LeVan
Project: Avalon investigated the climatic and ecological factors that may explain fine root biomass at depth on the continental scale.
Scientific Poster: Climatic and Ecological Factors Explain Fine Root Biomass at Depth on the Continental Scale
Frances Janz | 2016
Affiliation: University of Colorado at Boulder; Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (EBIO) major, Philosophy minor
Team: Science, Terrestrial Observation Systems
Mentor: Lee Stanish
Project: Determining whether there are differences in the types and amounts of organisms found in soil collected at NEON field sites using two different soil sampling methods. This analysis will help NEON scientists make more informed decisions on the best soil sampling procedures at field sites.
Scientific Poster: Collecting Soil Microorganisms: How Sampling Methodology Influences Diversity and Community Composition
Ariel Kaluzhny | 2014
Affiliation: Wesleyan University
Team: Cyberinfrastructure
Mentors: François Pradeau, Jim Arnow
Project: Ariel worked on implementation, visualization, and output analyses of time series algorithms for NEON tower sensors.
Scientific Poster: Implementation, Visualization, and Output Analysis of Time Series Algorithms for NEON Tower Sensors
Victor Leos | 2014
Affiliation: Bowdoin College
Team: Science
Mentors: David Hoekman, Katie Jones, and Natalie Robinson
Project: Victor used NEON provisional data to examine vascular plant and carabid beetle diversity across three different ecoclimatic domains
Scientific Poster: Exploring vascular plant and carabid beetle diversity across three different ecoclimatic domains using NEON provisional data
Adrián Lugo Bendezú | 2016
Affiliation: University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus; Integrative Biology major
Team: Science, Airborne Observation Platform
Mentor: Tristan Goulden
Project: Traditionally, expensive software tools have been a necessity for working with hyperspectral data; Adrian’s internship project was to develop a software tool that allows QGIS (an open source software package) to open, read, and use NEON’s hyperspectral data.
Scientific Poster: Plugin for Opening and Georeferencing NEON Hyperspectral Data in QGIS
Abigail Oakes | 2013
Affiliation: New College of Florida
Team: Communications
Mentors: Jennifer Walton, Sandra Chung, Liz Goehring, Claire Lunch
Project: Abigail's outreach and communications internship project focused on creating inclusive environments through NEON outreach for Latinx communities.
Scientific Poster: Inclusive Environments - Developing Outreach for Latino Communities
Hitomi Okada | 2015
Affiliation: Colorado State University
Team: Science - Terrestrial Instrumented Systems
Mentors: Joshua Roberti, Derek Smith, Chris Thompson, Janae Csavina, Hank Loescher
Project: Hitomi used photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) as a proxy to estimate the impact of NEON's tower infrastructure on microclimate measurements which lead to improvements in construction techniques to minimize impacts on subsequent NEON data collection.
Scientific Poster: Using Photosynthetically Active Radiation as a Proxy to Estimate the Impact of NEON's Tower Infrastructure on Microclimate Measurements
Rose Petersky | 2014
Affiliation: SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Team: Science
Mentors: Ryan Utz, Michael Fitzgerald
Project: Rose's project was to determine the optimal spatial resolution of measurements for mapping stream geomorphology using land surveying techniques.
Scientific Poster: Determining the optimal sample density of measurements for mapping stream geomorphology using land surveying
Spencer Phillips | 2017
Affiliation: Murray State University
Team: Science, GIS
Mentors: Brandon Jensen, Caren Scott, Melissa Slater
Project: Spencer worked with aquatic scientists to build habitat maps of lakes and rivers at NEON field sites.
Scientific Poster: Bathymetry and Habitat Map Production for NEON Aquatic Sites
Justin Ripley | 2016
Affiliation: The Colorado School of Mines; Environmental Engineering major
Team: Engineering & Calibration
Mentors: Janae Csavina, Doug Kath, Ted Hehn
Project: Working in NEON's Calibration and Validation lab analyzing the uncertainty associated with the collection, measurement and storage of pressurized gases used for the “state-of-health” testing of carbon dioxide sensors mounted on the NEON towers.
Scientific Poster: Uncertainty Analysis and Optimization of Gas Filling Procedures for Reliable Carbon Dioxide Measurements
Amanda Roberts | 2017
Affiliation: Virginia Tech
Team: Science- Airborne Observation Platform
Mentors: Tristan Goulden & Bridget Hass
Project: Amanda worked with the Airborne Observation Platform team to better understand uncertainty in remote sensing measurements.
Scientific Poster: Analysis of the Uncertainty in High Level NEON AOP Data Products
Adrienne Rodriguez | 2013
Affiliation: North Carolina State University
Team: Science
Mentors: Charlotte Roehm, Melissa Slater, Jennifer Everhart
Project: Adrienne studied lake ecosystem function from bathymetric, hydrologic, and land use modeling in ArcGIS as part of creating and testing NEON Algorithm Theoretical Basis Documents to document NEON data processing.
Scientific Poster: Revealing Lake Ecosystem Function from Bathymetric and Hydrologic Modeling in ArcGIS
Charlotte Roiger | 2017
Affiliation: St. Olaf College
Team: Science
Mentors: N/A
Project: Charlotte worked with NEON data to better understand patterns in mosquito communities across the US.
Scientific Poster: Methods for Spatial Patterns and Mapping NEON Mosquito Data in R
Kevin Sacca | 2014
Affiliation: Rochester Institute of Technology
Team: Science
Mentors: Michael SanClements, Sarah Elmendorf
Project: Kevin, an Imaging Science student, created an algorithm for automatically finding snow depth from the images of the staff gauges at field sites using image processing techniques.
Scientific Poster: Determining Snow Depth Using an Automatic Image Processing Algorithm
Victoria Scholl | 2015
Affiliation: Rochester Institute of Technology
Team: Science - Airborne Observation Platform
Mentors: David Hulslander, Tristan Goulden, Leah Wasser
Project: Victoria worked to improve the algorithms used to create lidar-derived canopy height models in sites with varying vegetation structure.
Scientific Poster: Assessing and Adapting LiDAR-Derived Pit-Free Canopy Height Model Algorithm for Sites with Varying Vegetation Structure
Caleb Shaw | 2014
Affiliation:
Team: Education
Mentors: Sarah Newman, Sandra Henderson, Tom Stohlgren (Colorado State University)
Project: Caleb was at NEON as part of the STAR teacher researcher program to hone his research skills in order to help students better understand the fun of scientific investigations during his teaching. Caleb completed comparison of common lilac (_Syringa vulgaris_) phenology timing between historical data and current Project BudBurst citizen science data. [Project BudBurst was moved to the Chicago Botanical Gardens in 2016].
Scientific Poster: Comparison of common lilac (Syringa vulgaris) phenology timing between historical data and current Project BudBurst citizen science data: challenges and lessons learned
Justo Tarula | 2015
Affiliation: University of California - Riverside
Team: Engineering/Calibration
Mentor: Janae Csavina
Project: Justo worked in NEON's Calibration and Validation lab to quantify impacts of atmospheric and physical parameters on pyranometer calibration.
Scientific Poster: Quantifying impacts of atmospheric and physical parameters on pyranometer calibration
Emily Wallis | 2017
Affiliation: East Stroudsburg University
Team: Field Science, Domain 10/13
Mentor: Jennifer N. Smith, Sean Perez
Project: Emily worked with the Domain 10/13 field staff to create photographic identification materials for the great diversity of Coleoptera (ground beetles) that are found in these field sites.
Scientific Poster: Collection and Digital Catalogue Development of NEON’s Domain 10.13 Carabid Beetles
Jasmine Warren | 2017
Affiliation: St. Leo University
Team: Science- Airborne Observation Platform
Mentor: David Hulslander & Samantha Weintraub
Project: Jasmine worked on comparisons between ground-based and remotely sensed foliar chemistry measurements.
Scientific Poster: Evaluating the accuracy of vegetation indices derived from NEON Imaging Spectrometer data
Sharon Williams | 2016
Affiliation: University of Montana Western; Geology major with a focus in GIS (Geographic Information Systems) mapping
Team: GIS
Mentor: Melissa Slater
Project: Creating dynamic web maps of each NEON domain to be used by field operations staff across the NEON network. The maps included key geographic markers such as tower and aquatic site locations, field sampling locations, boundaries, pictures and more.
