Student Opportunities
GRADUATE ASSISTANTSHIPS AND FELLOWSHIPS - UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY
The Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Kentucky has assistantships and fellowships available for the 2013-14 academic year for MS and Ph.D. students. All awards include tuition and health insurance. The department has 10 tenured/tenure-track faculty, 3 lecturers, and 11 adjuncts at the Kentucky Geological Survey and the UK Center for Applied Energy Research. Research specializations include geochemistry, geophysics, hydrogeology, igneous/metamorphic petrology, sedimentary geology, and tectonics. Facilities include the Sedimentary, Environmental and Radiochemical Research Laboratory; a state-of-the art stable isotope laboratory; the Kentucky Seismic and Strong-Motion Network; instruments for potential field geophysics; electron microprobe and X-ray diffraction laboratories; and extensive library holdings. UK is located in Lexington, a vibrant community of nearly 300,000. The surrounding area offers a wealth of outdoor and cultural opportunities. For more information, visit http://ees.as.uky.edu or contact Dr. Alan Fryar, Director of Graduate Studies (859-257-4392 or alan.fryar@uky.edu).
EARTH Science Writing Externship
EARTH’s externship is essentially an as-you-can or as-you-feel-like-it writing opportunity for select students or inexperienced science writers. It is an opportunity for you to learn about the process of writing and editing a news story and for you to get published clips. It fits around your schedule.
If you are chosen to be an EARTH extern, in any given week or month when you have time to write, you'll email us and say, "Hey, I have time to write this week." Then, either you can pitch stories to us — which we would love if you feel confident in making pitches or would at least like the practice (most students don't, or don't have the time to comb the literature looking for stories) — or we can assign you a story. That is up to you. If you'd like to pitch ideas, go for it.
If you'd like us to assign you ideas, email us when you're ready for an assignment. We'll go from there. You can write as frequently or infrequently as works for you.
You can perform this work from your location, at your leisure. Once a story is assigned, you’ll have anywhere from a few days to two weeks to turn it around once it's assigned. We do ask that you stick closely to deadlines, so please keep that in mind when you tell us when you're ready to write.
Being a monthly news magazine, we obviously work on a monthly schedule. We usually assign stories for print mid-month and they're due a week or two later, with edits to follow. If you are not free when those news stories are due, then we will work around your schedule and will most likely post your stories to our website rather than put them in print (they may still appear in print as well though — at our discretion). There is also no guarantee of publication.
Whether for print or the website, you'll get published clips, professionally edited, and we will work with you throughout the process, helping you to hone your craft. We do not pay for clips as we consider this an educational opportunity for you.
If you're interested in the experience, email your resume, a cover letter, and at least one writing sample to earth@earthmagazine.org.
