Internship Program
The Rockies and High Plains Vector-borne Diseases Center (RaHP VEC) is continuing our summer internship program for summer 2026. We seek to facilitate opportunities for field training and localized research projects for students from throughout our region (CO, WY, NM, UT, and the TX panhandle) who are interested in vector control and public health.
Internship Partners
- Grand River Mosquito Control District
- Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement District
- Mosquito Abatement District – Davis
- Delta County Public Health
- City of Laramie
- Cheyenne Weed and Pest
- City of Albuquerque
- Jefferson County Public Health
- Weld County Public Health
- Animas Mosquito Control District
- Utah Department of Health and Human Services
These internships aim to improve connections between local mosquito districts, health agencies, and academic institutions. RaHP VEC will help facilitate connections with the local districts and health agencies, but encourages you to get the process started earlier if possible. After April 1st, RaHP VEC will begin to review applicants and work with individual interns and their local districts to devise project plans (applications will still be accepted until a later date). We encourage current undergraduate (2- or 4- year institutions) and Master’s students to apply.
Example activities:
- Field collections (e.g., selecting sites, deploying and recovering traps, counting/sorting insects)
- Lab-based work (e.g., insecticide resistance assays, virus detection)
- Analysis (e.g., data processing, managing data streams, visualization and dissemination)
- Outreach (e.g., conducting vector control/risk assessment surveys)
How to apply
Complete the below internship application, where you will be asked to attach a CV/resume and unofficial transcript. Preview the application questions here.
Testimonials
“Thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of RaHP VEC. This experience has been absolutely incredible and has definitely made me a much better scientist.”
“My fellow interns informed me last week that I had managed to identify somewhere around 640 Culex tarsalis mosquitoes from a single trapping site. Thankfully, tarsalis mosquitoes are easy to identify but I do remember this site taking me a while to finish with my mosquito ID. I even have managed to see banded proboscises and legs in my sleep.”
“I’ve had a pretty busy week going through published academic papers to develop a literature review to find similarities in other studies and ours, focusing on tick species and their relationship with local vegetation and the microhabitats they live in. It’s been really interesting seeing the ideas and experiments others have conducted and the conclusions they come to!”