Watershed Internship Program connects undergraduates to a wide array of careers in water resource management
This past summer seven undergraduate students from across the US participated in Watershed Management Research and Outreach Internship Program. The program, which just completed its third year, places undergraduate students with Extension mentors at land-grant institutions across the North Central Region.
The goal of the program is to help students develop extension and applied research skills across disciplines to enable them to succeed as future water resource professionals. The internship program also aims to build a lasting network of arising professionals in water, natural resource, and agriculture and increase student awareness for the careers available in water resource management and extension.
The focus and day-to-day tasks for the interns vary based on their location and the scope of work of their mentor.

For example, Heather Sutherland, a student at Iowa State, was the North Dakota State University Watershed Intern in 2024. Heather worked alongside Extension Livestock Environmental Stewardship Specialist Miranda Meehan on NDSU’s Livestock Water Quality Program. As a part of her work, Sutherland evaluated the relationship between Extension screenings for livestock water quality and livestock water development projects funded through the Drought Disaster Livestock Water Supply Project Assistance Program. Her work found that more livestock development projects were installed in counties where NDSU Extension conducted screenings for livestock water quality. The higher number of projects in counties with screenings indicates that the Extension Livestock Water Quality Program may have increased producers’ awareness of water quality concerns at the county level and led to additional preventative action.
Conversely, Katie Holland, a student at the University of Illinois, was based in Galesburg Illinois this past summer, where she had the opportunity to work with Illinois Extension mentor Rachel Curry and the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy (NLRS). Her work focused on developing educational and outreach materials, including a monthly online newsletter centered on agricultural conservation and NLRS partner initiatives. Katie also led the creation of a series of short videos for the NLRS social media to promote their podcast series.
“This experience was incredibly rewarding, as it not only taught me how to communicate scientific concepts to diverse audiences but also broadened my awareness of the numerous career paths available in watershed management,” notes Holland.

Emily Bruce from Macalester College was based in Ames where she worked with Catherine DeLong, Water Quality Program Manager with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. For her internship, Emily worked on gathering information for the Find My Watershed Coordinator Project – an online map that showcases watershed projects, and the conservation professionals who manage those projects, in the state of Iowa. The map serves as a resource for farmers to locate their local conservation professionals. By visiting the site, individuals can hover over watersheds to see local projects and locate relevant resources, such as contact information or links to project websites.
The application is now open for undergraduates to apply to serve as a Watershed Intern in summer 2025. This year eight interns will be placed at six different institutions: The University of Illinois, Iowa State University, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Missouri, North Dakota State University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Applications are open until Monday, November 18th, so please share with students in your network!