Summer 2024 IPREFER Undergraduate Internships (PAID)

Integrated Pennycress Research Enabling Farm & Energy Resilience

May 20 – July 31, 2024

Our program offers students from all majors an opportunity to work with teams of researchers who are contributing to the Integrated Pennycress Research Enabling Farm & Energy Resilience (IPREFER) project. Researchers in this multidisciplinary project are working to develop pennycress (Thlaspi arvense) for use as a source of biofuel, animal feed, and edible oil. In addition to diversifying farmers’ economic opportunities, pennycress provides environmental benefits, including a reduction in soil erosion and nutrient runoff, protection of water sources, suppression of weeds, and support for pollinator health and biodiversity.

Check out the 2024 Internship Opportunities Below!

Click Here to see Internship Opportunities

Interns Will Gain

  • Technical skill in disciplinary research related to crop growth and production practices, education/communication, plant breeding, plant genetics, pollinator communities, post-harvest processing and storage, or water quality
  • Cross-disciplinary competencies needed for collaborative work on bio-based solutions to food, energy, and environmental challenges
  • Increased proficiency in science communication
  • …and other skills specific to the discipline of choice, such as phenotyping, DNA extraction, PCR, gas chromatography, and other lab techniques.

We welcome students who are interested in gaining new skills as well as those who want to perfect already-acquired skills.

Interns Will Receive

  • Compensation of $8,000 that includes a stipend of $6,000 and $2,000 to assist with travel and housing expenses
  • Round-trip travel from the research site to program orientation, Mpls/St. Paul, plus lodging and food during program orientation
  • Travel allowance ($500) to participate in the IPREFER annual meeting, Mpls/St. Paul

To Be Eligible

  • Be enrolled in an undergraduate degree program and working toward a bachelor’s or associate’s degree
  • Be a sophomore or more advanced level (as of fall 2024). Students are not eligible if they will receive their degree before the beginning of the 2024 fall semester
  • Have not previously participated in the IPREFER internship program
  • Be a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident of the U.S.

Program dates and activities (subject to minor changes)

Dates Activities
Nov 3, 2023 Online application period begins
Feb 10, 2024 Deadline for application submission
May 19 – 24 Program orientation in Minneapolis/St. Paul (Overview of IPREFER project, introduction to research teams, responsible conduct of research, working with data, setting internship goals, social activities).
May 27 – July 31 Mentored research and online meetings with 2024 IPREFER intern cohort
July 30 – 31 IPREFER annual meeting, Normal, IL

Program Requirements

  • Participate in the entire program (May 20 – July 31)
  • Work full-time (40 hours per week). Time off must be approved by the interns’ research mentor
  • Participate in all program activities including orientation, research, online meetings and the IPREFER annual meeting
  • Prepare an abstract and make a presentation (poster or talk) during the IPREFER annual meeting
  • Follow all safety guidelines required by the research mentor or their host institution

You can learn more about our internship program on our 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 internship pages, where we provide descriptions of past student projects.

The IPREFER IPS-URE program welcomes and encourages applications from students with diverse social backgrounds and from any field of study including but not limited to agriculture, biology, chemistry, communication, economics, education, engineering, and plant science.

IPREFER is supported by Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant No. 2019-69012-29851 from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture

IPREFER Internship Program 2024 – A partial list of internship positions is provided below. We will post additional positions online as they become available. Check back throughout the fall. Applications will be accepted until February 10, 2024.

2024 Internship Opportunities

IPREFER Internship Program 2024 – A partial list of internship positions is provided below. We will post additional positions online as they become available. Check back throughout the fall. Applications will be accepted until February 4, 2024.

Researcher’s name: Winthrop B. Phippen

Researcher’s organization: Western Illinois University (WIU)

Researcher’s email: wb-phippen@wiu.edu

A brief description of the work conducted by the research lab or team:

WIU is home to the IPREFER traditional plant breeding and genetics program. Students will have the opportunity to participate in field and greenhouse trials focusing on developing a new small oilseed crop Pennycress for the Midwest region.  Students will gain experience in data collection, harvesting, seed processing, optical seed sorting, and digital seed analysis.   Students will also conduct seed chemistry tests by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance for total seed oil, Gas chromatography for oil constituents, seed glucosinolates, and help develop new high throughput Near-Infrared automation.  Students will have the opportunity to travel to other IPREFER sites throughout Illinois and Missouri to experience other aspects of the project.

Possible areas of focus for internship projects:

  1. Assessment of natural populations of pennycress for key agronomic traits.
  2. Assess sulfur treatments on field grown pennycress.
  3. Optimize spring applied nitrogen rates on pennycress.
  4. Investigate planting seed density trials.
  5. Assess seed bank longevity of wild and golden seeded pennycress.
  6. Impact of abiotic stresses on glucosinolate accumulation in pennycress seeds.

Knowledge/Interests/Abilities – Required: Only need basic field and laboratory experience. Students will work directly with Dr. Phippen and WIU agronomists and chemists on a daily basis. Students will be trained on all equipment.

Knowledge/Interests/Abilities – Preferred: Some basic statistics (R) experience.

Internship work locations (institution, city, state):

Western Illinois University
School of Agriculture
1 University Circle
Macomb, IL 61455-1390

Internship work conditions (field, lab, greenhouse):

Internship will involve all aspects of a plant breeding program.  In the field, tasks may include: taking plant measurements, combine harvesting plants, photography, drone imaging, basic plot maintenance, and participating in field day events.  In the greenhouse, tasks include: taking plant measurements and harvesting plants.  In the laboratory, tasks include: seed cleaning, optical seed sorting, digital seed measurements, and various analytical chemistry techniques to analyze seed.

Related Publications:

From farm to flight: CoverCress as a low carbon intensity cash cover crop for sustainable aviation fuel production. A review of progress towards commercialization. (Phippen et al., 2022)

New approaches to facilitate rapid domestication of a wild plant to an oilseed crop: Example pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L.) (Marks et al., 2017)

Researcher’s name: Mark Bernards

Researcher’s organization:  USDA-ARS

Researcher’s email: mark.bernards@usda.gov

A brief description of the work conducted by the research lab or team:

The Crops project at the USDA-ARS in Morris, MN, is developing agronomic best management practices for winter oilseeds production in the upper Midwest. Research projects that will be in process or implemented in Summer 2024 include multiple studies measuring pennycress response to herbicides applied PRE or POST, pennycress response to herbicide carryover from soybean, utility of chemical desiccants applied at physiological maturity for improved harvestability, and experiments measuring pennycress establishment methods into wheat and dry bean residue. In addition, experiments where herbicides will be applied in crop in wheat, soybean, dry bean and corn for pennycress to be planted in fall 2024.

Possible areas of focus for internship projects: 

  1. Pennycress maturity, yield, and seed quality as influenced by herbicide or desiccant application.
  2. Establishing corn, wheat, dry bean and soybean herbicide carryover studies to measure pennycress stand establishment after September 2024 planting.
  3. Summarizing greenhouse data of pennycress response to simulated herbicide carryover.

Knowledge/Interests/Abilities – Required:

  • Curiosity about plant agriculture
  • Willingness to ask questions, especially when instructions are not clear
  • Understanding of scientific method
  • Detail oriented, with excellent note-taking skills
  • Enjoy working outside
  • Familiarity with plant growth and cultivation, and ability to distinguish between different plant species and between healthy and unhealthy plants
  • Willingness to adhere to safety procedures
  • Willingness to work with herbicides
  • Ability to precisely follow written or oral instructions
  • Drivers license and personal vehicle

Knowledge/Interests/Abilities – Preferred:

  • Knowledge of row crop production
  • Data management in Excel or similar program
  • Ability to evaluate processes and make suggestions for improvement, where appropriate
  • Research experience

Internship work locations (institution, city, state): USDA-ARS, Morris, MN

Internship work conditions (field, lab, greenhouse):  Work activities will occur in the field and lab.

Related Publications

Yield tradeoffs of early corn harvest to enhance pennycress establishment (Mohammed et al., 2023)

Characterization of carinata tolerance to select herbicides using field dose-response studies (Ethridge et al., 2021)

Researcher’s name: Julia Zhang

Researcher’s organization: University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Researcher’s email: zhang0521@umn.edu

A brief description of the work conducted by the research lab or team:

Pennycress breeding and genetics for the Midwest, northern region.

Possible areas of focus for internship projects: 

The intern will participate in every aspect of the pennycress breeding program, including field data collection of agronomic traits, harvesting, sample cleaning, post-harvest end-use quality traits characterization, data input, and organization for data analysis.  Depending on the ability and interest, the intern will have the opportunity to learn molecular marker techniques in our marker laboratory by assisting in the marker-assisted breeding of a few key domestication traits.

Knowledge/Interests/Abilities – Required:

  • Strong interest and ability to work in the field and laboratory
  • good analytical skills.

Knowledge/Interests/Abilities – Preferred:

  • Some research experience, and ability to work in a team setting.

Internship work locations (institution, city, state): University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN

Internship work conditions (field, lab, greenhouse): Growth chambers, laboratory, St. Paul, Rosemount, Lamberton, Morris, MN (day trips, with overnight possibility)

Related Publications

Researcher’s name: Samantha Wells

Researcher’s organization: University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Researcher’s email: sswells@umn.edu

A brief description of the work conducted by the research lab or team:

At the ELAI (Experiential Learning for Agricultural Innovation) Lab, we study ways to diversify and optimize agronomic systems with the goal of making Midwestern agriculture more environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable. Most of our work involves the use of winter-hardy annual cover crops, such as pennycress.

Possible areas of focus for internship projects: 

Join Dr. Samantha Wells for a summer research experience that combines opportunities to learn scientific storytelling and communication, hypothesis construction, technical writing, data management and data visualization through the lens of sustainable agriculture and food systems research. In this experience students will use pre-collected data from a past field experiment.  Students will largely focus on evaluating different approaches to corn residue management and determine subsequent impacts on pennycress, corn, and soybean yield. An additional goal is that the completed research will be presented to academic peers by the interns at the ASA/CSA/SSSA Annual Conference in fall 2024.

Knowledge/Interests/Abilities – Required:

  • A strong interest in improving data analysis and scientific writing skills
  • Cross-cultural competency and demonstrated commitment to a prejudice-free environment
  • An interest in environmental sustainability
  • Ability to work as part of a team

Knowledge/Interests/Abilities – Preferred:

  • Ability to analyze and interpret technical writing
  • Ability to provide critical feedback on scientific ideas
  • Ability to manage, manipulate, interpret trends in large sets of data
  • Ability to use statistical software (SAS, R) to conduct analysis

Internship work locations (institution, city, state):

University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN

Internship work conditions (field, lab, greenhouse): Crops Research Building, UMN St. Paul Campus.  Students will participate in limited fieldwork (1 day per week), the remaining workdays will take place in the lab.

Related Publications