The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) operates the high-voltage transmission system in the Pacific Northwest. The Chemistry Laboratory's focus is to conduct analytical tests that support the power system reliability as well as responsible environmental stewardship.
The intern will get hands-on experience learning what it's like to be a chemist in an analytical laboratory and will learn how to develop test methods, work with analytical instruments, collaborate in a team environment and see how chemistry is used throughout BPA in a wide variety of disciplines. The internship would work closely with the chemists in the laboratories performing analytical work on a variety of different core functions that support BPA. For example, they might help analyze samples monitoring the health of the transformer through gas chromatography. The intern would prepare the samples received from the field for analysis and then analyze those samples on the instrumentation. They would also be responsible for the data analysis as well as the report writing and distribution of results back to the client.
The intern may also assist with research to optimize one of the methods currently used in the lab. The student would be responsible for setting up the apparatus to record different parameters of the test system and then work with the chemists in interpreting the results and making changes to the method. By the end of the summer, the intern will have a good understanding of what it's like to work in an analytical laboratory in the field of chemistry, and will gain exposure to project planning and coordination with different groups throughout the agency.
All of this would be under the chemist’s supervision to make sure the student is comfortable with the procedure and tasks assigned. The mentor’s teaching philosophy is to allow each student to learn at their own pace and support the students’ personal learning style, and values hands-on learning and on-the-job experience. The successful applicant should be eager to perform hands on work and get the full experience of working in a laboratory setting. This is a part-time in-person internship, with the expectation that the intern will work at least 200 hours over the course of the summer.
Students must be minimum age specified by June 15. These age requirements are strictly enforced by the mentoring organization, and there are no exceptions.
We strongly encourage students to apply who are from one or more systemically and historically excluded group, including but not limited to, non-cis-gendered students, girls, BIPOC, first-generation college-bound students, low-income/low-resourced students, students with disabilities, students who are neurodivergent, and those who speak a primary language other than English.
If you have any questions about the application, website technical issues and/or this position description, please contact Saturday Academy at ase@saturdayacademy.org. Do not contact the mentor directly. Contacting the mentor directly is grounds for disqualification of your ASE application.