Internship/Co-op Position in Green Infrastructure

Agency Description

The Monitoring, Analysis, and Research Support (MARS) group is responsible for monitoring the Philadelphia Water Department’s growing green infrastructure portfolio. The 25-year, multi-billion-dollar Green City, Clean Waters program seeks to modernize Philadelphia’s approach to stormwater management and manage runoff by creating acres of new green, vegetated space in the city’s combined sewer area. For more information, please see https://water.phila.gov/green-city/

Job Description

Position Summary

This co-op position will give you first-hand experience in implementing and monitoring a billion-dollar sustainable engineering initiative. You’ll be hands on in collecting and interpreting the largest green infrastructure data set in the world. You’ll have the opportunity to grow your technical understanding of hydrologic principles by testing Philadelphia’s green infrastructure. You’ll be exposed to the many complex phenomena in the urban ecosystem and learn a variety of technical skills that will assist you in a future STEM career.

Essential Functions

Co-op duties are split roughly 50-50 between office work and field operations. Field operations involve collecting data and deploying/testing monitoring instruments. Fieldwork will require repeated lifting of objects weighing up to 50 pounds. Office work involves analyzing and interpreting the data (from MARS and other groups within PWD) to provide reports and analysis products for PWD.

Competencies, Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

Typical tasks include:

• Collecting and analyzing raw data from Philadelphia’s green infrastructure monitoring network.

• Interpreting design documents for better understanding of green stormwater infrastructure performance.

• Testing and measuring stormwater management practices in controlled experiments.

• Analyzing large environmental data sets on stormwater management, water quality, precipitation, and more.

• Writing reports on monitoring tests and techniques.

• Making maps of green infrastructure data.

Applicants should have proficiency with Microsoft Office software (Word, Excel, etc) and experience with technical writing (memos, lab reports, etc). Additionally, familiarity with the following software packages is helpful (on the job training will be provided):

• ArcGIS

• R, Matlab, or another similar programming language

• Microsoft Access or another SQL database

Qualifications

Preferred Majors:

Arts & Sci. - Environmental Studies, Eng. - Chemical Engineering, Eng. - Civil Engineering, Eng. - Environmental Engineering, Eng. - Materials Engineering, Eng. – Mechanical Engineering,  Eng. - Engineering Technology, Eng. - Construction Management, Arts & Sci. - Biological Sciences, Arts & Sci. - Environmental Science, Arts & Sci. – Geosciences

Additional Information

TO APPLY: Interested candidates must submit a cover letter and resume.

Hourly Rate: $18.00 - $20.00 per hour