This summer, the Desert Research Institute (DRI) hosted eighteen students from Truckee Meadows Community College (TMCC) at its Reno campus for a ten-week paid internship. The program, running since 2021, is designed to provide hands-on research experience and is open to all TMCC students, regardless of their major.
“This program creates opportunities for career discovery and experience building in the sciences for students who have goals to work in science or science-adjacent fields,” said Meghan Collins, who leads the internship program. “This program has been going since 2021 and it is one of the most fulfilling things that I do here at DRI.”
The internships concluded on August 14 with student presentations about their research projects. Topics ranged from air quality management during wildfires to exploring Martian terrain for signs of ice.
“I can’t tell you how much these students have advanced since the start of their internships,” Collins said. “I am so proud of them for the hard work they’ve done.”
One group focused on plastic litter along Lake Tahoe’s beaches under faculty mentor Monica Arienzo. The team collaborated with Eco-Clean Solutions, which developed a robot called BEBOT to collect beach litter. Students analyzed collected materials from various locations and found that food waste was common across sites, with Kings Beach having the highest litter levels by both weight and count compared to previous years. They also examined wind patterns and trash bin placements as possible factors influencing litter distribution.
Another project studied health impacts related to extreme heat and wildfire smoke in Washoe County homes. Under mentors Yeongkwon Son and Kristin VanderMolen, interns placed air quality monitors inside and outside participants’ homes—some equipped with central air conditioning—to assess how different cooling methods affected indoor air quality during compound heat and smoke events.
“The goal of this project is to understand the impacts on Washoe County households from exposure to these compound events of heat and wildfire smoke, as well as trying to support them,” intern James Cabalbag said.
“When communicating with others as a researcher, it’s really essential to maintain an open mind and remain unbiased,” said intern Riley Sherman. “This was particularly important in our study because participants were sharing a lot of personal information with us, and by doing this they were more responsive and felt more comfortable.”
A third group worked on groundwater data analysis using geospatial tools under Sayantan Majumdar’s mentorship. Students learned coding skills using Python through DRI’s OpenET datasets—a resource that helps track water usage—and produced maps in ArcGIS showing changes in Nevada groundwater basins over time.
“We used Python to take the raw data and input it into a visual aid,” intern Eleanor Smith said. “It’s really amazing what ArcGIS and Python can do together.”
“The interns received hands-on training for different computational tools that are required not only for hydrology but for any geoscience research,” Majumdar said.
Other projects included analyzing landforms on Mars' Arcadia Planitia region for evidence of subsurface ice—information relevant for future missions—and laboratory techniques examining soil chemistry at archeological sites.
“I learned about geology and how landscape change over time can help us create a story to understand the formation of Earth’s surface,” Dao said.
The DRI-TMCC internship initiative continues efforts aimed at preparing students for careers in scientific research while addressing environmental challenges affecting Nevada communities.