RISE Internship: Database Specialist at Sonoran Institute
Position Title: Database Specialist for the Sonoran Institute Trash Study
Reports to: Luke Cole, Santa Cruz River program director
Hours/Week: 10
Internship Date Range: October 2025 to May 2026
Location: Tucson/Remote
About the Resilience Internships and Student Experiences (RISE) Program
The RISE Program is hosted by the Arizona Institute for Resilience (AIR) and provides undergraduate and graduate students with paid internships related to resilient environments and societies. RISE internships give students workplace setting experience with an opportunity to grow their core skills and prepare them for careers after graduation.
About the Sonoran Institute:
The Sonoran Institute is a bi-national nonprofit working throughout the Colorado River Basin from Colorado to Mexico to connect people and communities with the natural resources that nourish and sustain them. We envision a Colorado River Basin where rivers flow, landscapes are healthy, and all communities thrive. Since our founding in Tucson, Arizona in 1990, we have worked tirelessly to restore flowing rivers and equip communities with the tools needed for flourishing and resilient waterways. The Colorado River is the lifeline for over 40-million residents of the basin. We help these communities adapt to changing environmental and economic conditions so that water flows in the rivers of the West for generations to come.
Internship summary:
The internship with Sonoran Institute’s Santa Cruz River team would continue the local, impactful research on the trash crisis in the Santa Cruz River. The Sonoran Institute Trash Study (SITS) is in its 4th year; this year we are focusing on source identification and geospatial/database analysis to identify trends in the existing, scientifically defensible dataset.
Internship description:
The Database Specialist will work with the existing SITS database to explore and design the following:
- Simplified data entry with quality assurance measures
- A database that can be queried through a simple but powerful interface
- Auto-generation of tables and figures to accompany queries to the database
Compensation:
The intern will be hired and paid by the University of Arizona. The pay rate is $19/hour.
Credit Requirements:
The intern will be hired as a U of A student employee.
- For internships during the academic year: applicants must be active U of A students enrolled in at least 6 credits.
Allowable Work Hours:
- During the semester, student employees are limited to 25 hours/week (20 hours/week for international students) across ALL U of A positions.
International Students:
International students should consult with International Student Services (ISS) if work authorization is needed before securing an internship. ISS advising information can be found here.
How to Apply:
Interested applicants should send a 1-page resume to Luke Cole (lcole@sonoraninstitute.org). Resumes will be evaluated based on experience with coding, database management, and geospatial data analysis. If a shareable, applicable database can be shared, please indicate its purpose and be prepared to review it during an interview.
Applications must be submitted no later than October 17, 2025.