Mentor and lab: Chris Lay, Gizelle Hurtado – Ken Norris Center for Natural History
Positions: 2 interns
Tentative dates: Summer 2023
Project Location: Main campus with some field trips to local Santa Cruz County sites where rare insects are found
Project Background: The Norris Center will sponsor 2 CAMINO interns to help create an illustrated guide to the rare insects found in Santa Cruz County. The project will involve learning general insect taxonomy while working with the Randall Morgan Insect Collection housed at the Norris Center. Through field trips to local sites and time spent curating the Morgan collection, our research team will work together to create a publication that highlights the rare insects found here, the habitats they live in, and the research and management done to protect these species.
Intern duties:CAMINO students will create scientific illustrations of insects and plant communities; help curate the Norris Center entomological collections; interview researchers and land managers charged with protecting rare and endangered insects; write text to accompany the illustrations; edit and format illustrations and text into a publication using desktop publishing programs (Photoshop, InDesign, etc.)
Intern qualifications:Applicants should have a solid background and/or some formal training in scientific illustration, interest and preferably background in entomology, familiarity with desktop publishing software like Photoshop/InDesign/etc., enthusiasm for interviewing researchers and land managers, and strong writing skills.