education

NEPHIP & State, Territorial, Local, Tribal Environmental Health Programs

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Water, Food, and Environmental Health Services Branch is providing funding to support up to 50 environmental health student internships at state, tribal, local, and territorial public health agencies.

Applications for Spring and Summer 2023 State, Territorial, Local, Tribal Environmental Health Departments: Open 

Health department applications will be accepted on a rolling basis if positions are open and available. Health departments interested in hosting an intern for Spring 2023 are encouraged to submit as soon as possible. The student application deadline is November 14, 2022 and matching is anticipated to be completed by early December for the Spring 2023 session. Complete the online application. 

Benefits

Qualified and Compensated Interns

  • Interns are undergraduate and graduate students from environmental health programs accredited by the National Environmental Health Science and Protection Accreditation Council (EHAC). EHAC requires a firm educational foundation in the natural sciences of biology, chemistry, physics, and geology.
  • Each intern receives a base stipend of $6,000 for undergraduate and $8,000 for graduate students to complete the 400-hour internship, allowing them to focus on your project. 

Strengthen the Profession

  • Your participation helps build qualified applicant pipelines to State, Territorial, Local, and Tribal Environmental Health Programs.
  • This practical, hands-on internship results in graduates that are well prepared to immediately enter the environmental health workforce or continue their academic journeys.

Support and Coordination

Participating State, Territorial, Local, and Tribal Environmental Health Programs are provided:

  • a support package valued at up to $1,500 per student to compensate for intern-related costs
  • enhanced administrative support from NEHA staff for weekly intern-mentor meetings
  • a streamlined evaluation process

Flexibility & Support

  • The internship will be available for Summer, Spring, and Fall. State, Territorial, Local, and Tribal Environmental Health Programs can apply now and select when they would like to work with an intern. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Water, Food, and Environmental Health Services Branch is providing funding and partnering with NEHA through NEPHIP to support 50 environmental health student internships throughout the year.

2022 Considerations

Quality Improvement or Accreditation

Health agencies with internship projects related to national performance management and quality improvement initiatives, including use of the Environmental Public Health Performance Standards or attaining national voluntary accreditation through the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB), may receive extra consideration for intern placements.

School Requirements

Internships must meet the requirements of the host health agency, as well as the student's academic institution and NEPHIP eligibility guidelines. Internship start and end dates, number of hours, number of credits, etc. should be determined and agreed upon by the academic program and health agency.

Intern/Health Agency Matching

Students and health agencies will be matched by NEHA staff based on each student’s experience and interest and on host site’s project portfolio. Health agencies may have the opportunity to interview selected students prior to acceptance; however, if a health agency declines the student post-interview, a replacement student may not be guaranteed.

Project Types

For 2022, projects will again be open to a wide variety of environmental public health issues and identified program needs identified by local environmental public health host sites. Read the full Project Guidance.

Program Mentor

All interns benefit from regular interaction, guidance, and feedback from their mentors. The mentor is expected to engage interns, discuss project progress, successes, and challenges, dialogue about the internship experience and answer questions that arise, and introduce students to various programs, activities and services that are operated by the department/program to support knowledge and exposure to various environmental health services and topic areas. Review the full overview of the Role of the Program Mentor.

Terms of Agreement

All arrangements for the internship, including start and end dates, work hours or timesheet, sick policy, etc. should be made by the academic program in partnership with the intern and host Program mentor to meet academic guidelines and requirements. Review the full Terms of Agreement to understand what is expected.

Eligibility

To be considered as a host program, the health agency or environmental health program should be able to meet the following criteria:

  1. Have the ability to assist the student in identifying and completing an independent project that focuses on solving a current environmental health problem or challenge facing the jurisdiction.
  2. The project may be used by the intern to meet university internship requirements.
  3. Provide opportunities for student interns to be exposed to multiple environmental health programs/activities throughout the internship. Examples include climate and health, food safety, onsite water and wastewater programs, vector control, institutional environmental health, or emergency preparedness.
  4. Assign a mentor to the intern who should be available to assist in mentoring and advising the student intern on the independent project on a routine basis throughout the internship period.

Learn More

Contact

NEPHIP@neha.org