By Steve Scarpa
“What did you do this summer?”
A group of talented local high school and college students will have a great story to tell when they return to school in the Fall.
They've sorted aquatic macroinvertebrates, organized fossil plants, and prepared fossil specimens at the Yale Peabody Museum. They improved the software used to study how museum visitors interact with robotic guides. They’ve analyzed collections metadata. They’ve studied how early life experiences shape brain development and mental health. Still others documented the work going on at the Marsh Botanical Garden and the Peabody itself.
And that’s not even the entire list of what they’ve worked on.
Thanks to the John and Dorothy Allen Summer Internship Program, this talented group of young people fanned out across Yale gathering real-world scientific and professional experience. This popular program is made possible by an anonymous donor, established in memory of John and Dorothy Allen.
“One of the biggest goals for the education department is to expose students to areas of science they may not have previously known much about. We’re always excited to see what sparks their interests,” said Aaliyah Shabazz, Lead Educator for Youth Engagement in the Peabody’s Education Department. “Some of our favorite moments come after a student learns something new and can’t wait to share it.”
Shabazz and the Peabody’s education team have placed more than forty students in various labs and departments since the museum’s reopening. She also reports that the number of students participating in the program has grown from about five to more than a dozen each summer over the course of the past decade.
Students who apply to the internship program first express their areas of interest. Shabazz and her colleagues then attempt to place each young person with an opportunity aligned with at least one of their interests, even if those interests are broad and not necessarily based in science. Finally, the students interview with their potential supervisor to secure the role.
The goal of the program is, of course, educational – offering a young person a close look at the inner workings of a lab or a museum. But the effort extends beyond that. In a time when students have so many choices, and when it can be hard to ascertain where one’s interest might lie, an internship like this one can help offer clarity. It can unearth new interests and rule out topics that might not be a good fit.
“I hope the students gain lab experience in their internships, but I also think it’s important for them to explore and find things they aren’t interested in. Some students may try something and find that area of research isn’t for them, but they still leave with valuable knowledge,” Shabazz said.
Each intern’s experience can be as different as the subject matter with which they engage. In Edwin Portillo’s case, what he learned is that his passion for biology can be fed in a lab environment. He spent his internship working in the Vertebrate Paleontology lab helping to make fossils accessible. Portillo, seen in the photo above, began with gluing specimens back together, and also gained experience digitizing them as 3D models. He is now reassembling the skull of a Phytosaur, a reptile from the Late Triassic period that resembled a crocodile. He said his work may eventually be displayed in the museum.
“Working with fossils allows me to see how animals change through time,” Portillo said. “I am fortunate to have had this opportunity to learn skills I will carry with me forever.”
Shahd Mahaini interned in the DELTA Lab, working with fossilized horse teeth from Late Quaternary sites in Texas. “My project looks at stable carbon and oxygen isotopes preserved in tooth enamel to learn more about the diets and water-use ecology of extinct horses,” Mahaini said. “I was particularly drawn to the opportunity to work with fossilized teeth because teeth can preserve chemical information about an animal’s life long after the animal is gone.”
Mahaini was especially drawn to the project because it brought together several areas of interest: biology, anatomy, paleontology, and chemistry. “Before this internship, I mostly experienced science through classes and assignments, but this gave me the opportunity to work with real samples and data, and to see how much careful preparation goes into producing reliable results,” Mahaini said.
The John and Dorothy Allen Internship is part of the Peabody’s EVOLUTIONS program, which exists to encourage these kinds of experiences. The program offers after-school classes, workshops, and career and exhibition opportunities to New Haven and West Haven high school students. “The program focuses on preparing students for their next steps in life, whether that be through scientific exploration, college prep, or getting ready for a career,” Shabazz said.
Programs like this one are central to the Yale Peabody Museum’s mission and identity, said Yale Peabody Museum director David Skelly. One of his goals after the reopening of the renovated Peabody was to ensure that students were incorporated into the daily life of the museum. Yale students, certainly, but also local high school and college students working to achieve their aspirations.
“This kind of work is core to who we are. We want students to be embedded in every aspect of the Peabody, both because it helps them and because it makes us a richer, more vibrant institution. We are grateful for their efforts,” Skelly said.
And the students, in turn, are making the most of their opportunities. “Getting to work at the Peabody and be part of a research project has given me a much clearer idea of what research looks like beyond the classroom. It has also helped me explore my interests in biology and healthcare while giving me experience in a completely different area of science,” Mahaini said.