Where curiosity finds connection: Celebrating 30 years of MBARI’s Summer Internship Program

MBARI interns participate in hands-on ocean research, experiencing careers in marine science, engineering, and education firsthand and helping transform ocean exploration.

Why It Matters

Tackling the urgent threats facing our ocean requires diverse perspectives that can spark innovative solutions to challenges. MBARI programs seek to expand the ocean community, supporting students pursuing careers in marine science, engineering, and education.

For 30 years, MBARI’s Summer Internship Program has welcomed students and educators from around the globe to experience what it is like working at an ocean research center. Designed to foster the next generation of ocean scientists, engineers, and educators, the 10-week paid program pairs interns with mentors across disciplines, giving them the opportunity to develop a research project while exploring whether an ocean career is right for them.

A group of 13 summer interns and two program staff pose for a photo in a conference room. The group is arranged into two rows, with one row standing on a raised stage in front of a projection screen. — MBARI’s 2026 cohort of interns included 10 undergraduate students, two master’s students, and two PhD students representing 14 different universities. Image: Calista Kerba © 2026 MBARI

“An MBARI internship creates opportunities for students to develop new skills, build meaningful connections, and discover where their curiosity can take them in ocean science and engineering,” said Senior Education and Research Specialist George Matsumoto, who leads MBARI’s Summer Internship Program.

Since its inception in 1997, the MBARI Summer Internship Program has hosted 440 undergraduate and graduate students and educators. Our interns have come from 196 universities and institutions in 21 different countries.

Interns gain hands-on experience in ocean science and engineering, taking on projects that range from analyzing deep-sea video and designing instruments to developing machine learning models and studying deep-sea biodiversity. In return, MBARI offers what few other places can: dedicated mentorship, encouragement to think big, and access to the tools and technology needed to bring bold ideas to life.

Summer interns leave MBARI with the skills and confidence to transform ocean exploration. Our former interns are leading research programs, developing exciting new technologies, teaching future generations, launching companies, and tackling some of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges.

The MBARI experience

For many students, an MBARI internship is a first step toward understanding where they fit into ocean science and engineering. Each intern is paired with an MBARI mentor, working hand in hand to identify a specific research question and design a project for the intern to tackle over the course of the summer.

A summer intern wearing white gloves swirls a glass flask of microscopic organisms producing blue luminescence. She is standing in a research lab illuminated in red light, with assorted science equipment in the background. — Summer Intern Isabelle Santiago worked with MBARI scientists to study the chemicals that allow deep-sea animals to produce brilliant bioluminescence. Image: Calista Kerba © 2026 MBARI

This year, projects ranged from studying bioluminescent comb jellies and patterns of plankton productivity to developing remote-sensing and underwater mapping systems to advance our understanding of a changing ocean.

Throughout the summer, interns build meaningful connections with their mentors as well as their fellow early-career scientists, engineers, and communicators. By engaging with mentors and peers from a wide range of backgrounds, interns gain an understanding of what an ocean career could look like.

“We strive to provide opportunities for interns who are curious about pursuing a career in marine science. Some arrive at MBARI without any previous research experience, but over the course of 10 weeks, they get to build new skills, gain mentorship, and some discover a passion that they never thought possible,” said Research Technician Megan Bassett, who helps run the MBARI Summer Internship program and was once an MBARI intern herself.

Summer interns are encouraged to participate in the wide breadth of MBARI operations beyond the lab. Interns join cruises on MBARI’s research vessel Rachel Carson to experience the collaboration of science, engineering, and marine operations at the core of MBARI’s work.

A summer intern wearing a black headset watches a video feed from a robotic submersible from the submersible control room aboard a research vessel. He is seated in a tall black chair, with a submersible pilot seated next to him operating a joystick. In the background is an engineer standing in front of electronic equipment. — Working with MBARI engineers, Summer Intern Alessandro Puglisi learned how robotics fundamentals can be applied to ocean research, opening the door to new career opportunities. Image: Rose Dalrymple © 2026 MBARI

Intern Alessandro Puglisi—a PhD student from Italy enrolled at the University of Montpellier in France—spent the summer working with Principal Engineer Giancarlo Troni and Postdoctoral Fellow Pushyami Kaveti from MBARI’s CoMPAS Lab to create a digital model of the seafloor. His project combined robotics and seafloor ecology, affirming his interest in working at the intersection of engineering and science.

“I’ve been able to combine engineering and science to solve real-world problems,” said Puglisi. “With the support of my mentor and access to MBARI’s advanced technology, I’ve had the freedom to pursue my own research questions. This is the kind of work I want to pursue—using robotics to better understand our ocean.”

The bay as their backyard

The internship experience extends beyond the research project itself. Interns gather for weekly meetings to share their progress, attend networking events, go kayaking, and participate in MBARI’s Open House, where they get the opportunity to share their passion for the ocean with our neighbors from across Monterey Bay.

A summer intern and a young child standing outdoors under a large white tent are making ocean-inspired crafts at the MBARI Open House. — At the MBARI Open House, Summer Intern Ariel Raizman shared his research on the humpback whale songs with visitors of all ages, helping to inspire the next generation of ocean explorers. Image: Calista Kerba © 2026 MBARI

“Seeing the passion and excitement people brought to the MBARI Open House made me realize that my work can have an impact beyond the oceanographic community. It also showed me how important it is to communicate science in accessible ways,” said Ariel Raizman, a master’s student at the University of California, Santa Cruz and summer intern with Senior Research Specialist John Ryan and Senior Software Engineer Carlos Rueda in MBARI’s Ocean Soundscape Team.

Over the course of the summer, interns build a sense of community beyond MBARI’s walls.

Shared housing provided at no cost to interns helps them to build lasting connections that extend well past the summer. Many interns stay in touch years after their internship is over. Interns often spend their weekends exploring California’s Central Coast—tide pooling along the rocky shore, diving in Monterey Bay’s lush kelp forests, and visiting nearby state parks.

Monterey Bay is a hub for ocean research, with more than two dozen universities and organizations across Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. We encourage our interns to connect with students and interns across these organizations to expand their professional networks.

An intern wearing a black wetsuit, gray scuba gear, and yellow fins dives in a kelp forest. He is observing a transparent gelatinous animal drifting in the water. In the background is blue-green water and tall fronds of brown kelp. — Weekend excursions allowed summer interns to explore Monterey Bay, from tide pooling along the coastal shoreline to diving in the bay’s iconic kelp forests. Image courtesy of Ariel Raizman

This summer, MBARI interns participated in networking events with research interns from NOAA, met students at Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station, toured Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, and visited the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco to learn about opportunities in museum-based science.

MBARI has longstanding partnerships with education groups who visit during the summer. Our interns served as tour guides, sharing their excitement for ocean science and engineering with high school students who are just beginning to consider their career pathway. Together, we are creating a new wave of ocean exploration that extends well beyond our walls.

Turning opportunity into careers

A summer at MBARI has a lasting impact on our interns, often serving as a catalyst for their work.

Over the past 30 years, MBARI has generated a worldwide network of ocean researchers, scientists, engineers, and educators who are continuing to shape the future of our understanding of marine life, ecosystems, and technologies. At different times, each one has stepped through MBARI’s doors and has left with a greater sense of their career direction.

Two scientists wearing purple gloves dissect a large white clam. In the background are counters of scientific equipment, the white walls of the lab, and a porthole window looking out to sea. — An MBARI internship helped Corinna Breusing (left) foster lasting collaborations with deep-sea biologists around the world. Image courtesy of Alex Ingle/Schmidt Ocean Institute

Corinna Breusing was an MBARI summer intern in 2014, working with Senior Scientist Emeritus Bob Vrijenhoek and MBARI’s Molecular Ecology Group. She is now a marine research associate at the University of Rhode Island, where she studies the evolution and ecology of deep-sea organisms.

“An MBARI internship provides hands-on training, research experience, and networking opportunities that help young scientists become competitive in the workforce,” she explained. “Internships like this are essential for fostering the next generation of ocean scientists.”

Rachel Kahn was an MBARI summer intern in 2017 while a senior at Scripps College. She worked with Senior Software Engineer Mike McCann to refine a software platform for accessing and visualizing oceanographic data. Now an engineer at CHAOS Industries, her internship opened the door to new experiences that ultimately shaped her career path.

“MBARI was the first time I saw how engineers and scientists collaborate to do oceanographic research,” she said. “It inspired me to pursue my PhD in ocean engineering. The software engineering fundamentals I learned at MBARI helped me get my current job more than seven years later.”

MBARI helps connect talented, motivated students to careers they might not otherwise discover.

As this summer comes to an end, the current cohort of interns leaves MBARI having built lasting memories, created meaningful connections, and developed new skills that will carry them into the next stage of their careers.

“It’s such an incredible privilege to play a role in shaping the next generation of ocean scientists, engineers, educators, and explorers. We’re proud to see the exciting discoveries, tech innovations, and education collaborations from former MBARI interns,” said Matsumoto. “Together, we’re charting a bold new course for ocean science and engineering to better understand and protect our changing ocean.”

MBARI’s Summer Internship Program is generously supported by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, with additional support from the Dalio Philanthropies and the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation.

Learn more

INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

INTERNSHIP IMPACTS

Story by 2025 Science Communication Intern Calista Kerba

For additional information or images relating to this article, please email pressroom@mbari.org.

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