PROGRAMS & PLANS--The U.S. Geological Survey - Water Resources Institute Internship Program

(The attachments included with the original memorandum are not
 available here.)


In Reply Refer To:                               March 30, 1995
Mail Stop 447

WATER RESOURCES DIVISION MEMORANDUM NO. 95.25

Subject:  PROGRAMS & PLANS--The U.S. Geological Survey - Water
          Resources Institute Internship Program

This memorandum establishes the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) - Water
Resources Research Institute (WRRI) Internship Program and describes
its purpose and the procedures to be followed in obtaining and
utilizing interns.

1.  PURPOSE--The USGS-WRRI Internship Program is to be conducted as a
mutually beneficial means of providing undergraduate and graduate
students with career-enhancing field, laboratory, and research
experience through participation in USGS activities as interns.  The
program is to be run as a collaborative effort between the USGS
District Chief and the WRRI Director in each State.

2.  PROGRAM ELIGIBILITY--The program is open to any WRRI that desires
to cooperate with any USGS District Office willing to provide funding
and other support for internship opportunities.  It is expected that
the WRRI and District Office will be in the same State, though that
need not be the case.

Within the USGS, the program is open to all offices conducting water
resources or related scientific studies.

3.  STUDENT ELIGIBILITY--The program is open to undergraduate and
graduate students.  Students must have completed one year of college,
be enrolled at an accredited U.S. college or university, and be making
satisfactory progress toward a degree.  Other details are given in the
draft announcement and application (attached).

4.  IMPLEMENTATION--The procedure to be followed once a District Chief
and Institute Director have agreed to collaborate in internship
opportunities is described in the attachment entitled "Internship
Implementation Process."  To initiate the program, the District
Chief must (1) provide the Institute Director with an Internship
Description Form (attached) for each internship opportunity
available and (2) prepare a single requisition (DI-1) in an amount
sufficient to cover the combined cost of the proposed internships
and send it to Branch C, Office of Procurement and Contracts in
Reston (Mail Stop 205C).  Funds to support interns will be collected
by the District Chief from all USGS projects and programs in the
State desiring to support an intern and will be consolidated in the
District.

To obtain interns for the National Research Program, the Chiefs of
the Branches of Regional Research should work through the District
Chief in the State where the interns will be located.

At headquarters, the Chief, Branch of Human Resources Management
Support will serve the role of District Chief and will coordinate
procurement of interns with the Institute Directors in Virginia,
Maryland, and the District of Columbia and the District Chiefs of
the Virginia and Maryland-Delaware Districts.

5.  FUNDING--Funds are to be derived from USGS projects or programs
that desire to support student interns as part of the mix of efforts
required to carry out program or project activities.  Project or
program funds made available to the USGS through direct
appropriations, joint-funding agreements with State and local
governments, or through reimbursable agreements with othr Federal
agencies may be used to support interns under this program.  The
Institute will use the funds to employ students competitively
selected from among applicants at colleges and universities
throughout the State.  These students will then be assigned USGS
mentors on projects and programs contributing to the Internship
Program.

Stipend levels, university overhead, and administrative fees are
addressed on the last page of the Internship Description Form
(attached).

6.  FUNDING MECHANIZM--Funds will be awarded by Branch C of the
Office of Procurement and Contracts in Reston as an augmentation to
the gran that the Institute receives from the USGS under the Water
Resources Research Act.

Current-year fund obligations by the USGS under the grant
augmentations can extend to the end of an institute's 5-year grant
period.  The institutes are currently entering the fifth and final
year of their current grant, and the ends of their gran periods
range from March 31, 1996, for some institutes to August 31, 1996,
for other institutes.  Therefore, USGS offices could obligate
current year funds for internships extending through March 31, 1996,
for institutes with the earliest grant-termination dates to August
31, 1996, for those with the latest termination dates.

The District is not initially obligated to the entire amount
specified in the requisition sent to the Office of Procurement and
Contracts (Step 4 in the Implementation Process).  Obligation is
established when the Institute sends the final proposal and budget
for the interns to the Office of Procurement and Contracts and the
grant is awarded.  Thus the District can use a liberal estimate in
the DI-1 to cover additional interns later in the year.  By
providing Internship Description Forms for more interns than can
initially be supported, the institute can develop a pool of
qualified candidates should opportunities for additional interns
arise.

7.  SELECTION OF INTERNS--The Institute Director will advertise the
internships at colleges and universities throughout the State.  A
panel convened by the Institute Director, and including
representatives of the District Chief, will review the applicants
and recommend interns for specific opportunities.  The USGS makes
final selections.

8.  TYPE OF WORK ASSIGNMENTS--Interns may be engaged in any career
development activity in the environmental field.  They must be
assigned a USGS mentor, and must not work independently or conduct
field work without a USGS employee present.  A variety of work
schedules may be used, including part time, full time, summer,
parallel, and alternating.

9.  USGS-INTERN RELATIONSHIP--This is not a temporary employment
program.  The interns are not USGS employees, and the traditional
employer-employee relationship does not exist under this program. 
The USGS is not responsible for salary payment, discipline, leave,
trmination. or most othr administrative functions.  Performance
wards, compensatory time, and promotions are not USGS
responsibilities under this program.  Poor performance will be
addressed mutually by the District Chief and the Institute Director
or their representatives.

Matters relating to overtime, pay during official office closings,
and pay on official holidays must be addressed in the agreement
between the intern and the university.

Interns are permitted to operate government vehicles and use
government credit cards for gasoline purchases for official
business, attend meetings and seminars, and travel for required
field work in accordance with Federal Travel Regulations.  (All
travel documents must clearly state that the intern is a
non-government employee.)  Interns are eligible to receive
job-related training but not career-development training unrelated
to their assignment.  Interns are eligible to receive protective
vaccinations and medical monitoring when the nature of their
developmental opportunity has the potential for exposure to
water-borne disease or toxic material.

10.  POINT OF CONTACT--Contact John Schefter, Chief, Office of
External Research for additional information concerning this
program.  Phone: (703)648-6800; email: schefter@wrdmail.er.usgs.gov.

                       Catherine L. Hill
                       Assistant Chief Hydrologist for Operations

Attachments

Copy to:  Directors, National Institutes for Water Resources

Distribution:  A, B, S, FO, PO, AO, DC