After students finish their academic year of course work, they gain additional experience by completing a minimum of ten weeks as an intern with a museum, aquarium, university, zoological or botanical institution, magazine, newspaper, or graphic arts studio. This gives program graduates an important edge over science illustrators who lack such experience and a successful internship, documented by a letter from a pleased field supervisor, is important to a student's early career.
These internships provide students with the opportunity to practice and refine the illustration techniques they have learned in class and to develop the kind of independence, perseverance, and interpersonal skills needed to complete substantial projects in a real-world setting. Internships provide a crucial dimension of the program, for they make possible the firsthand experience of fast-paced professional life that a serious student of science illustration needs in balance with the careful attention to craft emphasized in the program.
View a complete list of institutions that have hosted Science Illustration interns below:
Illustration by Fiorella Ikue
- ABachar Studios, Aptos, CA
- Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. - Menlo Park, CA
- Alaska Sea Life Center - Seward, AK
- Alexander Lindsay Junior Museum - Walnut Creek, CA
- Alexander von Humboldt Institute, Villa de Leyva, Colombia
- Alviso Adobe Community Park, Pleasanton, CA
- American Geosciences Institute - Alexandria, VA
- American Museum of Natural History, Anthropology Dept, New York, NY
- American Museum of Natural History, Exhibitions Department, New York, NY
- American Precision Museum - Windsor, VT
- American Scientist magazine - Durham, NC
- Annual Reviews of Science - Palo Alto, CA
- Archipelago Productions - Monterey, CA
- Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum - Tuscon, AZ
- Ars Anatomica, Menlo Park, CA
- Arthur Middleton Lab, Environmental Science, Policy and Management, UC Berkeley, CA
- Aquarium of the Bay, San Francisco, CA
- Aquarium of the Pacific - Long Beach, CA
- Bartel’s Fellowship, Laboratory of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
- Beaty Biodiversity Museum, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Berkeley Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, Berkeley, CA
- Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo - Bermuda
- BioEngineering and Therapeutic Sciences at UCSF, San Francisco
- BioSystems Books - Santa Cruz, CA
- Bishop Museum - Honolulu, HI
- Bodega Marine Lab, Bodega Bay, CA
- Bronze Works, Santa Cruz, CA
- Brooklyn Botanic Gardens - Brooklyn, NY
- Bryce Canyon National Park - UT
- Bureau of Land Management - Hollister, CA
- Cabrillo Aquarium, San Pedro, CA
- California Academy of Sciences - San Francisco, CA
- California Museum of Natural History, San Francisco, CA
- California Native Plant Society - Sacramento, CA
- California Science Center - Los Angeles, CA
- Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Vertebrate Paleontology, Pittsburg, PA
- Center for American Archaeology - Kampsville, IL
- Centre ValBio, Ranomafana National Park, Madagcascar
- Children’s Museum of Natural History, Fremont, CA
- Chinese Academy of Science, Institute of Zoology and Entomology, Beijing, China
- Coastal and Marine Research Center, Cork, Ireland
- Collins Lab, Department of Invertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, DC
- Colorado National Monument - CO
- Conservation Education, Inc., Collins, WI
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology - Ithaca, NY
- Curtis Botanical magazine, Kew, UK
- Del Monte Forest Conservancy, Pebble Beach, CA
- Denver Zoo - Denver, CO
- Denver Botanic Garden, Denver, CO
- Denver Museum of Natural History, Denver, CO
- Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Denver, CO
- Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Sanibel, FL
- District Archaeology Museum, Archaeological dig - Larnaca, Cyprus
- Disney Interactive - Anaheim, CA
- Draper Museum of Natural History - Cody, WY
- Dr. Jason Munshi-South Lab, Fordham University, Bronx, NY
- Earth magazine - Alexandria, VA
- ELOS Communication - Boulder, CO
- Environmental Planning, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA
- Esri Geographical Information, Redlands, CA
- Essig Museum of Entomology - University of California, Berkeley
- Exploratorium magazine - San Francisco, CA
- Far West Fungi, Moss Landing, CA
- Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL
- Field Museum, Science and Education Gantz Family Collection, Chicago, IL
- Filoli Gardens - Woodside, CA
- Five Sister’s Zoo, Scotland, UK
- Forest Service, Yosemite National Park, CA
- Friday Harbor Laboratories, University of Washington - Friday Harbor, WA
- FUNGI Magazine, Richfield, WI
- Glacier National Park, West Glacier, Montana
- Gladstone Institute, San Francisco, CA
- Golden Gate Audubon Society, San Francisco, CA
- Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Gatlinburg, TN
- Greatwave - Scotts Valley, CA
- Harcourt College Publishing Company
- Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology - Cambridge, MA
- Heyday Books - Berkeley, CA
- Hillstone Restaurant Group, East Hampton, NY
- Hopkins Marine Station - Pacific Grove, CA
- Humboldt State University, Wildlife Department, Humboldt, CA
- Huntington Botanical Gardens - San Marino, CA
- Ink Dwell, Half Moon Bay, CA
- Institute of Parasitology, Ceske Budejovico, Czech Republic
- Isabella Kirkland Studio, Sausalito, CA
- Jepson Herbarium, University of California - Berkeley, CA
- JHU Facial Prosthetics Clinic, Baltimore, MD
- John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove, Philadelphia, PA
- Johns Hopkins Facial Prosthetics Clinic - Baltimore, MD
- Joseph M. Long Marine Laboratory, UC Santa Cruz - Santa Cruz, CA
- Koch Studios - Felton, CA
- Krames, Patient Education - San Bruno, CA
- La Brea Tar Pits and Museum, Los Angeles, CA
- Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, The Rockefeller University, NY
- LAC+USC Medical Center, Division of Acute Care Surgery - Los Angeles, CA
- Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center, Austin, TX
- Life Lab, UC Santa Cruz - Santa Cruz, CA
- Livermore Parks Department - CA
- Long Marine Lab, Santa Cruz, CA
- Los Angeles Museum of Natural History - CA
- LucasArts Entertainment Company - San Rafael, CA
- Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences - MA
- Marine World/Africa USA - Vallejo, CA
- Martin Ryan Marine Science Institute, University College - Galway, Ireland
- Maryjo Koch Studios, Ben Lomand, CA
- Monterey Bay Aquarium - Monterey, CA
- Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) - Moss Landing, CA
- Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, Monterey, CA
- Moore Laboratory of Zoology, Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA
- Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, Moss Landing, CA
- Mote Marine Laboratory - Sarasota, FL
- Museum of Northern Arizona - Flagstaff, AZ
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, Berkeley, CA
- NAOS Marine Lab & Coiba National Park, Panama
- National Gardening Association - VT
- National Park Service, Channel Islands National Park, CA
- National Geographic magazine - Washington, DC
- National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC
- National Outdoor Leadership School, Lander, WY
- National Tropical Botanical Gardens, Kauai, HI
- National Zoo - Washington, DC
- Natural History magazine - New York City, NY
- Natural History magazine - New York City, NY
- Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA
- Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Mineral Science, Los Angeles, CA
- Natural History Museum of Utah, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
- Nature Conservancy in New Jersey, Chester, NJ
- Nature Conservancy of California, San Francisco, CA
- Nature Conservancy of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
- Naturkundemuseum, Berlin, Germany
- New Zealand Marine Studies Center, University of Otago, Dunedin, NZ
- Naturkkundemuseum - Berlin, Germany
- NOAA Cordell Bank Marine Sanctuary, Point Reyes Station, CA
- NOAA Pacific Islands Regional Office, Honolulu, Oahu, HI
- NOAA-Papahanumokuakea National Marine Monument, HI
- NOAA, Maui, HI
- Oakland Museum - Oakland, CA
- Oregon Zoo, Portland, OR
- Organic Gardening magazine, Rodale Press, NY
- Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology, Orkney, Scotland
- Osa Conservation, Piro Research Station, Costa Rica
- Pacific Coast Science & Learning Center, Point Reyes Station, CA
- Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History, Pacific Grove, CA
- Pacific Salmon Foundation, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Parks Canada-Bruce Peninsula National Park & Fathom Five National Marine Park, Tobermory, Ontario, Canada
- Patagonia, Ventura, CA
- Perry Museum Services, Santa Cruz, CA
- Pierwatch - Santa Cruz, CA
- Pinnacles Condor Recovery, Paicines, CA
- Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium - Tacoma, WA
- Predatory Bird Project, Santa Cruz, CA
- Presidio Trust, San Francisco, CA
- Queen Mary University, London, UK
- Queensland Museum, South Brisbane, Australia
- Ranger Rick magazine, VA
- Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology, Claremont, CA
- Reef Check Foundation, Marina Del Rey, CA
- Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, Crested Butte, CO
- Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory, Brighton, CO
- Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, United Kingdom
- Rio Grande Biological Park, Albuquerque, NM
- San Diego Supercomputer Center, San Diego, CA
- San Juan Bautista Mission Museum, San Juan Bautista, CA
- Santa Cruz Sentinel, Santa Cruz, CA
- Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Santa Barbara, CA
- Santa Monica Mountains & Mediterranean Coast Network, National Park Service, CA
- Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Santa Rosa, CA
- Save the Waves Coalition, Davenport, CA
- Science World magazine
- Scientific American magazine, New York, NY
- Scientific American’s Exploration magazine - NY
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA
- Seattle Audubon Society, Seattle, WA
- Sequoia National Park - CA
- Seymour Marine Discovery Center, Santa Cruz, CA
- Shedd Aquarium, Chicago, IL
- Sierra Nevada Research Institute, Yosemite National Park, Wawona Station, CA
- Sinharaja Forest Reserve, Sri Lanka
- Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center, Archaeology, Anchorage, AK
- Smithsonian Department of Entomology, Washington, DC
- Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Annapolis, Maryland
- Smithsonian Institution, Department of Botany, Washington, DC
- Smithsonian Institution, Paleontology Department, Washington, DC
- Smithsonian Institution, Ornithology Department, Washington, DC
- Smithsonian Tropical Institute, Panama City, Panama
- Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute at Barro Colorado Island, Panama
- South African National Biodiversity Institute National Herbarium, Pretoria, RSA
- South Australian Museum - Adelaide, Australia
- Southeast Aquatic Research Institute - GA
- Stanford Linear Accelerator Center - Stanford, CA
- StarTalk Podcast Network, Los Angeles, CA
- SuperTutor - Sunnyvale, CA
- Systematic Entomology Lab, USDA, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC
- The Leatherback Trust, Costa Rica
- The REU Program (Research Experience for Undergraduates), Cal State Univ, Monterey Bay, CA
- The Ridges Sanctuary, Baileys Harbor, WI
- The Salinas Californian - Salinas, CA
- Tiffany Bozik Studio, Marin, CA
- Tsieng Lab, University of Buffalo, Biomechanics and Paleontology, Buffalo, NY
- Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine - Boston, MA
- UCSC Fort Ord Natural Reserve, Marina, CA
- Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Sabah, Malaysia
- University of California, Santa Cruz, Arboretum, Santa Cruz, CA
- University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
- University of Illinois, Department of Molecular & Integrative Physiology
- University of Puerto Rico (UPRRP) Herbarium, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
- University of S. California Medical Center, Acute Care Surgery, Los Angeles, CA
- University of Wisconsin-Madison Natural History Collections, Madison, WI
- US Botanic Garden, Highlands Ranch, CO
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Chesapeake Bay Field Office - Annapolis, MD
- Ventana Wilderness Alliance, Los Padres National Forest, CA
- Ventana Wildlife Society, Salinas, CA
- Visual Art Services, Stanford University - Stanford, CA
- West Office Exhibits - San Francisco, CA
- Wild Earth magazine - VT
- Wilderness Graphics - Tallahassee, FL
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Woods Hole, MA
- Wrangell Mountains Center, Glennallen, AK
- Wrangell St. Elias National Park, Glennallen, AK
- Yellowstone Association for Natural Science, History and Education, Inc.
- Yosemite National Park
- Zoo Books, National Wildlife Federation, Reston, VA
Emily Kearney-Williams ('17) illustrates at her desk during an internship with the Smithsonian Institution's Arctic Studies Center in Anchorage, AK.