Rozalia Project's 2014 Internship Program: exceptional people wanted!

Scientists, environmentalists, engineers, communicators, changemakers, movers and shakers wanted… 

for a demanding, problem-solving, data-collecting, ocean trash removing, robot operating, action-taking, sailing, educating, inspiring, career-advancing internship.

Join Rozalia Project for one of three 2014 expeditions onboard the 60’ sailing research vessel, American Promise. 

Following are the internships we have available this season. The right people are not just science and environmental studies majors, we consider and welcome people from any background and location. Ability to sail is not a pre-requisite. Being a great team-member, problem solver and someone who understands and is enthusiastic about Rozalia Project’s mission and the internship are prerequisites. Interns will take part in every aspect of the expedition. These internships are unpaid, we ask for a $150/week contribution toward food and supplies. Minimum age 18. Must love dogs (we have 2 Newfoundlands onboard).

1. May 19 - June 14

• Primary objective: Direct action campaign - saving a species critical to our north Atlantic ecosystem
• Geographic location: US Atlantic seaboard
• Topics, skills, activities emphasized during this expedition: fishery science and management, marine ecosystems, communication, neuston tows, data analysis, long distance sailing/passage making

2.  July 6 - July 20

• Primary objective: Ocean cleanup and testing Rozalia Project’s solutions to the problem of floating and shoreline trash: low by-catch net and using unmanned aerial vehicles for documentation of shoreline and surface trash
• Geographic location: Gulf of Maine
• Topics. skills, activities emphasized during this expedition: research and development, problem solving, robotics (aerial), surface tows, data collection and analysis, communication

3. July 27 - August 10 

• Primary objective: Marine debris cleanup on the shoreline, surface and seafloor with a focus on outlying islands off the coast of Maine
• Geographic location: Gulf of Maine, Downeast Maine
• Topics. skills, activities emphasized during this expedition: data collection and analysis, robotics (aerial and subsea), shoreline marine debris cleanup, communication

How to apply: Check out the full announcement then call, email, text, Tweet or send us a video… and tell us the following:

• Why or how Rozalia Project’s mission and work excites or inspires you
• Which expedition you would like to join and why
• Include your resume/cv

If you seem like a good fit (remember, we welcome all backgrounds, fit has more to do with attitude, energy and skills we need), we will contact you for a phone interview. That will be followed by us checking your references (we need 3: a teacher, an employer and a personal reference). Lastly, we will meet over Skype for one last conversation before we make a decision.

We use rolling admissions and will inform you of our decision either during, or soon after, the Skype interview. There are 3-6 internship opportunities per expedition. Spaces will fill up quickly!

Additional information about these internships can be found on rozaliaproject.org then click Interns & Crew under the Join Us tab. To apply: call Rachael at 802-578-6120 (mobile) or email your letter, or a link to your video, to: rachael@rozaliaproject.org

A lot of marine debris and amazing interns!

Rozalia Project 2012 Summer Trash Tour: Session 1 Recap

What an amazing start to the 2012 Summer Trash Tour!  Starting June 3^rd, we boarded American Promise: Captain Kyle Vowels, first mate Sloane Suciu, interns Kayla Lubold, Laura Dunphy, and Blais Hickey, Rozalia Project’s director Rachael Miller and me, the Science and Education Coordinator.  Over the next few weeks we towed our nueston net off the Isles of Shoals, removed thousands of pieces of trash from beaches on Frenchboro Island and beaches around Kittery, ME and Portsmouth, NH.  We also tested out our new low bycatch neuston tow device called a Baleen Basker (bioengineered design based on a basking shark and baleen whale).   During the first few weeks of this session we also had some other interns assist us with our marine debris removal, research and education:  Andrew Randazzo and Connor Grant.  At the end of June, we attended the America’s Cup World Series races in Newport, RI and a new intern joined us: Marina Maze.  After the America’s Cup, we got another new intern, Laura Migliaccio and had to say goodbye to some interns who had been with us for the first portion of the summer session.  Next we began our education-intensive portion of the summer doing outreach programs in Edgartown, MA, Providence, RI, Newport, RI and finishing up with a week of education in Boston. 

In Boston we docked at our usual spot at Courageous Sailing Center on Pier 4 in Charlestown Navy Yard and hundreds of sailing students helped us remove trash from the bottom of Boston Harbor with our ROV.  Besides our visits at Courageous Sailing Center and Community Boating Inc., we worked with some new outreach partners in Boston this year and went to new locations, namely Harbor Discoveries Camp at the New England Aquarium, Camp Harborview on Boston’s Long Island, and Jamaica Pond in Jamaica Plains.  We were able to remove many bottles, cans, tires, ropes, and other miscellaneous pieces of marine debris from Boston Harbor, the Charles River, and Jamaica Pond.  We are very excited to be heading back to Boston August 18-24 when we will again dock in Charlestown Navy Yard and run programs at Camp Harborview, Courageous Sailing Center, Community Boating Inc. and Jamaica Pond!

We wouldn’t have been able to remove 24,039 pieces of debris and work with 2,945 people this summer already without the tireless efforts from all of our interns.  They endured through seasickness, heat, cold and rain to help us further our mission of removing marine debris.  Our fearless interns piloted the ROV, sailed at night, got covered in plankton, sand, and mud all to take trash out of our waterways and dispose of it properly. Their enthusiasm buoyed us all and their passion for our work is an inspiration.  I can’t speak highly enough about their professionalism; we never heard a single complaint out of any of them!  I feel lucky to have gotten to meet every single one of them and we couldn’t be happier to have them as part of the Rozalia Project team.

We also had some special visitors onboard American Promise throughout our first session who also aided us in our mission and gave us indispensable support and their expertise.  Thank you Martha Fisher, Art and Nancy Glidden, Sean O’Hallaran, and Allyson Wilson!

The next portion of the 2012 Summer Trash Tour will kick off with underwater trash hunting and STEM education with the VideoRay ROV Larchmont, American and Beach Point Yacht Clubs in New York City and with Schooner, Inc. on the tall ship Quinnipiac in New Haven, CT.  We will have a few more interns join us and some previous interns will be back to help us at various locations.  From August 10-12 we will have a table in the Ecozone! and operate our ROV as part of the Lake Champlain Maritime Festival in Burlington, VT.  Following that, we will sail with American Promise up to Portland, ME before returning to Boston to finish up our summer with more outreach programs and research of the density and distribution of marine debris in Boston Harbor.

We look forward to many more breathtaking sails, incredible interns, excited students, and meaningful marine debris removal in the month to come.  Keep checking back to read our new blogs as well as visit us on facebook.com/rozaliaproject, youtube.com/rozaliaproject, pinterest.com/rozaliaproject, and follow us on Twitter.

Wanted: Changemaker/Intern

Job Title: Changing the World- with a little bit of everything else thrown in

Job Summary: skills required

1. Ability to change the world (clean the oceans, inspire others, inspire yourself, become a world recognized environmental leader)
2. Educator: lead marine debris education programs at each tour stop
3. Scientist: Help collect and collate marine debris data during Tour and research expedition
4. Sailor: Help sail and stand watch on Rozalia Project's 60ft sailboat, American Promise, during the Tour
5. Cook: Lead in meal preparation. Crew and guests will be responsible to help with prep, cooking and cleaning under your leadership.
6. Voyage supply coordinator: Prepare menu, conduct provisioning of supplies
7. Jack of all trades: We are a small organization, so from the founder/director downwards on any one day we can be found cleaning the toilet to driving ROV'S or up to our elbows in grease in the engine compartment. P.S. please do not be afraid of dirt, our mission is to pick up trash.
8. Must like dogs as 2 of the crew members are Newfoundlands, Smudge and Hickory. They are super friendly and only eat the occasional small child.

Remuneration: $200/week plus bed, food (when on American Promise) and all the adventure, experience and dog you can handle.

Dates: June 22 – End of August (with opportunities to continue through the end of October).

Location: Starts in Albany, NY sailing down the Hudson, across Long Island Sound and along the New England Coast. See www.rozaliaproject.org for full Tour Schedule.

Rozalia Project for a Clean Ocean is a 501c3 nonprofit whose mission is to find and remove marine debris from our oceans, bays, rivers and waterways through action, technology, outreach and research.

The Rozalia Project Trash Tour 2011 is a multi-stop marine debris removal project. The tour will be conducted from Rozalia Project’s mothership American Promise, a 60’ sailing research vessel equipped with state-of-the-art, surface to sea floor trash hunting technology: 2 remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), side scan sonar, imaging sonar and an image enhancement system along with hand-held and towed nets used for surface and mid-water column marine debris collection. She is ready to implement and achieve Rozalia Project’s Trash Tour objectives:

• Remove a projected 9.4 tons in approximately 29,550 individual pieces of marine debris from the environment
• Educate and inspire a projected 5,000 people who will visit the boat or take part in dockside and onboard marine debris programs at community waterfront centers throughout NY, Long Island Sound and New England
• Conduct the following scientific study: Using tidelines, convergences and eddies in the Eastern Maine Coastal Current (EMCC) to locate accumulation zones of marine debris

The tour will cover 1,765 nautical miles and 24,231 acres as we search and clean-up the marine environment.

For more information about Rozalia Project for a Clean Ocean and the Trash Tour 2011 see www.rozaliaproject.org or rozaliaproject.blogspot.com

Still interested and psyched to be part of an exciting project and adventure that will make a difference? Please send a letter, resume and references to:

Rachael Miller or James Lyne

rachael@rozaliaproject.org

Office: 802-767-3784

Mobile: 802-578-6120