Haydn, AVO does not have a volunteer/internship program. If you are seeking volcano experience anywhere - the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) has The premiere experience. HVO Volunteer webpage http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volunteer/ If you're after AVO or Alaska specific experience... AVO is a partnership between three public organizations. Opportunities working (including volunteering) with AVO would be specifically advertised under these three organizations. Opportunities with the USGS usually require U.S. citizenship. Employment with the State of Alaska often requires Alaska residency, and student opportunities with the University of Alaska Fairbanks typically require enrollment at UAF as a full-time student. If there are employment positions with AVO, you'd find them on the appropriate partner's HR webpage. A little awkward to continually check three sites, but it does work (see farther down this email.) If you're looking to flat-out volunteer with AVO in Alaska, requiring you to provide your own housing, food and transportation, you may consider emailing a resume to AVO staff whose interests resemble your own (keep in mind we're in Anchorage and Fairbanks). You can use the staff list on the AVO website or just start Googling "AVO" and some limited text describing your interest. Some AVO-affiliated student programs that are open to non-UAF students and are highly recommended are PIRE (Partnership in Volcanological Research and Education) and the UAF International Field Camp (with Alaskan and Russian courses): US-Russia-Japan Partnership (see the links at the top of the website) http://www.uaf.edu/geology/Research/research/volcanology.html PIRE http://www.gps.alaska.edu/PIRE/PIRE.html UAF G&G International Field Camp http://www.uaf.edu/geology/InternVolcanologySchool/2000index.htm Here's the list of AVO's member agencies, and their websites: 1. U.S.Geological Survey in Anchorage The USGS General USGS Employment http://www.usgs.gov/ohr/ USGS Alaska Science Center in Anchorage, AK (jobs are advertised in bottom of left-side navigation) http://alaska.usgs.gov/ USGS Volunteer http://www.usgs.gov/volunteer/ 2. State of Alaska (in Fairbanks) Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys http://www.dggs.alaska.gov Workplace Alaska http://notes4.state.ak.us/wa/mainentry.nsf/WebData/1hp1HomePage/?Open Alaska Department of Natural Resources (includes DGGS) Job, Intern. and Volunteer Opportunities: http://dnr.alaska.gov/commis/pic/jobs.htm 3. The University of Alaska Jobs (AVO assoc. portion is the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute - UAFGI)) https://www.uakjobs.com/applicants/jsp/shared/frameset/Frameset.jsp?time=119... UAF Geol. and Geophys. and the UAFGI also host internships during the summer and school year. You may contact the geology and geophysics department or the UAF Geophysical Institute (UAFGI) for info. UAFGI http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ UAF Geol. and Geophys. http://www.uaf.edu/geology/ Also, the recently developed "Volcanonet" group on Facebook has a section where members can post/look for opportunities. Its been quite a successful site, acquiring over 400 members and dozen of opportunities posted in about a week. -Janet -------- Haydn Orme wrote: Good afternoon, I am a second year geophysics student at Imperial College London with a keen interest in volcanology. I am contacting you in regard to the possibility of being able to volunteer at the Alaska Volcano Observatory over the summer of 2015. As part of my course I have taken many relevant modules including: Applied Geophysics, Global Geophysics, Internal Processes, Numerical Methods and Maths Methods, and I shall be taking a Seismology and Remote Sensing and GIS module in the spring. I am also very computer literate, have basic programming knowledge in Python, and pick up new software quickly. I hope that the experience and knowledge I could gain from the opportunity of working with you could further my interest in the field and in turn assure me that this is the area that I would like to have a career in. The area of volcanology and particularly geophysics within this has always interested me especially after visiting the active geysers in Iceland and being able to experience a volcanic landscape. There is a lot that we don’t know about this field and the opportunity to help discover more excites and drives me. I enjoy learning about the impacts that volcanoes can have on local communities, like pyroclastic flows and lahars, and the possibility to study these further in detail and learn more about these would be of a real interest to me. I can send you my CV if required. I understand that you probably have many other students making similar proposals and that my request may not be possible. If so, I thank you for your time and would appreciate any advice you may have for getting into this field. Kind regards, Haydn Orme