MBARI Staff & Facilities Inspire Future Generation of Ocean Specialists

7 August 2026
Edited By: Ed Freeman

On July 23, MBARI hosted research interns from the Summer Systematics Institute program at the California Academy of Sciences, giving summer interns the opportunity to meet fellow undergraduate students researching topics like anthropology, botany, geology, invertebrate zoology, and scientific illustration. Five Summer Systematics Institute interns and four California Academy of Sciences staff toured MBARI's research facilities to learn about advanced underwater robotics, applying artificial intelligence to ocean exploration, and operations aboard a state-of-the-art research vessel. This was the third summer MBARI has hosted interns from the Summer Systematics Institute program.

(Image Credit: Calista Kerba/MBARI)

On July 29, MBARI’s 13 summer interns visited the California Academy of Sciences to tour their research collections and museum in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, learning about opportunities in museum-based research.

Launched in 1996, MBARI’s Summer Internship Program is more than a traditional research experience. Open to undergraduate, graduate, and early-career professionals—including international candidates and educators—the 10-week paid internship is designed to help the next generation of marine researchers discover their passions, from marine biology and robotics to data science and communications.

Internship programs at MBARI and the California Academy of Sciences provide undergraduate students with hands-on research experience and the opportunity to meet world-renowned scientists and engineers. (Credit:Calista Kerba/MBARI) — Internship programs at MBARI and the California Academy of Sciences provide undergraduate students with hands-on research experience and the opportunity to meet world-renowned scientists and engineers. (Image Credit:Calista Kerba/MBARI)

For more than 30 years, the California Academy of Sciences’ Summer Systematics Institute has addressed critical topics at the intersection of science and society, such as threats to biodiversity, the origins and diversification of life, phylogenetic systematics, and evolutionary biology. This 10-week paid research internship offers students important insights into the contributions that museum-based research can make to issues facing society today.

MBARI and the California Academy of Sciences have a long history of collaboration that extends beyond internship programs. MBARI scientists frequently engage expert taxonomists from the California Academy of Sciences to identify deep-sea animals, and many of the specimens documenting MBARI’s species discoveries are housed in the museum’s scientific collections.

MBARI’s Summer Internship Program is generously supported through a gift from the Dean and Helen Witter Family Fund and the Rentschler Family Fund in memory of the late Frank Roberts, a founding member of MBARI’s Board of Directors, with additional support from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Dalio Philanthropies, and the Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation. The California Academy of Sciences’ Summer Systematics Institute is made possible by the National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU), the Robert T. Wallace Endowment for Undergraduate Education, the Maxwell Hanrahan Foundation, the Dorothy Tapper Goldman Foundation, and Barbara Bakar.