BLM (Arizona), American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) Internship Partnership (PDO)

Description of Program and/or Project a. Background: Through the American Indian Science and Engineering Society’s (AISES) Summer Internship Program, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Phoenix District Office (PDO) seeks to form a partnership with AISES to conduct a 10-week Summer Work Experience Program for post-secondary students during the summers of 2016 - 2021. The purpose of the program is to provide students with hands-on work experience opportunities to gain relevant skills and knowledge, to prepare for their transition to the workplace, to explore career options, and to develop professional networks. Benefits include fostering human resource diversity within the BLM and opportunities to recruit participating students into the workforce. AISES administers the 10-week summer internship program which would be funded by BLM. This is a continuation of BLM AZ L10AC2026. b. Objectives: The objectives of this proposal are: Create a pool of experienced and talented students, leading to a more ethnically diverse work force through exposure of the students to research, development, technology, administration, and land management; relate academic study with practical application in natural resource land management; encourage students to pursue careers relevant to public service and natural resource stewardship; and increase the pool of qualified minority candidates for recruitment into the BLM Pathways program. These students will also be well-qualified for employment in other federal and state land management agencies across the country. These candidates will contribute to the diversification of the federal workforce and will enable agencies to recruit directly from an under-represented local population base.