ESIIL Stars increases data science literacy through intensive summer internship program
Students from four partner institutions work collaboratively to master new skills
This spring and summer, the Environmental Data Science Innovation & Impact Lab (ESIIL) welcomed a new cohort of more than 20 undergraduate students and faculty mentors into the annual ESIIL Stars program. The NSF-funded program develops environmental data science skills by training the next generation of professionals in the field.
Research shows that jobs in data science are in demand, yet many college graduates struggle to land jobs in the field. Over five months, ESIIL Stars helps student interns master skills in earth science, communication, computational skills, shared workflows, and accessing diverse data types.
“The ESIIL Stars program is a huge priority for ESIIL because it showcases the hard work and creativity of our students and faculty,” said ESIIL Director Jennifer Balch. “Data is another language, and through this program, participants gain the skills and confidence to use it to answer questions that matter to them and our planet’s future.”
The program partners with faculty and students from Metro State University of Denver, Oglala Lakota College, Haskell Indian Nations University, and San Carlos Apache College/Tohono O’odham Community College. The program selects “advanced interns” — past participants with strong leadership skills. Faculty participate in professional development to learn improved and up-to-date methods of teaching Earth data science and analytics.
ESIIL Stars kicked off remotely in April. In May, participants traveled to Boulder for a week. This in-person week consisted of educational sessions led by the ESIIL Education team: Elsa Culler and Nate Quarderer. The classes dove into the intricacies of Python, a versatile programming language, among many other skills, including GitHub and Jupyter Notebooks. Once students returned to their home institutions, they had access to step-by-step videos prepared by the ESIIL education team while working on their group capstone projects.
“With the opportunity to work in-person this year, we were able to get through a lot more training and make sure that all the students and faculty understood everything,” Culler said. We saw the impact in the projects this year — every student was able to take on a piece of the project, and the groups presented a more holistic view of their project with more data.”
ESIIL encourages students to choose group projects that are culturally and locally relevant. Students often dive into local issues, and many Tribal college students often work on topics specific to their reservations. 2025 capstone projects were presented on August 1:
- Air quality in the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation, Arizona
- Spatiotemporal trends in Colorado’s hydrologic systems
- Building capacity for environmental data science at the Haskell wetlands
- Flooding along the White River on the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota
The capstone projects took place virtually, where participants communicated with each other, asked questions, and provided feedback. Shawn Bird, a student at Haskell Indian Nations University, captured the impact of the capstone project while working with local data. "Being good stewards of our data makes us better stewards of our lands," Bird said.
ESIIL Stars student intern Leon Red Kettle works on his computer while listening to instructions from ESIIL's education team. Stephanie Maltarich/CIRES.
Leon Red Kettle is an undergraduate student at Oglala Lakota College in South Dakota. After transitioning from the military, he realized he enjoyed coding and computers, so he returned to school to pursue a bachelor's degree in Information Systems.
This summer, he was introduced to new skills, and he’s enjoyed learning about the broad applications of data science. He admits he was intimidated at first, but the ESIIL Stars program was a great place to learn and improve.
“It was a challenge, but they were just so nice and so accepting of somebody who was just starting,” Red Kettle said. “It’s really a desire of mine to learn, and ESIIL helped me.”
Red Kettle’s project focused on the 2019 White River floods. He learned a lot about climate change while combing through data. He’s excited to apply his new skills to classes next year.
After a short break, the ESIIL team will start preparing for the next round of students in 2026.
“This was the first year that we've been able to have in-person training in Boulder, and It was so refreshing to be in the same room to help folks troubleshoot their code, and see their reactions when things started working for them,” Quarderer said. “We also welcomed new partner institutions this year, and it's really exciting to watch the ESIIL network continue to grow.”
