Somewhere right now, there is a young person who loves the natural world, who has studied hard, who has dreamed of a career protecting it, and who is being told, not in words, but in practice, that the door is not open for them. They are qualified. They are passionate. They simply have not had the chance to prove it.
Your contribution toward our $15,000 goal changes that.
The Integral Ecology Research Center is a woman- and minority-founded nonprofit that has spent more than two decades producing rigorous research on sensitive species, from Pacific fishers and spotted owls to amphibians and reptiles, across California and the western United States. We were founded on a simple conviction: opportunity in conservation science is not equally distributed, and that has to change.
Our Young Professional Development and Gateway Science Internship programs were built to close that gap. Since 2010, we have been placing students and recent graduates from underrepresented communities into paid, hands-on field research roles alongside our professional science team. Every entry-level position in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) requires experience, and our programs exist to make sure that requirement is not a permanent barrier.
A gift of just $125 supports one full day in the field for an emerging conservation scientist. A week of support is $625. For $5,000, you fund an entire internship from start to finish. Every contribution toward our $15,000 goal puts a young scientist in the field, a research credential on their resume, and confidence in their step. It is an investment in the researcher who may one day protect a species from extinction, restore a watershed, or shape the policies that keep our wildlands intact.
Join us in making conservation science a field where talent, not circumstance, determines who gets through the door.