The University of Southern Mississippi Psychology Department is offering a Marine Mammal Behavior and Cognition internship to college juniors, seniors and recent graduates for the fall of 2009. College credits for the internship are awarded by the University of Southern Mississippi.


Interns will work with faculty and graduate student researchers and will have an opportunity to help in the analysis of data from USM’s Mississippi Wild Dolphin Project, a boat-based research project surveying the Mississippi Gulf Coast bottlenose dolphin population. Interns may assist in the analysis of environmental, behavioral, and acoustic data, as well as photo-ID.


In the research laboratory, interns will gain experience in different areas, such as behavioral analysis using video and ethogram data and acoustic analyses of a variety of cetacean species, including killer whales, sperm whales, beaked whales, and bottlenose and rough-tooth dolphins. Interns may also have the opportunity to assist graduate students in the collection of behavioral data of captive rough-tooth dolphins and bottlenose dolphins. Interns are also encouraged to complete a small personal research project on a topic relevant to their research interests.


The internship is a full time voluntary position, and students are responsible for their own transportation and housing arrangements.

Students interested in the Marine Mammal Behavior and Cognition internship are required to send:

  • a resume
  • a letter of intent including career goals and reasons for wanting the internship (what you expect to contribute and gain from the internship)
  • an unofficial or official copy of your transcripts
  • at least two letters of recommendation (preferably from college professors who know you personally)


All materials should be sent to:

Internship Coordinator

Department of Psychology
The University of Southern Mississippi
118 College Drive, # 5025
Hattiesburg, MS 39406-5025

Materials may arrive separately or together, but the complete application must be postmarked by July 1st.


We encourage interested applicants to become familiar with the research conducted by the Marine Mammal Behavior and Cognition Lab. For more information, please visit our website at www.usm.edu/psy-kuczaj or you can email the internship coordinator at kuczaj_laboratory@yahoo.com.