Maroon & Gold Network Projects are a win-win for CFANS students and alumni

Projects from the Maroon & Gold Network connect University of Minnesota students with short-term, real world professional experiences supported by alumni. Students can explore different industries, gain new skills, and make professional connections, and alumni can give back while gaining timely support for their work. With a brief time commitment of 5-40 hours, Projects from the Maroon & Gold Network represent an opportunity for students to advance their academic and career goals without the same barriers presented by traditional internships.

CFANS student Sandra Liu, a senior studying fisheries, wildlife and conservation biology, was hired by alum Joanna Eckles (MS '99 conservation biology) for a project to support content creation and research for the American Bird Conservancy in spring 2024, and received a UMAA Mooty Internship Scholarship for the project. Here's what she says about the experience.

"I spent a couple semesters working on creating an ArcGIS StoryMap for Bird City Network, a joint project between the American Bird Conservancy and the Environment for the Americas, about the economic benefits to cities in promoting bird tourism. This piece is intended for the Network to use in recruiting cities around the country to become "Bird Cities" — committing to being more bird friendly in a variety of ways in order to improve bird habitat, populations, and overall ecological health.

I absolutely loved getting the opportunity to work with Joanna, my boss on the project, a passionate, accomplished, and inspiring professional in a field that deeply interests me. She was always extremely generous with her time, was genuinely fun to connect with, and offered plenty of opportunities to go above and beyond while also having flexible expectations.

I recommend applying for and posting projects because of how much opportunity it opens up for you to network and get experience doing work on something that interests you. I appreciate the flexibility of projects and the availability of scholarships to encourage students to participate in them, and it was a great learning experience all around."