The CCE Summer Internship Program aims to provide outstanding Cornell University undergraduate students with the opportunity to work in communities across New York State.
Extension Interns work on projects addressing agriculture, community, environment, nutrition, and youth & families. Interns will work on projects that are developed by faculty members and are placed across New York state in local association offices. Interns will work closely with association educators where they will accomplish the research goals of the summer project. These projects are awarded a $6,000 stipend to help support the research that is completed. These opportunities allow students to explore CCE and the relationship Cornell University and Cooperative Extension have in bringing research from campus to New York state communities.
The CCE Summer Internship Program and its opportunities are made possible through funding provided by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) and the College of Human Ecology (CHE). Additionally, in a continued partnership with the David M. Einhorn Center for Community Engagement, the CCE Summer Internship Program is able to extend selected internship opportunities to students across Cornell University to help support the Einhorn Center in community-engaged learning.
CCE Summer Internship opportunities are only available to non-graduating Cornell University students who are:
- For CALS projects, students must be enrolled in CALS
- For CHE projects, students must be enrolled in CHE
- For Einhorn Center projects, students must be enrolled at Cornell University outside the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) and the College of Human Ecology (CHE)
Please contact aad78 [at] cornell.edu (Alyssa Dray) with questions or review the CCE Summer Internship FAQs.
Explore summer internship opportunities with Cornell Cooperative Extension!
Keep up with our interns summer experiences by reading through their summer blogs!
2026 CALS Summer Internships
The Horse Farm Improvement Program (HFIP) is a statewide equine extension effort to enhance equine welfare and equine operation sustainability that has been developed in large part by students participating in Cornell's CALS-CCE summer internship program. Past interns have developed the program through literature searches, knowledge-gathering interviews, and conducting pilot farm assessments.
The goal of this project is to support residents of Wayne County as they create more habitat for insect pollinators and other beneficial insects (e.g., insects that help with pest control; natural enemies). The intern will enhance programming to be offered in spring/summer 2026. Program participants will attend a spring workshop on creating habitat for pollinators and other beneficial insects and be given 3-5 plants each to help get them started.
The project will provide science-based guidance for healthy pasture ecology as well as integrated tick and pasture pest management. Dung beetles have been shown to reduce pest flies on livestock by as much as 95% in dairy and beef cattle operations. This project aims to assess dung beetle abundance and diversity across sheep pastures in the northeast. The project will also help assess tick risk on livestock pastures. Results will help in the development of a comprehensive Grazed Pasture Integrated Pest Management (GP-IPM) assessment tool.
The OSPREY research team is in year two of a four year project comparing yield of organic vegetable seed production across six sites nationally. The work to be completed on this project involves supervised trial installation and maintenance, and involvement in designing and implementing project outreach including a regional field day. This internship consists of primarily outdoor work, and trains interns in conducting field research.
This internship will strengthen 4-H youth development programming in Wayne County by supporting summer day camps, a gardening and cooking camp, and youth preparation for the county fair. The purpose is to enhance youth experiences, improve program coordination, and strengthen the bridge between county Extension work and campus evaluation practice.
This summer internship opportunity is focused around agritourism future outreach and case studies.
Solid waste is composed of organic residuals generated by farms, businesses, municipalities, and individuals across NYS. In Seneca County, the CCE team provides recycling and composting education to residents through a contract with the Seneca County Department of Recycling/Solid Waste. Landfilling organic residuals and the inappropriate disposal of recyclable materials comes at considerable cost to the County and alternative management solutions are needed.
Fruit production is one of the most important sectors of NY State agriculture, and the Hudson Valley region is home to some of the most diversified farms in the state. The goal of this project is to assist local orchards and berry farms with implementing Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices. To do this, we will visit local farms to monitor and track activity of important pests. We will also develop resources, such as online fact sheets to support farmers' knowledge and decision making.
In the past five years, numerous small flower farms have started operations around the Central New York (CNY) region, selling directly to customers via markets, stands, and U-Pick. Recently, some of these operations are scaling up to meet more wholesale needs, including florists, a regional flower cooperative, and a produce auction.
This project will assess soil health practices and pest management challenges across urban farms, community gardens, and homeowner plots in Monroe County. The intern will help identify urban populations and neighborhoods that stand to benefit most from improved soil health and integrated pest management (IPM) support, with particular attention to underserved communities.
This proposal seeks to host a student to help advance sustainable alternatives to neonicotinoid insecticide seed treatments in corn and soybean production. The intern will support Cornell IPM and CCE largest on-farm research and demonstration program ever undertaken, engaging directly with growers across NYS.
The sustainability of dairy operations in New York State depends greatly on their ability to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus leaching and runoff, reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses, and simultaneously reduce the cost of production and increase yield and milk sales. Production in the southern regions of New York is also impacted by pH and lime management. The South-Central and Southwest NY Dairy, Livestock, and Field Crops Teams are working with the Nutrient Management Spear Program (NMSP) on field-based studies on the value of manure, importance of lime management, and whole farm assessments.
The Cornell Small Farms Program supports and develops small farms-focused research and extension programs and fosters state-wide collaborations in support of farmers. The Communications Internship will contribute to the program’s goals by centering a student in an agricultural region of New York State to share farmers’ stories. This will be in the form of written, audio and visual storytelling that profile small farms. Farmer stories, from slice of life to decision-making to field experiments, help connect the Small Farms audience to each other. These stories also offer the farmer subjects a marketing opportunity for their farm businesses.
The Voice of the Farmer Garden (VoFG) is an exhibit at the NYS Fair. NYS Ag and Market puts on the exhibit each year and CCE Onondaga and our Master Gardener Volunteer Program (MGV) grows and maintains the space for the NYS Fair. Our goal is to help fairgoers connect with agriculture and our food systems. 2026 will be the fourth year of the VoFG and we are dealing with increasing nuisance and beneficial pests. We are seeking an intern to help us develop a short and long term IPM plan and to continue instituting best management practices in the garden.
Oneida Lake near Syracuse is the largest waterbody within New York State, bordered by four counties. A diverse collection of surrounding communities treasure the lake for its boating, fishing, and overall beauty and relaxing setting. At the same time it is an economic engine for the region, supporting a range of businesses, lakeside home development, and tourism.
Despite being a Threatened Species in New York State, Common Terns (Sterna hirundo) are often not perceived by the general public to be a critical resource. This project aims to raise public awareness of the plight of this species throughout inland areas and of key populations at Oneida Lake, NY by developing and disseminating outreach materials to educate about the threats facing terns, and their solutions.
The purpose of this project is to leverage digital tools (proximal sensors, GIS, remote sensing, big data, etc.) to enhance the on-farm experimentation process for growers. Most farmers experiment on their farms, with or without input from scientists, but the results often rely on limited context and can carry large uncertainty. Our aim is to add contextual data and a causal framework to experiments of the farmers' own design.
This internship offers a multi-disciplinary experience related to the circular nutrient system on dairy farms. The experience will involve on-farm research and data collection evaluating a new product with applications as a forage preservative and cattle bedding treatment. The student will help develop extension materials related to the research projects and participate in outreach activities with the CCE regional team and PRO-DAIRY.
Spotted lanternfly is an invasive insect that can severely damage vineyards by feeding on grapevines in large numbers. This pest presents a major threat to New York’s grape and wine industry, which attracts more than 2.84 million tourists annually. A recent arrival to the Finger Lakes region, spotted lanternfly primarily spreads by “hitch hiking” on vehicles and farm equipment.
2026 CHE Summer Internships
The student selected to work with CCE Wayne County on this project will be tasked with the responsibility to organize and contact a range of presenters of hands-on activities for Beechwood 4-H camp (ages 7-13) and Gardening and Cooking Camp.
The rapid adoption of AI into educational environments brings both tremendous opportunities and challenges for youth, and learning how to navigate such environments will be critical for young peoples’ success. This project will help young people understand the implications of AI use for their own learning in school while also considering the ethical and legal implications of relying on AI outputs.
The New York State Farmers' Market Nutrition Programs (FMNP) promote local farmers and support the health of limited resource older adults and WIC families by providing coupons for fresh local produce redeemable at participating farmers’ markets.
This project will support youth well-being and skill development as part of a summer 4-H experience (the "Cultivating Community" program) in Rochester, NY. The intern will reside in Rochester and be co-mentored by leaders in the 4-H Program at CCE Monroe and the Program for Research on Youth Development and Engagement (PRYDE) in the College of Human Ecology.
Summer in the North Country is a short yet intense growing season. The CCE Youth and Family development team provides the space and time for families to gather in our city community garden space that is within a Public Housing project. Last year CCE joined the community garden space and focused on building horticultural skills. The 2026 garden season will incorporate building parenting skills by creating opportunities for parents to model responsibility cooperation, and problem-solving, while fostering children's confidence and connection to nature and healthy food.
CCE Essex has expanded our Power of Produce Club at farmers markets and we continue to receive requests to support small markets. We need an additional market-season educator to fill demand for this highly successful youth program. POP Club provides nutrition education, gives youth agency in their food choices and builds direct relationship with farmers.
Developed by CCE Jefferson Executive Director, Amanda Root, in 2009, and updated in 2018, the purpose of the Magic Years (birth through four), Middle Years (ages five through ten), and Tween & Teen Years (ages eleven through eighteen) is to provide CCE parent educators with tools and resources to explain best practices in child development and parenting to caregivers. The original series of six workshops is organized around topics to include parenting styles, child development, routines, parental responsibility, discipline, and stress.
The project's purpose is to develop a strong parenting program in NYC with the current parenting curriculum that is available. Develop and create materials for evidence-based parenting programs that meet the specific needs of families. These materials will support parents in building stronger relationships with their children and will also help improve children’s social skills, language development, and behavior.
2026 Einhorn Center Summer Internships
The inter selected to work on the Mapping Owahta's New Chapter project will build a clean, usable documentation set to support future design and fundraising work. Using the completed needs assessment as a guide, they will create an updated base map of the camp (buildings, paths, activity areas, utilities/known constraints as available) and a photo/conditions inventory.
The Energy Warriors of CCE is embarking on a new project with the City of Ithaca as part of the Green New Deal that will decarbonize buildings owned by nonprofit organizations, municipalities and private individuals. For example, Energy Warriors trainees will work with local contractors to install solar panels. This process needs documentation using all forms of media, outreach to community members and engaging with the City’s Office of Sustainability.