Wintersession Internships for Harvard Students

October 2, 2023

6 students and mentors smile in the forest in winter

Paid winter internships each January bring 4-7 Harvard students (graduate and undergraduate) to Harvard Forest, providing a mentored, full-time research experience as well as room, board, and transportation for those staying on-site. (See logistics section at the bottom of this page and notes in each project description.)

Read highlights about the work of our January 2024 interns, January 2023 interns, and January 2022 interns.

Applications for January 2024 are now closed. Applications for January 2025 will open in October 2024.

Logistics for All Internship Projects

Program dates (2024): Wednesday, January 3 through Friday, January 19, with MLK Day off (84 total hours of work)
Interns will be paid a one-time stipend of $1920 (undergraduates) or $2112 (graduate students) at the conclusion of the internship
Most interns will live on site and work full-time (35 hrs/wk). Interns who are master's students at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (who take a full load of Harvard courses during January), can work remotely and part-time throughout the spring term, and will be paid monthly.
Room and board are provided at no cost to the intern. Interns (we anticipate ~5-6 on site this winter) are housed in a small farmhouse dorm on the Harvard Forest campus, with students in single or shared (double and triple) bedrooms and shared common areas.
Interns will cook their own meals in the dorm kitchen and be driven to the local Market Basket grocery store weekly to obtain groceries (funded by Harvard Forest) for those meals.
Transportation between Harvard Square and Harvard Forest at the beginning and end of the program is provided cost-free as part of the internship. Students who have their own cars are welcome to bring them (we will reimburse your mileage between Harvard Square and Harvard Forest at the beginning and end of the program).
Harvard Forest is located in a remote area (Petersham, Massachusetts is a rural town of 1,000 people), 70 miles west of the main Harvard campus. Public transportation is not available here. Interns’ work and free time will be spent here on the quiet Harvard Forest campus, unless they have their own car.
Harvard University wifi is available throughout campus, including the dorm.
Interns are given their own desk in a shared office workspace in the main HF building and all necessary supplies.
Interns can expect daily or near-daily check-ins with their project mentors - but there also will be a strong expectation for independence and self-motivation in the work. The full intern cohort will be offered a weekly guided field trip to explore the local landscape. For your free time, there are many hiking trails at Harvard Forest and we will provide snowshoes for those who would like to use them.
Harvard Forest has a Code of Conduct that everyone working and living here is expected to follow.
Harvard Forest is a department of Harvard University, so all relevant university policies, including COVID protocols, are in place here.
The Harvard Forest welcomes individuals with disabilities to participate in its programs. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation for the application process or have questions about the physical access and resources provided on-site, please contact us at hfvisit@fas.harvard.edu.