About

The Resilience Internships and Student Experiences (RISE) program within the Arizona Institute for Resilience (AIR) provides funding to University of Arizona students completing resilience internships that cross academic boundaries and international borders.

The RISE program pays U of A students (undergraduate and graduate) in resilience-related internships that grow their interpersonal skills. These internships vary greatly across the program. Interns may work with university departments, government agencies, nonprofits, businesses, or international organizations across the globe. The timeframes are flexible, with some internships being semester-long, summer-long, year-long, or more. The primary goal of all RISE internships is for students to get experience in a workplace setting related to resilience to gain skills they may not otherwise get in coursework.

RISE funding is flexible, and we work hard to provide students with paid experience in their field of interest. There are many ways for students to receive pay and we are happy to work with students’ and internship supervisors’ specific circumstances to provide funding.

The RISE program was launched in Summer 2022 with Technology and Research Initiative Fund (TRIF) Workforce Enhancement funding. Our 2023-2024 program is generously funded by TRIF – Water, Environmental, and Energy Solutions initiatives and the TRIF Workforce Enhancement through the U of A Office of Societal Impact. Our 2024-2025 internships are generously funded through the university Student Services Fee and Southwestern Foundation for Education and Historical Preservation. 

As of July 2024, we have allocated more than $1 million to nearly 300 undergraduate and graduate students. We are taking a pause on approving new proposals until we have more information about additional funding. Please feel free to submit an internship proposal for the future, but we will not be able to approve it until we receive additional RISE funding.