Please join us in welcoming our 2026 summer interns! We're looking forward to a fun-filled summer!
In our Beaufort, NC office we have...
Georgia Atcheson, Friends of the Reserve Stewardship Intern working with Central Sites Manager, Ben Wunderly
Georgia is a North Carolina native who attends North Carolina State University and has varied experiences in the natural science field to include work at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh and the Hatteras Island Ocean Center in Hatteras Village. A sophomore, she is studying Environmental Science, focusing on marine community ecology, with a minor in Marine Science. She spent a semester at NC State’s Center for Marine Sciences & Technology, held a biologist technician position at Cape Hatteras National Seashore for a summer season, and spent a summer as a marine conservation steward in Costa Rica supporting sea turtle conservation.
Ada Green, Research and Education Intern working with Research Coordinator, Justin Ridge, and Education Coordinator, Lori Davis
Ada is a senior at UNC-Chapel Hill, majoring in English and minoring in journalism and environmental studies. She previously attended Belmont University in Nashville, where she was a songwriting major. Music continues to be one of her favorite hobbies - she plays piano and sings in a band with some UNC friends and dabbles in guitar. Born and raised in Chapel Hill, she also loves getting outside to experience North Carolina nature. She’s looking forward to spending the summer on the beautiful coast working with the Reserve team!
Working with our Southern Sites Manager, Elizabeth Pinnix, in our Wilmington, NC office we have...
LJ Hammer, Friends of the Reserve Stewardship Intern
LJ is a junior at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, majoring in Marine Biology with a concentration in conservation studies. LJ is from a small mountain town in central Virginia and loves to spend all of her free time outdoors. She hopes to pursue a career in fisheries biology or coastal conservation management and is beyond excited for her internship with the NC Coastal Reserve & National Estuarine Research Reserve this summer.
Lizzy Ross. Southern Sites Stewardship Intern
Lizzy has been passionate about marine biology, especially sea turtles, from a young age, and has had a strong desire to make a positive impact on the sea turtle populations of North Carolina. Throughout high school, she was an Aquarium Teen Ambassador and volunteer at the NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores, where she educated the public at the invertebrate touch pool and sea turtle cart. Over the past five years, she has served in a variety of different roles at the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center, where she began as a Junior Intern, and later became a lead intern. She continues to actively volunteer as part of the sea turtle husbandry team. As a student at UNCW, she recently joined the Ramirez Lab at the Center for Marine Science, where she assists with a sea turtle age estimation project.