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Alumnus Participates in National Geographic Internship

March 19, 2010 - A recent graduate of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, Andy Moody, is participating in an internship with the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C. through May 14.

Moody, a River Falls native, graduated in December 2009 with a major in geography and double minor in geographic information systems and business administration and was a 2008 participant in the International Traveling Classroom. 

The National Geographic Society internship program admits 8-10 students per semester and is a competitive program on a national level. Moody is working in the Society’s Educational Services Division on different products. He is the first placement of a UWRF student at the National Geographic Society that has several hundred applicants per year.

Moody is currently working on a couple of major projects, one of which is gathering images, maps, and diagrams to accompany text for an environmental education guidebook for teachers. The texts will be given to teachers to help inform them about teaching topics such as climate change, oceans, freshwater, and energy, he said.

In another project, Moody is looking for GIS layers of U.S. railroads. The goal is to be able to create an animated map of how the railroad spread throughout the country, he said.

“Andy’s hard work and preparation at UWRF were definite factors in his success,” says Professor Charles Rader of the geography department. “The department was really excited when he got the call for an interview and thought, well, we’ve never made it this far before. This is good!”

As for the future, Moody said he is looking forward to returning to the River Falls area when his internship is complete. 

“D.C. is an exciting city to be sure, but I'm much more accustomed to corn fields and country roads,” he said.  “Ideally I'd like to find a gig in the Twin Cities doing something GIS related, but we'll have to see how it all works out,” Moody said.

For more information on internships at the National Geographic Society, visit http://www.nationalgeographic.com/faq/careers.html

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