The Robert C. Spear Internship Scholarship was established to honor the teaching and mentorship of Dr. Robert C. Spear, and aims to foster the next generation of OSH professionals with experience and commitment to working directly with grassroots worker and community groups.
Are you a graduate student interested in Occupational Health and Safety?
Apply to the Robert Spear Internship Scholarship to:
- Participate in a paid OSH internship for 9-10 weeks, national or international
- Immerse yourself in organizations striving to improve workers’ occupational health and safety
- Learn to apply your academic knowledge in a professional setting
- Receive mentorship from an OSH expert
- Network with experts and stakeholders in the field
- Present your experience at COEH annual symposiums
The Robert Spear Internship aims to foster the next generation of OSH professionals with experience and commitment to working directly with grassroots worker and community groups.
Interns will get the opportunity to provide leading community-based organizations with information and technical assistance to increase their capacity to promote and facilitate worker health in safety in global supply chains and in national industries.
Interns will get to impact a growing number workers and community members with the knowledge and skills needed to speak and act to protect their own health, safety and rights.
Interns will get to build relationships with labor and community based organizations in the United States and globally.
Interns selected for Spear internship opportunites will recieve a stipend of $9,000.
Application Requirements
- Be a graduate student affiliated with COEH and NorCal-NIOSH ERC at UC Davis, UC Berkeley and UCSF. (This includes, ERC trainees and EHS students at UC Berkeley.)
- Have a dedicated interest in a career in Occupational Safety and Health, and Environmental Health Science
- Completion of a personal statement, unofficial transcript, resume, and online application
Application Process
The following will need to be prepared in PDF format to apply & submit via the online application portal:
- 2-page personal statement*
- A copy of your unofficial transcript
- Resume
- Completion of basic application ranking internship preferences
Timeline of Application:
Application Dates
Application is now closed.
Applications were due on February 23, 2025, at 11:59PM PST
Interview Dates
March 10 to April 1
You may be asked to take part in an interview with the internship committee. Interview notices are sent to candidates as interviews become available. Please do not contact mentors.
*For any questions, email jalfaro@berkeley.edu*
Final Decisions
April 1, 2025
**Please see the list of internships and address your interest in 1-2 projects in your personal statement. Each intern will be placed with one mentor at the internship organization.**
Exploring Occupational Safety and Health
Internships available for summer 2025 include the following:
International
1. Universidad de Concepción; Concepción, Chile
2. Cividep India; Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Bay Area
1. Coming soon → Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
2. Coming soon → Laborers' International Union of North America (LiUNA!)
Please continue to check for domestic internship updates. Internships will be posted as they become available.
Who is Dr. Robert Spear? 
Dr. Robert Spear is an engineer by training, having received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in Engineering Science and Mechanical Engineering, respectively, from the University of California at Berkeley and the Ph.D. degree in Control Engineering from Cambridge University in 1968. After several years in the aerospace industry, his interests turned to environmental issues and he returned to Berkeley in 1970 to take up a post-doctoral position in this field in the School of Public Health. He was appointed to a faculty position in 1971 and is now Professor of the Graduate School at Berkeley.
His research interests focus on the assessment and quantification of human exposures to toxic and hazardous agents in the environment. His early work concerned the exposure of agricultural workers to pesticides. In more recent years his work has concerned applications of mathematical and statistical techniques in the assessment and control of exposures to both chemical and biological agents. For the past 20 years, his work has been increasingly focused on determinants of the prevalence and control of the parasitic disease schistosomiasis in the mountainous regions of Sichuan Province in southwestern China. This has been in collaboration with colleagues at the Sichuan Institute of Parasitic Disease and various U.S. universities. In addition to epidemiologic studies and mathematical modeling, this work involves applications of geographic information systems and remote sensing technology.
The contributions of his group have been recognized by the government of Sichuan with the Jinding Award in 2003 and the Friendship Award of the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China in 2005. He was made an honorary citizen of Xichang County in 2009.
Dr. Spear was the founding Director of the University’s Center for Occupational and Environmental Health and has served as Associate Dean of the School of Public Health and of the College of Engineering at Berkeley. He has served on a variety of committees advisory to the government and to industry as well as within the University. He was the Chair of the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate in 1999-2000 and received the Berkeley Citation in 2008 and the Berkeley Faculty Service Award in 2011. He has authored or co-authored over 150 papers in the scientific literature.
Research Interests
- Mathematical modeling of toxicological and infectious processes
- Statistical issues in exposure assessment
- Environmental determinants of infectious disease transmission.
Publications
Education
- Postdoctoral Fellow – Environmental Health Sciences
University of California, Berkeley, 1969–70 - PhD – Control Engineering
Cambridge University, 1968 - MS – Mechanical Engineering
University of California, Berkeley, 1963 - BS – Engineering Science
University of California, Berkeley, 1962