In recognition of the many contributions of Dr. William (Bill) Lapenta to advance NOAA science and services and his dedication to training the next generation of scientists, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) established the William M. Lapenta Student Internship Program in 2019. The program builds on the highly successful National Weather Service (NWS) National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Internship which Bill created in 2017.

NOAA is offering paid summer internships targeted towards current 2nd and 3rd-year undergraduate and enrolled graduate students to work in areas that will provide robust research and/or operational experience that will prepare the student for further study in NOAA fields, for application to fellowships or for the NOAA-mission workforce. This internship program enables the National Weather Service, (NWS), Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service (NESDIS), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Ocean Service (NOS) and Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO to target the skills needed to fulfill their specific mission needs. Projects may be focused on research areas or the development of operational products such as decision support tools, climate and weather forecast models, population dynamics of fish populations, ecosystem modeling, hydrology, ocean circulation models, unmanned systems (both in air and under water), data analysis methodologies, social science, and strategies to communicate climate and weather information pertaining to NOAA's mission to the public and to stakeholders. Overall, students will focus on areas that will meet the future needs of NOAA’s ever-broadening user community and address immediate challenges across a diverse spectrum from the sun to the bottom of our oceans.