The NYSM has an active Vertebrate Paleontology program where you can volunteer to learn what a paleontologist does on a day-to-day basis.

Most interns/volunteers will work in the conservation and curation of vertebrate bones within the collections.  This includes preserving the bones for future study, cataloging the bones into a database, identifying what species the bones originally came from, and organizing the collections for researcher use.

Occasionally, there will be a need for interns/volunteers to work on specific research projects.  You can review current research projects using the Research link, and then contact me for more information regarding intern/volunteer opportunities on particular research projects.