Introducing The 2026 Kew Summer Interns

This summer, two botanically-minded Smithies will be traveling far from the Botanic Garden of Smith College to the historic and world-famous Kew Gardens in London, England. Dina Alam ’27 and Beatrice Tauer ’27 were both selected as this year’s Kew summer interns, the latest cohort of an internship program that has been running since 1994. Every year, Smith students travel to London to conduct plant research alongside Kew scientists for 12 weeks over the summer. Smith interns at Kew have the opportunity to learn alongside research mentors in various plant-related fields, including molecular biology, conservation genetics, and bioinformatics. 

For their internships, Alam and Tauer will be studying different aspects of plant science. Alam, an Environmental Science & Policy major, will be working on the Wideslands project, a conservation research program looking at the impact of colonization on the evolution of plant species on the Canary Islands, off the coast of Spain. Tauer, a Biological Sciences and Statistical & Data Sciences major, will be focusing on the Madagascar region, conducting research on the phylogenetics of different tree species that Kew has in their collection. 

“I read about this program when I was an incoming first year, and it was my really unrealistic goal,” Tauer said. “It's all of the things that I'm interested in, with molecular biology and genetics, and actually applying them to real systems.”

While Tauer was interested in the scientific research aspect of it from the get-go, Alam came into the program from a different background. 

“I came to this internship… from working at the botanic garden last year. I did a lot of field work and hands-on experience with plants,” Alam said. “I decided to apply to this internship because I wanted a new lens of conservation, that's a little bit more specific.”

“I feel like we're coming at this from opposite angles,” Tauer said. “I was really interested in molecular biology, genetics, and this is a fun application of that, versus [Dina] being really interested in the plant application as a fun way to do conservation and to get into genetics.”

Despite coming to their internships with opposite plant perspectives, Alam and Tauer share an interest and excitement for expanding their experience with and knowledge about the world of plant science and its place in botanic conservation efforts.

“I think gaining an experience at a place like Kew Gardens offers a larger breadth of work that impacts something greater than itself. And I love that there's a real world implication for really understanding why studying plants is so important,” Alam said. “I think overall, I'm just looking to gain a new experience and perspective on how you can apply genomic sequencing to understand the world a little bit more.”

“I'm really excited to learn more about the applications of genomics and bioinformatics into conservation and applying them to real-world problems,” Tauer said. “I really enjoy all of these strategies as concepts and as research practices, but I feel like the experience of getting to actually use them to solve a problem and help make the world a little bit better is really important.” 

Alam and Tauer certainly have much to learn from their upcoming internships, but they also bring their own educational background surrounding plants from their time at Smith, whether from classes or extracurriculars. 

“I work for the Center for Molecular Biology at Smith. I get to do their sequencing, which is amazing,” Tauer said. “So I think I'm taking a lot from that and the STRIDE work that I did with Laboratory Instructor in Geosciences Luce Ward with bioinformatics, and getting to apply those bioinformatic skills and sequencing skills to new areas.” 

“I think I've always sort of been interested in plants. My kind of integration into it all was taking Gabby Immerman’s Plants in the Landscape class, and then Botany for Gardeners in the spring,” Alam said. 

Along with Immerman’s courses, Alam was also one of the Summer 2025 Conservation interns for the Botanic Garden – another experience she cites as being integral to getting her to Kew:  “I got really incredible exposure to not only a conservation lens, through field work, but also through relationships and community; getting in conversation with communities and landscape, especially in the Northampton/Western Massachusetts area. I think the people aspect kind of drew me to plants more, and I just want to have more of a lens of plant science, and physiology and ecology in that sense.”

For these two Smithies interested in continuing careers related to scientific research and conservation, the opportunity to build on their growing education and interest in these fields at Kew Gardens, the largest and most botanically diverse plant collection in the world, is invaluable. 

“I'm really interested in genetics and biodramatics, so this is a foot in the door of the actual applications, and who's actually doing this in the world,” Tauer said. “I'm excited about [gaining] perspectives in different areas of the world. Especially getting to talk to people who do research all the time, and develop relationships with them and see their perspective.” 

“I love plants. I want to continue studying plants, and get that kind of real world perspective of how plants and people have a role together in the landscape and also just globally,” Alam said. “I want to understand the relationship that people have with plants a little bit more, whether that be through field work, whether it be through having conversations with people or bioinformatic processing.” 

Ultimately, Tauer and Alam will be able to expand the way they think about plants and conservation, examining the role humans play in their destruction and conservation. Whether they bring their experiences back to Smith or later into their careers in the world beyond college, their work will undoubtedly contribute to the strengthening of the botanical conservation field.

“I think all of these skills are really valuable, getting to understand the world and its relationships that we're in,” Alam said. “I would love to continue doing research, because research is so collaborative and enjoyable, especially when you're doing it with people you like to work with!”