Spending 10 weeks of summer working at Teapot Dome oil field was the perfect chance for Desiree Coles and Delphine Tsinajinnie to put their classroom learning into action.

Both women are part of the Mickey Leland Energy Fellowship program offered by the U.S. Department of Energy. They worked with professionals at the Rocky Mountain Oilfield Testing Center, studying geology and water quality.

Coles is a geology student at the University of Wyoming/Casper College. Tsinajinnie is a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Fellow at Central Washington University. She holds a bachelor of science degree in biology.

The fellowship program started at historically black colleges and universities to increase the number of African-American students pursuing geology. It later expanded to include engineering and science fields, and the program also began accepting other minority students.

Coles and Tsinajinnie are both Navajo. Coles grew up in Casper and Jeffrey City. Tsinajinnie grew up in Kayenta, Ariz.

Only 22 students nationwide were chosen to take part in the summer program this year. In addition to their field work, students attend a week-long seminar to gain information about recruitment in their fields and having successful careers.

Tsinajinnie's graduate work is focused on water quality and human health. Growing up on the Navajo reservation in Arizona, she saw first-hand how uranium tailings poisoned the water supply and her people.

"This is happening in our own country," she said. "And RMOTC is in a very good position to show how water quality can be managed by industry."

Tsinajinnie said she applied for the program so she could work at one of the nation's largest water quality research labs. Her mentors, Kenny Colina and Steve Shire, worked with her to learn more about assessing water quality.

For Coles, the internship was a chance get out of the classroom and into the field. Coles spent 10 weeks working on geological investigations with her mentor, Mark Milliken.

"It's really important, I think, to get some experience in the field you want to be in," Coles said. "It also gives you more drive to continue your education."

Fieldwork is nothing new to Coles. She and two classmates recently found a triceratops skeleton in Lusk.

Milliken said earning a degree is an important step in anyone's career, but having actual work experience in your field is invaluable.

"If you can have that, that's a leg up on other people," Milliken said.

Reach education reporter Jasa Santos at (307) 266-0593 or at Jasa.Santos@trib.com.