The American Human Development Project offers year-round internship opportunities to Masters and exceptional undergraduate students, tailored to the successful applicant’s areas of interest and expertise. Applicants are required to have a strong background in the social sciences, with a focus on domestic U.S. policy issues, and preferably with qualitative and quantitative skill sets.
Internships are either two months (full-time), or three months (part-time). Due to the volume of applications, please note that we are unable to respond individually, and that internships are unpaid.
Current Openings – Spring 2012
- Quantitative Research Intern
- General Research Intern
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Quantitative Research Intern
The American Human Development Project (AHDP) seeks a quantitative research intern to work with the Chief Statistician on several exciting quantitative research projects. These include supporting AHDP to build a historical timeline for the American Human Development Index, facilitating comparisons between U.S. states and OECD countries on a common set of indicators of well-being and opportunity, and updating and managing AHDP’s data resources. This internships may be performed off-site.
QUALIFICATIONS
- BA or higher degree in sociology, economics, statistics, or a related field.
- Strong organizational skills and careful attention to detail.
- Prior experience working with basic cell programming in Excel and familiarity with at least one of the major statistical packages (SPSS/PSAW, SAS, STATA, R).
- Demonstrated previous experience in an academic or professional setting performing quantitative research and analysis in any field connected to our core foci on health, education, and income.
- Previous experience working with data resources of the U.S. Census Bureau, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Education Statistics, and/or international data sources such as OECD.Stat, World Bank World Development Indicators, and the Luxembourg Income Study a plus. Previous experience working with and analyzing datasets a plus.
RESPONSIBILITIES
- Locate, analyze, and organize existing data for indicators of population health, educational attainment and enrollment, and earnings and income for U.S. population groups and states and also for other OECD countries.
- Assist with the calculation of life expectancy at birth for segments of the U.S. population and with assembling the overall American Human Development Index for U.S. population groups, states, and metropolitan areas.
AHDP will provide individualized training on specific aspects of research and analysis, however demonstrated previous experience in an academic or professional setting performing quantitative research and analysis in any field connected to our core foci on health, education, and income is a must. Additional tasks may be determined in line with the intern’s interests and abilities.
To apply, please send a cover letter, resume, and an example of your work to tung@ssrc.org. Your example may be a paper that you have written for a class or any article or working-paper that you have authored, co-authored, or been credited with research assistance on that demonstrates your quantitative research and analytical skills in areas of sociology, economics, statistics, or a related field.
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General Research Intern – Spring 2012
The American Human Development Project (AHDP) seeks a research intern to conduct substantive research in the areas of health, education, and income leading to the eventual publication of human development reports. The Project will also work with interns to identify areas of particular interest that interns may explore as an individual project. Interns will also be involved in a range of other activities to support the running of the Project, ranging from drafting grant proposals, researching potential partners, and more.
QUALIFICATIONS
- Graduate student in the social sciences, public policy, or international affairs. (Applications from advanced undergraduates and recent graduates will also be considered.)
- Demonstrated interest and familiarity with literature on American social policy.
- Strong academic background and excellent writing skills.
- Familiarity with use of data to make arguments (advanced statistical training helpful but not necessary)
RESPONSIBILITIES
- Conduct literature reviews on diverse topics in the social sciences and public policy.
- Write short texts and longer policy briefs for potential inclusion in published reports.
- Contribute to the project’s outreach and online communications efforts by drafting op-eds, blog pieces, etc.
- Support the Project with new projects (grant proposals, data inquiries, etc.) as they arise.
To apply, please send letter of interest, resume, and two writing samples to tung@ssrc.org. Please note that incomplete applications will note be considered.