The Center supports undergraduate and graduate research interns through programs including the Undergraduate Research Intern program (academic year), Faculty Pilot Grant Program research assistants, and Summer Internship Program for Social Science PhD Students (with partner Graduate School of Arts & Sciences). We also make summer mini-grants to faculty, full-time lecturers, and PhD students who use these funds to support a summer or one-semester research intern.
Nathaniel Clizbe (CAS’25) is a senior in Computer Science with a minor in History. His academic interests are algorithms, probability, and American history, and his professional goal is to work on novel applications of technology to the social sciences. This summer, Nathaniel will be a Summer Writing Intern for the Center on Mind and Culture (CMAC). Nathaniel enjoys editorial work and will spend his time this summer writing articles, profiles, and blog updates for the Center for Mind and Culture’s Lawson Interviews project. Anne Joseph (CAS’25) is a senior studying Sociology and African American and Black Diaspora Studies with research interests in anti-capitalist/anti-imperialist resistance movements, gentrification studies, and racial justice. They previously interned at the racial equity focused educational non-profit Trinity Boston Connects last summer and can’t wait to continue their experience working in communications as a SWIP intern for the Center for Innovation in Social Science (CISS). Anne also is an enthusiastic lover of musical theater and afrofuturist novels. Devin Rauscher (CAS’26) is a junior currently pursuing a degree in History, with a concentration in American history. They have research interests in labor, incarceration, identity, and environmental justice, and they are excited to explore these topics during the Summer Writing Internship Program. This summer, he will be working with the Center on Forced Displacement (CFD) to promote research, profile associated faculty and students, and increase engagement with center programs. In his free time, he enjoys reading, writing, and hanging out with his cat, Kiwi. Mika Yao (CAS’25) is a senior studying Political Science and International Relations with a minor in Chinese. This summer, Mika will be a Summer Writing Intern at the Center on Forced Displacement (CFD). Prior to joining the CFD, Mika interned with the American Immigration Council, focusing on finding policy-oriented solutions to social challenges. With a strong passion for immigration justice, she is excited to work with other researchers in the field to develop her own research project this summer. 2024 Summer Writing Internship Program Interns
Rayea Jain (COM’26) is a sophomore currently pursuing a degree in Journalism. She has a concentration in socio-cultural anthropology, which primarily revolves around the study of communities outside of her own. Being able to connect her passion for journalism with anthropology has only strengthened her opportunities to use my platform to tell the stories of other people. She’s looking forward to finding a career as a broadcast journalist. She loves working in social settings and is comfortable working on multi-media platforms. Rayea will be working with the CAS Communications Team over the summer to help promote social science research and expertise of faculty, tell stories of student experiences, publicize achievements of faculty, staff, and students, and build community within our diverse liberal arts school.2024 Summer Undergraduate Intern in Social Science
Natalie Hawkins (CAS’25) is a senior in Political Science & Philosophy, minoring in Women’s, Gender and Sexualities Studies. This summer she is working with Dr. Lida Maxwell with research for a new book, A New Sex Ed: A Politics of Desire for The Future. Dr. Maxwell’s project seeks to develop a philosophy of sex education grounded in feminist, queer, and anti-racist work, in order to investigate how sex and sexual desire matter to citizenship and democratic theory. The book plans to address the needs of young people who desire a new form of sex education, one that prioritizes the exploratyion of sexual identity, sexual autonomy, and sexual pleasure that is rooted in feminist and racial theory. Natalie is researching sex educatin policies at the state and federal level and comparing each state policy and passing legislation to each other based on how effective the mandate is in creating healthy and safe sex practices. Natalie’s research also involved archival work in queer and lesbian history, as Professor Maxwell’s book focuses on intimacy and desire in queer forms of love, and how to subert structural constraints through these connections.Summer 2024 Mini-grant Funded Research Interns
Martin Aucoin (GRS, Anthropology) is a Ph.D. candidate in Sociocultural Anthropology with a focus on food, economics, transnational supply chains and migration. He is currently conducting dissertation fieldwork in The Gambia and the United States on the exporting of American poultry products to West Africa. To learn more about Aucoin’s research and publications, visit his webpage. Jessica Garber (GRS, Anthropology) is a Ph.D. candidate in Anthropology. Her dissertation project works with current university students and recent alumni of higher education institutions in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Specifically, she explores the affective attachment university students have with education and how their attachment to education has impacted their lives beyond school, including their social networks as well as romantic and family relationships. This summer, Jessica will be working with Partners in Health (PIH) to edit and publish a journal article based on research about increasingly the visibility and incentives for academic medical doctors to conduct engaged and public work. She is excited to learn from the research conducted for the article and to coordinate conversations with others about how to make engaged or public work more incentivized for medical faculty. Summer 2024 PhD Interns in Social Science
For more information on previous intern cohorts, visit our CISS Research Interns Archive.