Past Opportunities
University of Sheffield Offering Course on “Making Sense of Data in the Media”
Curious about how to interpret the social science and economic data you come across as you’re writing a paper or reading up on current events? Can’t tell if a source of data is reliable or a claim you’ve read about is sound? The Sheffield Methods Institute at the University of Sheffield is currently offering a free online course for undergraduates on how to understand and critically analyze the way social science statistics are created and used by the media. To register, log in with your Facebook account or create your own account on the website.
Pew Research Center Hiring for Full-Time and Internship Positions
Looking for a career or internship experience in public opinion polling and data-driven social science research? Pew Research Center is hiring for full-time and paid summer internship positions in public opinion research and methodology design, data analysis, project administration, and software management. All positions are located in Washington, DC. Applicants to full-time positions should send a resume, cover letter, and salary expectations to careers@pewresearch.org. Application procedures for each summer internship vary, so check each page for the required materials. To find out more about available positions, click here.
Paid Research Position: Weingartner Seminar
The Weingartner seminar has conducted a total of 12 student deliberations this semester, with an average of eight participants per deliberation. We wish to hire a student to help us analyze the surveys that each participant in these deliberations have completed. The person we hire will be paid $10/hour.
The Weingartner Fellows first selected a topic: What should we do about the challenge of child labor? Last spring they conducted focus groups and arrived at three prominent issue positions on this topic; then they prepared a brief issue book that summarizes these alternative issue positions. Students were given the issue books to prepare in advance of the deliberation in which they participated this fall. Each student completed a very brief survey both before and after the deliberation in which he or she participated. The goal was to ask them to indicate, and reflect on, the impact that the deliberation itself had on their evaluation of each of the three issue positions.
VCU Political Science 10th Annual Student Research Conference
The 2015 Conference had over 100 participants in 23 panels.
Already this year we have interest from students in Africa, Latin America, and Europe, and we hope to include you all in our event. Your students can submit papers to be considered for Best Paper cash awards and you are all invited to join us for a luncheon with our student research presenters and faculty.
Please send your proposals to: vcustudentconference2016@gmail.com. You can send questions to that address or to cjsaladino@vcu.edu with the words RESEARCH CONFERENCE in the subject line.
Please see the Call for Paper and Letter of Explanation for more information.
Business Analytics–Special Speaker Event: “The Significant Digits of Walter Hickey”
Curious about the intersection of business, data, and politics? Come hear from Walter Hickey, a recent WM graduate (’12), who has turned his passion for analytics into a job working as the lead lifestyle writer for FiveThirtyEight. The event will be on Thursday, March 24that 2:00 pm in Miller Hall Classroom 1008.
Summer 2016 Internships with AidData
Interested in international development? Apply to intern for AidData this summer! Students from all majors and years are invited to apply. Follow this link to apply to work on one of the seven available projects: Activity Coding, Geocoding, Non-DAC Aid, Survey Practice, Tracking Under-Reported Financial Flows, and Policy Initiatives. See AidData’s website for more information on these projects. Applications are due by March 24th at 11:59 pm–make sure to attach a cover letter and resume to the end of your application! Successful applicants will be invited to interview with AidData staff. Internships will begin on May 31, and all interns will receive free on-campus summer housing and compensation after completing 120 hours of their internship.
Intern with The Privacy Tools Project at Harvard University
If you’re interested in privacy law, computer science, and big data, apply to intern with the The Privacy Tools Project at Harvard University during Summer 2016. Through this position, you’ll be working on cutting edge projects in software development, programming, and algorithms creation, as well as drafting privacy law policy recommendations. To apply, email a cover letter, CV, and contact information for 2-3 references to privacytools-info@seas.
Data Management Bootcamp, March 9-10
Working with a lot of data and not sure how to keep up with it? Come learn more about finding and reusing data, documentation and metadata, data management plans, rights and access, and more at the Data Management Bootcamp. Sponsored by seven Virginia institutions, this event will offer hands-on, practical experience on big data management techniques. The event will be held on March 9th from 9 AM-4PM and March 10th from 9 AM-1 PM in the Ford Classroom in Swem Library. Questions should be directed to Lauren Goode, Science Librarian at Swem, at lmgoode@wm.edu. Register for this event here.
fivethirtyeight Summer Intern for Politics Coverage
Interested in using big data and opinion polls to break down the craziness of the upcoming presidential election? Fivethirtyeight, a leading site for numbers-driven analysis of current events and popular culture, is hiring a Politics Coverage summer intern for its New York office. The position is paid and runs from June 6th to August 12th. Current students and recent graduates are eligible. More information can be found here.
HuffPost Pollster Internship
HuffPost Pollster has a full-time paid internship available for a recent college grad to help us manage our charts and the massive, massive volume of polling that’s already coming in. The more survey methods the applicant knows, the better their chances of being hired. Also, if the applicant has substantial statistics experience they will have opportunities to help with forecasting and other models.
Interested students should contact natalie.jackson@huffingtonpost.com. They can also
express interest through the link here, which has additional details about
the position (but it is probably best to email her directly).