Summer Research Associates Program

The CMC Policy Lab Summer Research Associates program began in 2020.  In an 8 week session, undergraduate students join with think tank partners to investigate a policy topic.  Examples of current and past Policy Lab projects are available here.  Past student participants can be viewed here.

The CMC Policy Lab is now accepting applications for the 2024 Summer Research Associates program.  The program will hire up to eight students to work on two projects: one research team will work on a policy and data analysis of congressionally directed spending, in collaboration with the Bipartisan Policy Center. The other team will work on collecting and analyzing data on debt collection cases in the Los Angeles Superior Courts, in collaboration with the RAND Corporation.

Duties

Summer Research Associates will work individually in and groups on qualitative and quantitative policy research, analysis, visualizations, and memo writing. Students will be expected to attend staff meetings, regularly coordinate with faculty supervisors between staff meetings, and interface with project partners via phone, email, and video conference. All program work will be performed remotely and will not require travel.

Qualifications

Strong oral and written communication skills, and some previous experience with policy research, either in an academic or professional setting, is required. Preference will also be given to students who have not participated in the previous summer associates program. Candidates should highlight policy writing experience; courses taken in statistics, political methodology, or econometrics; or a proficiency with R, Stata, Tableau, or Python. While it is not required that Summer Research Associates have taken the Policy Lab course, students who have not will be required to participate in an orientation before the start of the program.

 Details

The program will run for eight weeks from May 20 through July 12. Associates will be compensated at a rate of $2500 (divided in two installments), and must be available for regular meetings and staff communications throughout the program.

To apply please send a cover letter, resume, and transcript to Tami DeSalvio by 5p PDT on Wednesday, April 10. For more information on the CMC Policy Lab, please visit our website.