Summer Internship Program (SSIP)

Launched in June 2020, the Sai Summer Internship Program (SSIP) seeks to provide undergraduate students from around the world with the opportunity to get hands-on experience in the many different aspects (front end and/or back end) of science communication, informal science education, public engagement, and science policy (collectively known as civic science) through new or existing projects to support the work of individual Resident Initiatives. Interns are matched with one of the Residents in expertise, interests, and other domains. As such, it is highly recommended that prospective interns have 2-3 names of Residents whose work they are interested in before they apply. The interns then work with guidance from their resident mentor to accelerate ongoing work that could include conducting landscape analyses, designing new research proposals (see examples below), project outreach, collecting/analyzing data, social media marketing, survey design, database building, and more.

The internship typically runs virtually for ~10 weeks between June to mid August each year and the interns present a summary of the work they did over the summer at the end of their internship. Interns are expected to commit roughly between 5-6hrs a week and are provided a stipend of $1000. Given that the internship is completely virtual, it is designed to be an add-on experience. Ordinarily, interns usually have other projects (jobs, internships, etc.) outside the SRC internship. 

The application portal opens Feb 1 through March 31 each year. We recommend applicants to submit their applications as soon as possible since the reviews will be ongoing. Ordinarily, applicants are notified sometime in April with a decision. 

Residents currently searching for internsThe residents below are formally looking for interns. However, we encourage prospective interns to also look over the full list of residents when deciding the 2-3 names of residents to mention in the application.

Class of 2023

Caroline Allison, Durham University (UK)

Adriana Feldman, Wellesley College

Class of 2022

Kat Connor, North Carolina State University

Project: Design a research proposal to assess the Role of Free Will in Religious People’s Perceptions of Genetics

Lazaro Bosch, Florida International University

Project: Developed a plan to map the barriers in which research evidence is, or is not, used in the science policy-making setting.

Nhi Nguyen, Bryn Mawr College

Mentor: Clarissa Wright

Proposal: pending

Class of 2021

Daniel Erenstein, UC Davis

Proposal: Assessing the effectiveness of communication approaches to reach adolescents with COVID-19 information on social media

Chloe Cho, UC Berkeley

Mentor: Jessica W. Tsai

Proposal: Assessing the impacts of environmental science (food system) education on real-life choices

Abigail Lambert, Dartmouth College

Mentor: Fanuel Muindi

Proposal: Increased communication between indigenous experts and western scientists using a co-productive approach to research

Jacob Tabs, Washington University in St. Louis

Mentor: Matt Wilkins

Proposal: Evaluating active children’s nutrition education strategies to foster a stronger parent-child-community partnership and affect change in nutrition education accessibility

Class of 2020

Morgan Sweeney

Mentor: Jessica W. Tsai

I am a recent graduate of McGill University with a B.A.& Sc. in Cognitive Science. My passion for creative forms of science communication propelled me to create a podcast that communicates science through fantasy stories.

In my spare time, I love to teach yoga and explore new places. I recently relocated to Chicago, IL, where I work as a freelance writer & science communicator.

Project: How Impact is Assessed by Science Podcasts

Reilly Mach

Mentor: Fanuel Muindi

I am an undergraduate student at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota and I live in Fargo, North Dakota. I will be entering my junior year this fall, and I am pursuing majors in neuroscience and psychology and minors in chemistry and Greek and Roman Studies. My research interest stems from my experience at my home institution studying the effect of social isolation on zebrafish treated with valproic acid as a model of autism spectrum disorder.

In my free time I love watching and playing sports (specifically Kansas Jayhawks basketball!), spending time with friends and family, and reading a good book.

got questions?

Email us: programs@saicollective.org