John Glenn College of Public Affairs
Ohio Education Research Center

Public Sector Data Science Internship Program Applications Open!

The Ohio Education Research Center (OERC) is currently accepting Ohio State student applicants for our paid summer Public Sector Data Science Internship Program. The program is designed for Ohio State students interested in exploring careers in policy research and evaluation using data-based methods to investigate policy problems.

Applications are due by March 1, 2024. Apply here.

Program specifics:

In-Agency Internship

Students will be assigned to an agency research office for the summer (mid-May to the end of July). Working with an agency partner, they will perform basic and applied research on policy-relevant topics using various software such as R, Tableau, and Python. Agencies might include the Ohio departments of Education and Workforce, Higher Education, or Job and Family Services, among others.

Weekly Seminar

During the agency internship, students will participate in a weekly seminar with Glenn College/CHRR and OERC staff and faculty. These weekly seminar sessions will serve as a “learning lab” where students can get help from staff on ongoing issues that arise in the internship site and hear from various guest speakers working in the data science field.

Research Presentation

Students in the internship will be expected to present their research at the end of the summer to an audience of the OERC's agency partners and at the Autumn Undergraduate Research Festival.

Eligibility

This program is designed for students from a relevant discipline that includes both social science research methods and some basic computer programming skills.

The selection committee will examine transcripts, prior work and research experience, and look for a combination of the following:

  • Courses/skills in education policy, policy evaluation, statistics, and economics
  • Experience with statistical programming (STATA, R, etc.)
  • Experience with other software, such as ArcGIS, QGIS, Tableau, Python, etc.

Preference will be given to Glenn College students who have taken at least Public Policy Analysis, Public Policy Evaluation, econometrics and statistics classes.

Applications are due by March 1, 2024. Apply here.

For more information contact Josh Hawley, Faculty Director or Ceanna Burnheimer, Research Associate.