Backed by the knowledge they gained in WWS 501: Politics of Public Policy, 65 Master in Public Affairs (MPA) candidates for the Class of 2019 departed the Woodrow Wilson School in June to undertake summer internships where they investigated human rights and artificial intelligence, self-driving car policies, investment strategies in pharmaceuticals and more.
The approved summer internship, which is a hallmark degree requirement of the MPA program, occurs between the first and second years of the program. Summer internships provide students with opportunities to apply the concepts and theories learned in the classroom to the development of real-world policy in a professional setting. While 40 students completed their internships in destinations across the U.S., 25 pursued international internships in 19 destinations, including: Zambia, Vietnam, U.K., Turkey, Thailand, Switzerland, Senegal, Mexico, Liberia, Laos, India, Honduras, Ghana, France, Cote d’Ivoire, Burma, Austria, and Armenia.
In addition to internships with the Gates Foundation, Cruise Automation, Omidyar Network, Dalberg Advisors, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), 100 Resilient Cities, the Kellogg Foundation, and the World Economic Forum, the Woodrow Wilson School provided 45 MPA students with generous funding to pursue unpaid internships with 41 organizations around the world, including: the African Development Bank, Dalberg Advisors, USAID, OECD, IDinsight, United Nations, Ecotrust, Overcoming Racism, Seattle Department of Transportation, California Department of Finance, U.S. Department of the Treasury, Congressional Research Center, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Here, several MPA ’19 candidates answer questions about their summer internships.
Lindsey Andersen MPA ’19
Hometown: Omaha, Nebraska
Internship: Access Now
June 11 - August 30, 2018
What was the highlight of your summer internship? I wrote a report on human rights and artificial intelligence (two fields I love) to help answer some important questions in an increasingly scary world. It's cool to produce something that can help lead to some action.
What was your biggest challenge? Being an intern again in Washington, D.C., a city where I previously worked and lived.
What was your biggest surprise? Dogs in my office! The best surprise ever!
Somya Bajaj MPA ’19
Hometown: Kolkata, India
Internship: African Development Bank
July 2 – Sept. 7, 2018
What was the highlight of your summer internship? Difficult to choose, but I’d like to point out two. One, working with country governments and the African Union to develop an investment strategy in pharmaceuticals for the African Development Bank. Aligning goals of different organizations, keeping the policy and returns of the Bank in mind, and framing the message for maximum acceptance has been a rewarding challenge. I was finally able to get my proposal accepted for a $100-million technical assistance project in six countries. Second has been working with women groups, religious groups, and border officials to ease non-tariff barriers in the continent through designing a project, “50 million Women Speak,” that aims to empower and link women self-help groups and entrepreneurs across countries using technology.
What was your biggest challenge? Speaking French and creating a niche in a completely unfamiliar environment. I came into Abidjan with two weeks of French class, but the different Ivorian French vocabulary makes speaking and understanding more difficult. But it has been so pleasant to be accepted by people, especially vegetable/fruit vendors and cab drivers who actually attempt to explain and understand through charades and lots of patience. However, I have been treated as a “white” individual here and that brings in interesting dynamics, both pleasant and not. The high inequality, diversity, and marginalization in the once volatile region has been an eye-opening experience about culture.
What was your biggest surprise? The beauty of the country and travelling around. I have been exploring the country, using public transport, hiking with locals, teaching English to children, and learning to drive boats around the islands in the country. The experience has debunked so many myths that people hold about West Africa. Through these experiences I now have a group of amazing friends with diverse (from seven African countries and villages), rich (and painful), real experiences that have helped me grow as an individual and improve my cooking skills with their delights! I have been a volunteer and consultant to a group that saves children from being trafficked, organizes drives to clean the beaches, and lobbies for stronger implementation of a plastic ban.
Anything you forgot to pack? Swimsuit! Big mistake, but I realized it’s much cheaper here.
Remmert Dekker MPA ’19
Hometown: Montara, California
Internship: Cruise Automation
June 4 - August 17, 2018
What was the highlight of your summer internship? Riding in a self-driving car!
What was your biggest challenge? Tackling some of the biggest problems in self-driving car policy — safety, cybersecurity, city infrastructure choices, accessibility and the environment — in very succinct policy memos (thanks, 501!).
What was your biggest surprise? This is such a new space that no one really knows what they're doing.
Anything you forgot to pack? Not enough tech-bro hoodies
Varsha Gandikota-Nellutla MPA ’19
Hometown: Hyderabad, Telangana, India
Internship: United Nations Population Fund
June - August 2018
What was the highlight of your summer internship? How I changed my mind about the role of faith leaders in the field of sexual and reproductive rights as a result of working on a paper on faith-based organizations (FBOs)
What was your biggest challenge? As an organization that is deeply invested in developmental projects that hope to provide women across the world with greater access to their bodies, the investigation of the consequences of the contradictions between the increasing need for transnational mobility on the one hand, and the requirements of national assertions of the rule of law on the other. For instance, I struggled to speak of families and women in the same breath – it moved my work toward the ways in which women’s bodies are controlled, in projects of nation-building, but also how these bodies, through their own movements and transgressions, provide alternative logics for thinking about the fundamental incongruences between understandings of the nation state, sovereignty, and the rule of law.
What was your biggest surprise? Transitioning from an activist and academic background to working with a mammoth organization like the UN – it was important for me to witness the constraints that even an organization like the UN operates under. What was initially a fairly critical perspective was softened by the realities of the individual players – I had the opportunity to work with some of the brightest minds who were constantly questioning established ways of working from within.
Zack Zappone MPA ’19
Hometown: Spokane, Washington
Internship: Seattle Department of Transportation
June – August 2018
What was the highlight of your summer internship? Getting the chance to get out of the office every couple of days to do lots of site visits, including a tour of a drawbridge, cycling along bike routes in Seattle, and helping with public art installations. I also got a really great caricature of me driving a city bus.
What was your biggest challenge? The biggest challenge was coordinating across multiple departments and divisions to learn the scope of a project.
What was your biggest surprise?
Each side of the drawbridge weighed a million pounds with a million-pound counterweight, and it only takes a 100-horsepower engine to move it all (which is less than my car) in about four minutes total. Also, the cost for everything in transportation is incredibly expensive. Painting a crosswalk is about $1,000, and one curb ramp at a crossing is about $20,000!
Anything you forgot to pack? A helmet and a kayak