Summer Intern 2004 Profile

As BHI strives toward its vision of being a "world-renowned learning and research center," the effort begins by leveraging and growing the strength of our internship program. Now in its fifth year, BHI's internship program boasts a competitive application process and a growing community of successful alumni.

Each semester and during the summer BHI welcomes qualified college students to intern at our office. We require a minimum time commitment and ensure that our interns spend at least 75% of their internship on substantive project work. Previous interns have participated in important BHI projects including: Medicaid spending research; State Competitiveness Report data gathering; State Tax Analysis Modeling Program (STAMP) data collection and analysis; and contributing to our quarterly newsletter, NewsLink.

Last summer we took our internship program to a new level by providing the interns with a day-long seminar focused on how BHI puts economic policy into practice. This "Intern Day" was an opportunity for the interns to learn first-hand from BHI staff, researchers and experts why and how we undertake our research and work to communicate the results to impact public policy across the country.

Below is a profile from one of our six summer 2004 interns

 

Kate Allen, University of Pennsylvania, Class of 2004 "I really enjoyed the Intern Day, which involved lectures and talks by BHI staff about their projects and interests. It was far more interesting than a day of lectures at college; there were a variety of different subjects covered, the material was fresh and personal (not like lectures from a textbook), and the speakers were candid and knowledgeable. The BHI staff gave us insights and advice about pursuing careers in public policy research. And because I see the staff everyday in the office, I found time to discuss the lectures with some of them. When I expressed interest in his favorite economist, Dr. Tuerck gave me a reprint of an academic paper he wrote and asked for my honest appraisal of his lecture. I have found that despite his busy schedule, he always has time to talk and debate with the interns. What surprised me most was the level of publicity BHI was getting for its studies. BHI was mentioned in articles in the Boston Herald, The Boston Globe, The New York Times, Financial Times, Newsweek and USA Today for its study on the effects of the DNC on the Boston economy. Each day, in the streets and on the subway, I would hear people commenting about the DNC's projected effects on the economy. It's exciting to be doing research on a topic that everyone is talking about and that even has a national audience."