BU URBAN Internship Course

If you are a GRS student:

• In your student link, register for GRS BI/EE 795: Urban Biogeoscience and Environmental Health: From Research to Policy. Unless instructed otherwise, sign up for 2 course credits if you are devoting 6-11 hours/week in your internships, or sign up for 4 course credits if you are devoting 12 or more hours/week.

If you are an SPH student:

• If you are in the first two years of your PhD, register for SPH EH 795: Urban Biogeoscience and Environmental Health: From Research to Policy. Unless instructed otherwise, sign up for 2 course credits if you are devoting 6-11 hours/week in your internships, or sign up for 4 course credits if you are devoting 12 or more hours/week.
• If you are in the third year or later of you PhD, you will take the internship course as an independent study for 1 credit. Please complete the form linked here and email it to Jon Levy (jonlevy@bu.edu), Birgit Claus Henn (bclaus@bu.edu) and the URBAN Program Manager (urban@bu.edu). You do not have to fill out the Project Proposal section.
• If you wish to do the internship as a formal research rotation, speak with your faculty advisor and the URBAN Program Manager.

If you are unable to register for the course directly, contact your departmental administrator.

January 25, 2023

• Share internship status/progress
• Review Syllabus and adjust dates as needed
• Identify interested partners/stakeholders/experts for informational interviews.
  • Who is (or should be) interested in your internship work and interested in you as a trainee? Consider organizations, offices, or individuals that are doing (or might want to do) similar work. Try to find specific people that you could connect with, individuals you could imaging sending a policy brief, inviting to a stakeholder meeting, or calling for an informational interview. Aim for three individuals, at least one who shares aspects of your identity, one who doesn’t, and one with a PhD.
  • How? Ask your advisor, your internship host, or previous mentors. Use google or LinkedIn. Look through Executive/Advisory Boards of organizations you work with or admire.
  • Define an ask for your informational interview. Career pathways? Broader impacts? Skill cultivation during internship or beyond?
• Assignment for next session:
  • Complete pre-internship self-assessment
  • Register for the Elevator Pitch workshop (on campus)
  • Review MIT’s resource on Policy Briefs
  • Find an example of a policy brief online written by a researcher, relevant to your field or internship
  • Identify targets for your three informational interviews and email the names and affiliations to Heather

On Your Own, at some point during February 1-15, 2023

• Send an email to the class with the following:
  • Internship progress – how’s it going?
  • Attach the policy brief example you found and one thing that inspires you about it
  • Reflect and share: What could you achieve with a policy brief that resulted from your internship? Who would you share it with and why?
• Assignment for next session:
  • Explore the Bending Lines exhibit from the Levanthal Map & Education Center and find an example that relates to your internship.
  • Read or listen to one of the papers or podcasts below and be prepared to discuss.
    • 99pi (2020). “The Weather Machine.” 99% Invisible. Episode
    • FitzGerald, E (2020). “Missing the Bus.” 99% Invisible. Episode
    • Ramaswami, A., et al. (2016). “Meta-principles for developing smart, sustainable, and healthy cities.” Science, 352(6288), 940-943. pdf
    • Harman, B.P., et al. (2015). “Urban partnerships and climate adaptation: challenges and opportunities.” Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 12: 74-79. pdf
  • Read this and this about informational interviews.
• February 7, 2023, 4-5pm: Elevator Pitch: On campus option- CDWS: Networking & Perfecting Your Elevator Pitch + PCC Drop-in!  Learn about the power of networking and use it to your advantage! This workshop includes identifying professional goals, utilizing your networking plan, and creating an elevator pitch. Tap into your alumni network using BU Connects, Handshake, LinkedIn, and CareerShift. Students will learn the key components to creating a strong elevator pitch to use during career fairs and networking opportunities. After the workshop, join us for a Professional Clothing Closet Drop In! Workshop participants will be able to access the closet from 5-6 pm and will be able to select up to four items to wear during interviews, networking, career fairs, and more!
  Contact information: Angela Richard

  Location: Yawkey Center, CCD – 613B, 100 Bay State Rd, Boston, MA 02215, USA

February 15, 2023

• Share internship progress
  • Heads Together 1 (focused conversation on an issue presented by a trainee)
• Reflect on readings
  • Bending Lines Exhibit
  • Podcasts and papers
• Discuss internship products/deliverables
• Discuss peer review process and expectations
• Independent work: Drafting informational interview outreach email
• Assignment for next session (by February 22):
  • Contact your three informational interview targets. We recommend the following approach: “I’m doing an internship with [organization] on [problem you’re trying to solve] as part of my PhD program and I’m reaching to for an informational interview with you given your expertise/experience with [the topic]. I’d love to share what I’m working on and hear from you how you’ve addressed similar challenges in the past or future directions you could envision for this type of work. More broadly, I’d be interested to hear about your professional path to [role] as I’ve been considering something similar after I finish my PhD.”
  • Read this explainer on Policy Presentations from the MIT Policy Lab
  • Make progress on your internship product

February 22, 2023

If you did not attend the 02/07 Elevator Pitch workshop, please complete the PhD Progression self-paced online course on Elevator Pitches and come prepared with your elevator pitch by today’s meeting. Here‘s a link to a previous iteration of an elevator pitch workshop given by BU Professional Development & Postdoctoral Affairs (PDPA).

March 1, 2023

• Share progress on internships and informational interviews
  • Heads Together 2 & 3 (focused conversation on an issue presented by a trainee)
• Storyboarding presentations for mock stakeholders and for Intro Workshop
• Assignments:
  • Schedule your mid-point check-in meeting with Heather
  • Finish your internship product draft and send to peer reviewer (see assignments below)

March 15, 2023

• Share progress on internships and informational interviews
  • Heads Together 4 (focused conversation on an issue presented by a trainee)
• Discussion (Emma and Leila)
• Assignments:
  • Prepare a 3-minute internship lightning talk for the Intro Workshop (download template here). We will practice the lightning talks during Session Seven and you will record your talk so we can share it with incoming trainees in advance of the Intro Workshop. Your recording will ultimately be public – posted on the URBAN website and our YouTube channel. Plan accordingly. If are things you can’t share are aren’t ready to share, aim for something higher-level that still explains the problem and that you did something useful.

April 5, 2023

• Share progress on internships and informational interviews
  • Heads Together 5 (focused conversation on an issue presented by a trainee)
• Give practice talks for Intro Workshop
• Assignments due Friday, April 7 by 5pm
  • Record a video of your internship lightning talk
    • The easiest method is to start a new meeting with your personal zoom account, hit “Record on this Computer,” and send the video file to urban@bu.edu. Please set up the recording so that we can see the slides and your face while you are presenting and please watch the video first before sending it, in case you wish to make updates and re-record.
  • Complete post-internship assessment (click to access survey)
  • Complete Internship Course Write-up Assignment (click to download instructions) and email to urban@bu.edu

Introductory Workshop for incoming URBAN Cohort

Date and Location TBD

• Internship discussion with first-year trainees

Complementary Session: Developing your Online Presence, Part 1

June 16, 2020

• Share internship or research progress
• Explore your online presence and set a goal for developing it
  • Ask:
    • What is my current online presence? (Hint: Google your name in incognito mode, in quotes)
    • Reflect on the four questions here, under “Why have a web presence?”
  • Decide:
    • What are my goals for this summer? What can I do by the end of June? What can I do today?
    • Low-hanging fruit
      • Update your bio on BU URBAN website, lab website, social media, LinkedIn, ResearchGate, etc.
      • Update your email signature and include links to programs and departments
      • Google a few researchers you admire (current PhD students or recent graduates) and explore their online presence
  • Bookmark:
    • An article with some good frameworks to consider
    • You can make a personal website through BU
    • Slides from BU Research Panel on Crafting Your Online Scholarly Persona
• Work session: 25 minutes improving your online presence
• Share out and next steps

Complementary Session: Developing your Online Presence, Part 2

June 30, 2020

• Share internship or research progress
• Questions to consider
  • What do you stand for? What are your goals?
    • Choose three keywords and map it out with evidence & actions
    • Write a mission statement
      • I am a ____
      • I work towards ____
      • I believe/am committed to _____
    • Work session: 10 minutes working on your bio
  • How do you want to position yourself?
  • Who is your audience and what are the conventions?
  • Considerations
    • Focus on what makes you unique
    • Make it evergreen (“PhD student”)
    • Articulate your research paradigm
• Work session: 15 minutes working on your bio
• Share out and next steps

Complementary Session: Documenting Public Communications

July 28, 2020

• Share out: How do you currently document your public communications?
• Discuss options, make game plan
• Work session: 20 minutes working on your document
• Share out and next steps