BU URBAN Internship Course
BI/EE/EH 795: Urban Biogeoscience and Environmental Health: From Research to Policy
Summer 2021 meetings: Wednesdays, 2:00pm to 3:15pm over Zoom
Course description
This course prepares graduate students to address urban environmental challenges through hands-on training in a semester-long internship with the government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and/or the private sector to learn how cities are tackling urban environmental challenges, including but not limited to mitigation and adaptation to climate change, protecting vulnerable populations from air pollution, and issues related to water quality and quantity.
The course consists of 7 required sessions, described in detail below.
Session One: Orientation
June 2, 2021
- Share internship status/progress
- Review Syllabus and adjust dates as needed
- Identify interested partners/stakeholders
- Complete pre-internship self-assessment
- 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
- Email Evan two potential partners or stakeholders that might be interested in your internship work. 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 – perhaps to share a policy brief with them, invite to a stakeholder meeting, or call for an informational interview. Send the names (or at least the organization) to Evan.
- Explore the Bending Lines exhibit from the Levanthal Map & Education Center and find an example that relates to your internship
Session Two: The Big Picture
June 9, 2021
- Share internship progress
- Discuss the museum exhibit and papers/podcasts
- Strategize around informational interviews
- Identify 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 a previous mentor. Use google or LinkedIn. Look through Executive/Advisory Boards of organizations you work with or admire. Consider individuals from last week’s assignment (potential partners/stakeholders)
- Define your ask. Career pathway? Broader impacts? Skill cultivation?
- Read this and this
- Assignment for next session:
- Identify targets for your three informational interviews and email the names to Evan
- Find an example of a policy brief online written by a researcher
- Review the Policy Brief Toolkit from IRDC
Session Three: Policy Briefs
June 23, 2021
- Share internship progress
- Share policy brief examples
- Individual brainstorm: What do you want to achieve with your brief?
- Who should know what you’re doing and why?
- Discussion
- Time for independent work
- Assignment for next session:
- Review resource on the elevator pitch and complete all six steps (come ready to share)
- Draft informational interview outreach email
Session Four: Elevator Pitches
July 7, 2021
- Share internship progress
- Share elevator pitches
- Improv activity!
- Discuss internship deliverables
- Assignment for next session:
- Contact your three informational interview targets
Sessions Five & Six: Stakeholder Presentations & Peer Review
July 14 and 28, 2021 (asynchronous)
- Review this explainer on Policy Presentations from the MIT Policy Lab (thanks Beth for the find!)
- We’ll revisit this when we do practice presentations for the Intro Workshop
- Share over email (briefly and weekly, on Wednesdays, in response to Evan’s automated email):
- Internship progress/updates
- Informational Interviews progress/updates
- Individual mid-point check-in’s with Evan
- Yasmin – complete
- Sarah – complete
- Beth – plan for September
- Assignments:
- By July 28, decide on your internship product/deliverable (something that can be made publicly available) and email a draft version to your peer reviewer
- Sarah to Beth | Beth to Yasmin | Yasmin to Sarah
- In reality, each of you will have a unique timeline for when you have a draft product ready. The goal is that eventually, each of you gets peer feedback, even if it isn’t until October. Please communicate with your peer reviewer about a feedback timeline that works for your internship. If you are able to follow the July 28 timeline, that’s great, but not necessary.
- Within 2 weeks (unless a shorter turnaround is requested and agreed upon), receive feedback on draft internship products/deliverables
- Prepare a 3-minute internship lightning talk for the Intro Workshop (download template here), currently scheduled for Friday, September 3, exact time TBA. We will practice the lightning talks on August 18.
- By July 28, decide on your internship product/deliverable (something that can be made publicly available) and email a draft version to your peer reviewer
Session Seven: Practice Presentations
August 18, 2021
- Share progress on internships and Informational Interviews
- Give practice talks for Intro Workshop
- Assignment for next session:
- Complete post-internship assessment
- Send Evan internship write-up for the Products page
Introductory Workshop for incoming URBAN Cohort
Friday, September 3, 2021, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm, LSE 103/COM Lawn
- Time of presentations: 9:30 am
Optional Sessions on Professional Development from Summer 2020
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:
- Ask:
- 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
- What do you stand for? What are your goals?
- 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