Unique Internships and Paid Employment
Overview
The Cooper Center offers its own internships directly through the Center or through UVA’s Internship Placement Program to provide undergraduate students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in public service work. Whether working in one of our research units, our leadership development programs, or our media group, students will become integral members of the team and gain practical skills they can apply to their studies and future careers. Occasionally, units within the Cooper Center are able to offer paid positions to undergraduate students. This is especially true in the Center for Survey Research.
Internship/Employment Details
- The structure of the internship or employment will be determined by the Cooper Center unit that supervises the student.
- In the past, students have contributed to the Center in the following ways:
- Assisted demographers with research on population data projects, co-authored blog posts, and attended client meetings.
- Helped to produce Cooper Center official podcast series, videos to help illuminate the work of the Center, and animations for use on websites and in presentations.
- Joined the Center's Energy Transition Initiative team, contributing to the work on solar energy through research and report writing, creating visualizations for an energy dashboard, and simulating ways to supply Virginia's electricity with renewables.
- Contributed to survey research by working on client projects, serving as a telephone interviewer, analyzing statistical data, and assisting with methods reports.
Apply
To apply, visit the Internship Placement Program website or if you are interested in working within a particular unit in the Cooper Center, contact the director/manager of that unit:
- Qian Cai, Demographics Research Group, qian.cai@virginia.edu
- Bill Shobe, Center for Economic & Policy Studies, shobe@virginia.edu
- Kara Fitzgibbon, Center for Survey Research, karaf@virginia.edu
- Claire Downey, Media Team, clairedowney@virginia.edu