START Fall internships, application deadline July 14th

START is currently recruiting for its Fall internship program, and looking for interns with a wide array of skills and majors. Students from any institution may apply - current and recently graduated undergraduates and graduates will be considered. In addition to the experience gained during their internship, interns will also receive mentoring, training and be able to participate in a calendar or professional development activities. START is also willing to work with academic institutions to enable their students to undertake internships for credit. START internships are unpaid and students must be able to undertake their work hours at the University of Maryland College Park. The Fall internships start on August 29^th and end on December 13^th.

Below is a short summary of the opportunities available. Please visit the START website for more information and to access the application form. http://www.start.umd.edu/start/education/research_support/internships/ .

Global Terrorism Database (GTD)

 The GTD is an open source, unclassified database including information on terrorist attacks around the world since 1970 (currently updated through 2011). The database is maintained by researchers at START. The GTD includes systematic data on domestic as well as international terrorist incidents that have occurred during this time period and now includes over 104,000 cases. The GTD intern team is organized into the following themes:

· GTD: Incident Location and Geographic Identification

· GTD: Perpetrator Identification

· GTD: Target Classification

· GTD: Understanding the Patterns and Use of Weapons and Tactics

· GTD: The Consequences of Terrorism – Casualties and Outcome

· GTD: Coding Intern At Large (Generalist)

Special Projects

The Special Projects Division consists of a number of intensive, shorter-term research projects concentrated on three research topics within the larger study of terrorism and politically violent non-state actors:

- Unconventional Weapons and Technology

- Extremist Origins and Trajectories

- Threat Management and Influence

Based on the fluctuations in the tasking within Special Projects, selected interns will work on projects within a single focus area. All Special Projects interns are given the opportunity to participate in the Red Team Project. Intern positions are available in the following focus areas:

· Special Projects: Advanced Research

· Special Projects: Pinch Hitter

· Special Projects: CBRN Terrorism Research

· Special Projects: Nuclear Security and Smuggling

· Special Projects: Open Source Intelligence -- Organized Crime and R/N Trafficking in Europe, North Africa and West Africa

· Special Projects: Individual Radicalization

· Special Projects: Terrorist Ideology

· Special Projects: GIS Analytical

· Special Projects: CBRN Non-State Adversaries

Naval Research Laboratory Adversarial Modeling and Exploitation Office

Four internships are available with AMX onsite at their offices in Washington DC. The AMX has a number of ongoing research projects related to counter-terrorism, behavior detection, law enforcement, crime analysis, and geospatial analysis. The use of information by law enforcement, often called data driven policing, is an ever evolving and expanding field Please note these internships take place onsite at the NRL in Washington DC.

•    Behavioral Indicators of Gun and Drug Carrying

•    Crime and Intelligence Analysis Systems

•    System Engineering Analysis & Support

•    Statistical Analysis & Modeling Support

For those particularly interested the NRL opportunities, we recommend attending our Monday July 8^th Career Profile Session with Dr. Nate Meehan from the NRL. The session starts at 3:30pm and will take place at START offices on Baltimore Avenue.

Communications and Research Transition Support

START communications and transition team are seeking interns to assist with communications, writing, copy editing and graphic design activities at the center.

Positions available:

· Communications Interns

· Copy Editors

· Graphic Designer

Dataverse

START is continuing to develop the Terrorism Data Archive Dataverse. Interns for this project will learn about terrorism-related data through archiving datasets and reading over documentation. Interns will serve as Assistant Editors and would be responsible for preparing data for archiving onto the START Dataverse. Depending upon the dataset, there will also be opportunities to create Codebooks and add labels and values to the data. Interns will receive training in the archiving process.

Terrorism Propaganda research Project

The nature of the project is analysis of several hundred transcripts of terrorist propaganda videos produced by Al Qaeda and Al Qaeda affiliate groups. One aspect of the project will be somewhat descriptive in that we hope to learn: 1) what the message of the video transcript is (e.g. to defend the prophet, to prevent future grievances, to promote jihad, etc.) as well as 2) how the message is conveyed including the type of persuasive attempt used (rational vs. emotional) and 3) who the target audience is. The coding manual taps into each of these contents. The next step of the project, which will occur after all of the transcripts are coded, will examine 4) if the target audience, the message, or the frequency of these tapes have a discernible pattern, and 5) if these patterns change over time. The final aspect of this project includes analyzing the rhetoric and persuasion techniques used in the transcripts and testing the same messages, both in the US and abroad.

START/State Department Terrorist Organizations Project Internship

Students will gather and analyze statistics on terrorist organizations over time. Projects will include collecting the number and type of attacks over time, looking at trends, and possibly even modeling group capacity out into the future. Interns will also provide assistance in researching open source information on the leadership of some groups for possible future designations.

Interns will be co-supervised by researchers at the University of Maryland and by project leads at the State Department. The State Department leads will set and give feedback on tasks. Interns will be based at START’s offices on the University of Maryland campus.

Why choose an internship at START?

·   Experience working with a large team of dynamic and experienced researchers on a large multi-year project.

 ·   Hone and develop a range of transferable skills.

 ·   Opportunity to work with and meet other students and researchers with similar interests.

 ·   Enrichment activities offering wide opportunities for learning and personal growth, schedule includes simulations, career presentations and research talks.

 ·   Internships can be undertaken for academic credit. 

General requirements

Applicants for all internships must:

 • Have a good academic record.

 • Demonstrate an interest in the subject matter.

 • Complete and submit an application by the deadline.

 • Agree to attend orientation and training.

Projects may have specific requirements.

How to apply

Application Deadline Fall 2013:

Final Deadline Sunday July 14 (START is currently accepting applications for ALL internships listed).

Applicants must submit an application form and supporting documentation via email to education@start.umd.edu.

For more information about the projects, requirements and for the application forms visit: http://www.start.umd.edu/start/education/research_support/internships/