START Internships Available

The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) is looking for interns with a wide array of skills and majors  (including but not limited to: Criminology, Communications, Government, International Relations, Public Policy, History, GIS, Geography, Economics, English, Mathematics, Psychology, Languages and Statistics). Students from any institution may apply and we will consider current and recently graduated undergraduates, graduate students, and PhD candidates. In addition to the experience gained during their internship, interns will also receive mentoring, training and the opportunity to participate in many professional development activities. START is very willing to work with academic institutions to enable students to undertake our internships for credit. Our internships are unpaid and students must be able to undertake their work hours on location at START Headquarters at the University of Maryland College Park.

 

The deadline to apply is April 3, 2016. Please visit our website for more information and to access the application form: http://www.start.umd.edu/careers/internships

 

 

Below is a sampling of available opportunities.

 

Global Terrorism Database (GTD)

The GTD is an open source, unclassified database including information on terrorist attacks around the world since 1970. The database is maintained by START researchers. The GTD includes systematic data on domestic as well as international terrorist incidents and now includes over 125,000 cases. The GTD intern team is organized into the following themes:

• GTD: Incident Location and Geographic Identification (GEOINT)
• 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)

Unconventional Weapons and Technology

The Unconventional Weapons and Technology Division consists of a number of intensive, shorter-term research projects concentrated on research topics within the larger study of terrorism and politically violent non-state actors. Intern positions are available in the following focus areas:

• Advanced Research Internship (ARI)
• Aviation Insider Threat Research
• Behavioral Indicators of Insider Threats
• Project Leviathan
• Project Prometheus
• Terrorist Ideology Project

Risk Communications and Community Resilience

Government, non-profits, and other organizations rely on public communication to deliver important messages to various audiences. Professional communicators today use social scientific research to improve this process, and START’s research teams have several current and upcoming communication projects that address current research questions. Risk communication is important for delivering messages about impending storms, terrorist attacks, public health crises, and more. Interns working on this team will support several ongoing research projects as well as new projects.

 

Geographical Information Systems (GIS)

Interns will contribute to the construction of a global, multimodal transportation network.  Tasks will include analysis and aggregation of large-scale datasets, database triangulation, manual vector editing, extensive open-source research into traditional and illicit transportation methods, digital cartography/mapmaking, and translation of START’s qualitative research into geospatial format.  Interest/experience in global security and/or terrorism is beneficial.

 

Communications

START’s Communications team is seeking interns to assist with START’s communication activities and products. Intern responsibilities vary but may include: Writing and editing press releases and featured stories, planning and attending events, creating media kits, developing and tracking media lists and monitoring social media.

 

Understanding Domestic Radicalization

This internship is part of the Profiles of Individual Radicalization in the United States (PIRUS) project, a three-year project which seeks to establish an empirical basis to investigate the underlying mechanisms and processes for individual radicalization in the United States. Previous intern teams researched information on radicalized individuals and entered it into a dataset; wrote case studies on radicalized individuals; performed quality-control checks on the dataset; performed structured qualitative analysis; and assisted project staff in conducting analysis on the quantitative data.

 

Developing Technology in Explosive Detection Dogs

Interns for this project will assist in developing deployment strategies with explosive detection dogs while utilizing new technology in the field.  Interns will be working closely with four K9 dogs and their handlers while training and being deployed for Person Borne Improvised Explosive Device Detection.  Interns must have a flexible schedule and ability to be around dogs.  Interns will be required to pass a brief background check.

 

START/State Department Terrorist Organizations Project

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.

 

Government Actions in Terror Environments (GATE)

Recent research suggests that governments have a vast set of policy tools at their disposal vis-à-vis terrorist groups, and that pure reliance on repressive policies can be counterproductive. While policymakers increasingly recognize the importance of non-military counterterrorism tools in addition to military ones, it is not yet known which type of government actions are effective; and when carrots might be more effective than sticks in defeating terrorist groups. This is a unique opportunity to better understand the terrorist conflict in the US and across specific regions of the world and to get a unique view of how governments deal with those conflicts.

 

Why choose an internship at START?

• Experience working with a large team of dynamic and experienced researchers.
• Exposure to cutting edge theories and methods.
• Deepen your understanding of current issues in terrorism and homeland security.
• Work on projects of immediate interest to the practitioner and policy community.
• Hone and develop a range of transferable skills attractive to future employers.
• Opportunity to work with and meet other students and researchers with similar interests.
• Enrichment activities offering wide opportunities for learning and professional development.
• Mentorship from START staff and researchers in a successful workplace environment.
• Internships can be undertaken for academic credit (depending on approval from your institution and department).

 

General requirements

• Applicants for all internships must:
• Have a good academic record.
• Demonstrate an interest in the subject matter.
• Be able to complete their internship work hours on site at START.
• Agree to attend orientation and training.
• Submit an application by the deadline, all application packets must include:

o   A complete application form

o   One page resume

o   Cover letter

o   Writing sample

o   Unofficial transcripts from most recent institution

Each project may have additional requirements, including minimum credit hours, citizenship, preferred majors, and compulsory meeting times.