NEXT (Northwestern Externship Program) -- Externships in Government
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Please refer to the reply code below each externship when you are completeing your application. Click here to return to the NEXT homepage.
California
Oakland and/or Palo Alto, CA
Available: Opportunity for a student to receive an overview of environmental remediation process, issues, and technolcgy for both conventional and nuclear hazardous waste management. Externship could address environmental management from the perspective of one or all fields of consulting, engineering, and government. Host deals in the interface of all these issues. Reply Code: GOVT06
San Jose, CA
Available: Opportunity for a student to work with Mayor Reed's public information office, which manages press conferences, media relations and strategy, community outreach, and online communications in the nation's tenth largest city and the capital of America's innovation center. Called "the green mayor" by California Gov. Schwarzenegger, Reed is implementing a comprehensive Green Vision that sets ten bold goals to take Silicon Valley into the 21st century through creation of clean tech jobs and improving the environment. Student will have an opportunity to experience a communications team and elected official whose approach has resulted in being named the most accessible politician in Northern California by the press corps. Reply Code: GOVT17
West Hollywood, CA
Available: Opportunity for a student to work in local government, specifically emergency management/homeland security, public safety, fire, or law enforcement. Reply Code: GOVT08
Colorado
Fort Collins, CO
Available: Opportunity for a student to do research and development within a federal government institue, mathematical statistics, natural resources, and forestry. Reply Code: GOVT21
Illinois
Chicago, IL
Available: Opportunity for a student to see the day-to-day operations of the Chicago 2016 Bid Operations. Host works in the Paralympic Sport Section of the bid, adjacent to the sport section with Olympians & Paralympians. Many alumni work at the bid. Reply Code: GOVT27
Chicago, IL
Available: Opportunity for a student to work at the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), the 2nd largest public transit agency in the US, providing 1.5 million rides daily for Chicago residents. Students interested in public transit policy and programs, and/or public sector marketing/business development model are welcome. In addition to meeting with senior-level marketing staff, extern will have an opportunity to tour our control center, customer service call center, and interact with marketing staff. Many alumni work at CTA in various capacities; students interested in social policy, public transit, or public-sector marketing may find this of interest. Reply Code: GOVT11
Chicago, IL
Available: Opportunity for a student to work at the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), the 2nd largest public transit agency in the US, providing 1.5 million rides daily for Chicago residents. It is at the forefront of current trends in the public sector to increase public-private partnerships, establish accountability, and ensure efficiency through performance management, and ensure a customer focus. An externship with the Manager of Customer Feedback Programs will provide the opportunity to learn about several new initiatives, including our Mystery Shopper program and new web page. Reply Code: GOVT19
Chicago, IL
Opportunity for a student to work at the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), the 2nd largest public transit agency in the US, providing 1.5 million rides daily for Chicago residents. Extern will work with chief of customer communications, who manages 80 employees who work in marketing, advertising, design, customer information, and customer service. The CTA is an independent governmental agency created by state legislation. It is at the forefront of current trends in the public sector to increase public-private partnerships, establish accountability, and ensure efficiency through performance management, and ensure a customer focus. Reply Code: GOVT20
Chicago, IL
Available: Opportunity for a student to work with web software development group leader for the City of Chicago. Student will have an opportunity to learn a bit about: a) how the City of Chicago is using technology to bring "e-government" services to its constituents; b) how one software development organization in the public sector is organized and managed, and c) what the many internal and external demands on a local government technology organization are. This would be a good fit for students interested in either technology careers or in public/non-profit sector careers. Reply Code: GOVT24
Chicago, IL
Available: Opportunity for a student to learn about the nation's central bank. Student will work with Host, who is in a supervision/education role. Externship includes typical daily duties such as meetings and projects. Time will be set aside for learning about banking and the role banks play in the financial system. This externship would be of most interest to economics or finance majors. Reply Code: GOVT14
Maryland
Rockville, MD
Available: Opportunity for a student to work in transportation policy with a concentration on transit and transportation/land use planning. Most of Host's business day involves meetings and office work. Host is currently involved in the planning of two major transit projects that are competing for federal and state funding. Reply Code: GOVT10
Minnesota
St. Paul, MN
Available: Opportunity for a student to see what is it like to represent a client before a state legislature and the state's executive agencies. Student will see how private sector resources are used to solve major state problems, e.g. energy conservation. Host is responsible for the public affairs (i.e. policy development and lobbying) and economic development programs of a large state business trade association. Reply Code: GOVT26
St. Paul, MN
Available: Opportunity for a student to learn interaction skills with persons in different roles within environmental polic and planning for alternative means of controlling stormwater runoff such as rain gardens, pervious pavements, etc. Interpersonal relationships are key in doing well in environmental planning, as well as good solid knowledge of technical information and regulation. Host is a principal planner involving outreach to other professional groups who may be adverse to the agency's mission. Reply Code: GOVT15
Missouri
St. Louis, MO or Great Falls, MT
Available: Opportunity for a student to observe Flight Operations at an F-15 Fighter Wing (USAF), gain exposure to strategy/tactics, scheduling, training, quality control, and intelligence functions. Additionally, depending on time, student could view maintenance and command and control functions, or other areas of interest to them. Reply Code: GOVT16
Montana
Great Falls, MT or St. Louis, MO
Available: Opportunity for a student to observe Flight Operations at an F-15 Fighter Wing (USAF), gain exposure to strategy/tactics, scheduling, training, quality control, and intelligence functions. Additionally, depending on time, student could view maintenance and command and control functions, or other areas of interest to them. Reply Code: GOVT16
Nevada
Las Vegas, NV
Available: Opportunity for a student to work at Sandia National Laboratories, a lead laboratory for the US Department of Energy's Yucca Mountain Project, the nation's proposed repository for high-level nuclear waste including spent nuclear fuel. As such, Sandia provides scientific and engineering services to support the assessment of post-closure safety of the proposed repository. The externsship experience will be designed to provide externs an overview of the technical, scientific, political, and social challenges associated with disposal of high-level nuclear waste, as well as a snapshot of the daily activities of scientists and engineers engaged in this work. Reply Code: GOVT25
New York
New York City, NY
Available: Opportunity for a student to be exposed to a new and historic initiative from the NYC Department of Education -- the Learning Environment Survey. Launched through the Office of Accountability, which manages several citywide initiatives to evaluate the effectiveness of schools as they promote student learning, the Learning Environment Survey is an effort to provide all parents, teachers, and students in grades 6-12 in NYC public schools with the opportunity to participate in school improvement and accountability. In its third year, it is the largest domestic census survey of American school constituents ever. The results of these surveys are used to make important decisions about schools, both by principals and the central office. A typical day working on this project includes discussions on education policy, working with city data systems, and publicity and communications meetings. Reply Code: GOVT02
Rochester, NY
Available: Opportunity for a student to work with an elected executive, the supervisor of the town of Brighton, a suburb (pop. 35,000) of the city of Rochester, NY, and former primary winner for Lt. Governor of New York (1988). Good for a student with an interest in local government, state government, and statewide campaiging. A typical day would involve meetings with department heads, experts in their areas of municipal services and programs, meetings with other elected officials, and attendance at community meetings. Reply Code: GOVT13
North Carolina
Charlotte, NC
Available: Opportunity for a student to work in a virtual environment and collaborate with dozens of individuals across five time zones. This is both business and technology consulting work and varies each day. The industry focus is in public and healthcare consulting for public sector clients. Student will learn to work in a constantly changing consulting environment, where location and work environment are always different. Reply Code: GOVT05
Oregon
Vancouver, WA (included in Portland, or Metro area)
Available: Opportunity for a student to work with a judge on the trial court level, handling civil and criminal cases. Host also presides over drug court. Extern could sit with Host on the bench or with attorneys or probation officers. Externship is located approximately 8 miles north of Portland, OR. Reply Code: GOVT09
South Carolina
Columbia, SC
Available: Opportunity for a student wishing to learn about lobbying and all facets of governmental affairs for state issues. Student needs to be well-versed in basic politics -- majorityof time will be spent with politicians at the state house in South Carolina discussing, drafting, and debating legislation. Reply Code: GOVT29
Virginia
McLean, VA
Available: Opportunity for a student to see a senior-level perspective focused on improving the management of technology in the US federal government. Areas covered include strategic planning, enterprise architecture, project management, and capital planning activities. Student should be a US citizen and able to travel anywhere in the Metro Washington, DC area on the visiting day. Reply Code: GOVT28
Washington, DC
Available: Opportunity for a student to work with Host who assists members of Congress and their staff, as well as Congressional committees at each stage of the legislative process. Host works on issues related to climate change and the environment, ecosystem restoration of large watersheds (ex. the Great Lakes), the Endangered Species Act, and international conservation issues. Student can expect to attend a relevant Congressional hearing, help answer a question for Congressional staff, and possibly meet with policy experts from federal agencies or non-governmental groups on environmental issues related to the field. Reply Code: GOVT01
Available: Opportunity for a student to work with a patent examiner at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Host specifically handles fuel cell patent applications that come in from major chemical companies such as Samsung, GM, etc. Student would be exposed to the daily duties of a patent examiner. This can also be a very good opportunity for engineer or science majors that want to pursue a patent attorney career. Host can arrange for student to meet patent attorneys also. Reply Code: GOVT04
Available: Opportunity for a student to learn about federal environmental policy development and public health protection through an externship at US Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water. Department develops regulations and policies to protect the nation's drinking water supply from contamination by chemicals, pathogens, and radionuclides. Externship may be particularly interesting to someone who wants to explore what one can do with a science or engineering background and someone with an interest in environmental policy and/or public health issues. Reply Code: GOVT07
Available: Opportunity for a student to attend meetings and briefings on new education policy reports and policies. Student will also attend meetings at Host's office about how to package and market ideas with members (state education leaders) and corporate partners. Host works on how to implement change and operationalize ideas on education reform. Reply Code: GOVT12
Available: Opportunity for a student to work at the Congressional Research Service. At CRS, Host provides legislative and technical assistance to Congressional members and their staffs on healthcare issues. Next year, health reform will likely be an active area of interest for the Congress. A visiting student is likely to learn about how CRS works with the Congress and what is developing in healthcare reform. Reply Code: GOVT21
Available: Opportunity for a student to work at the U.S. Department of Education. Student will see how "No Child Left Behind" is implemented. Typical day might include gathering procurement information for the office of management and budget; working on green purchasing policy and process issues for the department; working on strategic planning benchmarking against other federal agencies for "strategic sourcing"; or working on generating small business dollars to keep costs low. Host has been with the department for 18 years as a Contract Officer primarily. Student would benefit from seeing how this field uses legal practices and business theories on a daily basis. Reply Code: GOVT18
International
Baghdad, Iraq
Available: Opportunity for a student to work with a foreign service officer at the US Embassy, Baghdad. Host's specific area of focus is human rights, but Host also deals with general political issues affecting Iraq. Obviously, this is only open to students who might already be in Iraq. Reply Code: GOVT03
Tel Aviv, Israel
Available: Opportunity for a student to experience a day as a U.S. diplomat in an area of high priority (Host works on economic aspects of the peace process in Israel). For security reasons, this externship will need to be arranged well in advance. Passport information will be required at least one week prior to the externship. More information. U.S. citizens only. Reply Code: GOVT23
