Inside IES Research

Notes from NCER & NCSER

An Intern's Perspective on the National Center for Education Research

By Brittney Fraumeni, NCER Intern

Photo of Brittney Fraumeni

 

Each year, the Institute of Education Sciences’ two research centers offer unpaid internships for undergraduate or graduate students interested in learning about the research grant making process and contributing to the work of the centers.  Internships are coordinated through the U.S. Department of Education’s student volunteer office and are available throughout the year.  For application information, please see the ED Student Volunteer Unpaid Internship Program.  

This summer Brittney Fraumeni, a doctoral student in Psychological Science at DePaul University interned with the National Center for Education Research (NCER). At the end of her internship, Brittney reflected on her summer with NCER. 

What brought you to the internship?

As I headed in to the final months of my third year of graduate school, I began to really question what I wanted to do with my degree when I was finished. My PhD program emphasizes training for an academic position, but I had doubts about whether or not that was the best fit for me. So when the opportunity to be a summer intern at NCER presented itself, I seized it, hoping for a learning experience that would help shape my view of my future career.

How did you hear about the internship?

I briefly worked as a freelance researcher on a US Department of Education grant, which was the first time it occurred to me that the government had a research department. I easily found the IES website, and after some exploring on the site, discovered that they had internships available. I applied ASAP.

Why did you want to do the internship?

I really wanted an opportunity to see what a non-academic position could be like. As I mentioned, most of my graduate training has revolved around obtaining an academia related career, and so I had no idea what else was out there.

What were your days like at the internship?

The internship schedule was really flexible, and I was allowed to choose my own days and hours. Additionally, I was in charge of my own time management throughout the day. At the beginning of my six week stay, the main projects I was going to be working on were given to me, meaning that everyday I came in to the office after that, I mostly knew what I would be working on. I had three big projects to work on, so I usually just circulated through tasks for those, and every once in awhile a small project would head my way that I would add to my schedule.

What was beneficial about the internship?

The internship really helped confirm what I was already thinking at the beginning of the summer: I’d like to get a job in a non-academic field upon completing my doctorate. But, more than that, the internship gave me the chance to work with like-minded individuals who were open to letting me pick their brain and providing contact information with people in the education research field. Overall, it was a great learning and networking opportunity.

What did you learn from the internship?

More than just learning more about education research, I learned new skills. Before the internship, I only knew of social media from a personal standpoint. But, as more companies branch out to different social media outlets to promote their work, it’s important to know how to have a professional and effective social media presence. Working on the social media team at IES really boosted my social media skills.

What did you learn about IES/ED from doing the internship?

Before applying for the internship, I thought ED was really only a department focused on policy; I wasn’t even aware that the department was involved in research! However, through actually working here, I learned that not only is there a research department, there are so many more departments than I even could have imagined. IES itself is broken down in to multiple branches that all have different focuses on research elements. By working with the people here and having the opportunity to sit in on different meetings, I was able to learn what each department does and the special role they each play in promoting education research. Furthermore, I learned that not everybody took the same path to get here; IES is made up of employees with all different backgrounds, which makes for a fun and diverse environment to work in.

How did the internship reshape your thinking about education research?

I used to think education research was a relatively small area. Now, after having hands on experience with writing up award summaries, I know that there are many people interested in education research and pursuing it. It never occurred to me how many different companies (not just schools!) had an interest in developing interventions for education purposes. It is so inspiring to now know just how many people out there are trying to promote the best outcomes for students, from pre-k to college.


Questions? Comments? Please send them to IESResearch@ed.gov. 

Comments are closed