RTI: Intern-Bridge Beyond Carolina Program Internship-SSES Health – Durham

What You’ll Do

This internship will allow the student to collaborate on federally funded research related to mental health promotion and the prevention of adverse outcomes such as violence, suicide, and alcohol/substance use among U.S. adults, with an emphasis on military and veteran populations.

The intern will be a fundamental and contributing colleague on the project team. The internship will be hybrid, as RTI project staff and colleagues are either full-time teleworkers or hybrid workers, with an expectation that the student will spend approximately half of their time on site at RTI International’s headquarters at Research Triangle Park, NC (to be coordinated with the intern’s supervisor).

This internship offers a unique experience that does not duplicate the graduate student intern’s previous research and clinical training. The intern’s previous research experiences have exclusively been housed within academic psychology departments and university-affiliated medical centers. These research experiences have predominantly involved children, adolescents, and their parents. In contrast, this internship promotes engagement with military and veteran populations within a professional research setting (i.e., nonprofit research institute). Participation in this internship experience will expand on previous graduate training, rather than replicate, prior experiences.

Alignment with career goals:

Participation in this internship will provide the graduate student intern a unique opportunity to gain direct experience contributing to multidisciplinary research in a matrix organization and, through this process, assess personal fit in a research career beyond academia. This internship aligns with the graduate student’s long-term career goals by offering early exposure to community-level and policy-oriented research. This experience provides a valuable opportunity to explore non-academic scientist career paths and identify the specific skills and professional competencies necessary to successfully translate skills developed through ongoing doctoral training. This internship will also facilitate key opportunities for networking and relationship-building with RTI researchers and external collaborator.

What You’ll Need

Internship Key Tasks/Activities:

• Conducting literature reviews and summaries
• Supporting the development and refinement of data collection instruments and approaches (e.g., surveys, notification messages to prompt participant response)
• Participating in data collection and analysis, including cleaning and coding of data (pending IRB approval to access participant data)
• Assisting with the completion of project materials and supporting any follow-up
• Contributing to written deliverables and reviewing work products for accuracy and completion
• Documenting team and client meeting highlights and facilitating next steps internally to ensure the project activities and tasks are completed in a timely manner
• Ensuring consistent and clearly written and verbal communication between team members and other collaborators
• Attending skill-building and other professional development webinars and other learning opportunities hosted by the Institute, pending interest and availability
• Documenting time spent on internship activities in a manner reflective of RTI’s total time accounting practices followed by RTI staff

 

Anticipated Internship Deliverables and Outcomes: The graduate student intern will participate in several core project activities, including collaborating with RTI colleagues with expertise in epidemiology, public health, psychology, and quantitative and qualitative research; contributing to project management (e.g., developing and monitoring adherence to standard operating procedures); supporting project quality control and assurance; preparing project deliverables and manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals; engaging in dissemination strategies; and participating in RTI team meetings.

 

Learning Objectives:

• Developing writing skills for non-research audiences such as policy makers, practitioners, and community members
• Growing professional network with RTI and external collaborators
• Understanding grant and contract management responsibilities.

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: No requirements