Purposes and Goals of the JPSM Junior Fellow Internship Program

As the United States moves closer and closer to a full information society, there are enormous career opportunities for those who have the knowledge and skills to design, collect, and analyze large scale data bases.  All that the country knows about its population growth and migration, its health, criminal victimization, traffic patterns, educational performance, labor and job markets, prices of daily goods, agricultural production, air and water quality, and income distributions is based on sample surveys and censuses, as well as administrative data systems. 

Staff who create and control these information systems literally determine what the country knows about itself.  Their work leads to information that moves billions of dollars in the stock market, shapes public opinion about what challenges are faced by the country, and determines what issues state and Federal governments tackle.  In addition, the staff of Federal statistical agencies have the assurance that their work is of public service.  Their efforts help serve the country and the people of the United States, supplying the information that an informed electorate uses to shape its future. 

The knowledge they need is not found in a single academic discipline, but rather a mix of substantive fields, including statistics, sociology, economics, epidemiology, and psychology.  The work involves the use of statistics, to guide the design of data collection efforts and ways to summarize the information obtained; psychology, to construct survey questions so that they are comprehended as intended for the information system; and computer science, to aid in the collection, processing, and analysis of data. 

Because the field is a mix of various traditional disciplines undergraduates rarely learn about this career path.  The JPSM junior fellow program is a chance to learn about the career opportunity at a time when you can still shape your undergraduate curriculum.
 

A Highly Competitive Program for a Select Few

The JPSM junior fellow program is a cooperative venture of the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy and the Joint Program in Survey Methodology.  The Joint Program in Survey Methodology is funded primarily by the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy to provide graduate educational programs for the next generation of technical staff in the Federal Statistical System.  Its graduate faculty devote their teaching careers to teaching the multidisciplinary tools that are needed for large scale surveys and censuses. 

This is a unique internship experience that gives you a paid research assistantship, plus educational benefits that can expand your horizons of what you can do in your career.
The Work Experience

During the day you will work as an intern in one of the Federal statistical agencies below: 
  

  
You'll work with staff whose job it is to report to the nation about its health and welfare.  You'll watch how they do it and you'll learn about what's needed to devise modern complex information systems.
 

The Educational Experience

The JPSM will mount a junior fellow seminar during the summer months.  It will provide you an introduction to how large scale surveys are designed, collected, and analyzed.  You'll have contact with graduate faculty who direct the programs of the Joint Program as well as be enrolled in mini-courses about key components of complex surveys.  In addition, you'll have contact with key technical leaders of the Federal statistical system, to provide you a sense of what work goes on in various agencies of the system.  Finally, you'll participate in discussions about which undergraduate courses offer strong preparation for a career in the field and for graduate programs.
 

Do you have the "Right Stuff"?

The JPSM junior fellow internship is not for everyone.  As you think about applying, answer the following questions:   

    • Do you like to learn things about current trends in what people are thinking, what problems they face, how employers grow over time, how retail sales vary over time, and a host of other topics?
    • Are you good in math?  Do you like to play with numbers as a way of learning about the world?
    • Do you have a strong academic record so far in college?
    • Would you like to learn more about a career in survey methodology and large social and economic information systems?

If you've answered "yes" to these questions, then the internship may be for you!
 

Application Requirements

Applicants must:

     1. Have assembled sufficient college credits to have completed your sophomore or junior year as of June (or the end of the last term of the academic year).  Students completing their undergraduate degree on or before June are ineligible for this internship program. 

     2. Have achieved a GPA of at least 3.5 on a 4 point system.  

     3. Submit an academic transcript

     4. Complete a 500 word essay on why you want to be a JPSM junior fellow. 

     5. Provide grades on mathematics, statistics, or other quantitative courses in your college curriculum. 

     6. Obtain a recommendation from one faculty member. Send all recommendations to jpsm@survey.umd.edu.

     7. Be a U.S. citizen

All applications must be submitted on the web.  The web application will be available starting on September 2.  Applications must be submitted by November 14, 5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time.
 

Selection Process

A national selection board, consisting of JPSM faculty, undergraduate faculty from colleges and universities across the country, and staff from Federal statistical agencies will review applications and make selections of the junior fellows.  Announcement of the selected fellows will be made by April 1.
 

Salary Information

Students will be paid at the equivalent of a GS-2 to GS-3 ($19,100-$21,374 per annum) this equates to approximately $3,700 to $4,100 for the summer.
 

Housing

Double rooms in dormitories at the George Washington University will be provided at no cost to the Junior Fellows from May 27 to August 11. Members of the JPSM Fellows group will be housed together in suites with kitchens.
 

Transportation

Employment will be at one of several Federal agencies. Students can bring cars, or rely on the Washington D.C. metro system. 

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