One Day, One Internship » math

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Willy Franzen — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 15:46:13 +0000

Disappointed that you can’t wear white after Labor Day? Check out Bonobos (get $50 off your first order) and Gilt Groupe (get an invite) for some great Fall fashions that are perfect for job interviews.

I guess Labor Day isn’t such a great holiday when it’s just another day of looking for internships. And who likes the end of summer? On past Labor Days we looked at internships with the U.S. Department of Labor and Stetson, but today we’re going to talk about the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. They are “the principal fact-finding agency for the Federal Government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics.” That means that lately they’ve been the bearer of bad news, but they’re also essential to economic recovery. Without reliable statistics our policymakers can’t know what to do. Additionally, without the BLS, I wouldn’t have been able to write my Labor Economics research paper on the effect of deer hunting season on employment rates in the state of New York.

Change the Statistics

The BLS vision is pretty straightforward, and actually comes without jargon. It’s to “be premier among statistical agencies, producing impartial, timely, and accurate data relevant to the needs of our users and to the social and economic conditions of our Nation, its workers, and their families.” The BLS.gov is an amazing resource, and it’s something that you could lose yourself in for hours—if you’re the right kind of nerd (I certainly am). Their About page is very matter of fact about their hiring needs. They say that the “BLS needs economists, mathematical statisticians, and Information Technology Specialists. It also needs some administrative and financial specialists and many types of technicians and assistants. The number of vacancies is difficult to predict, but some positions are available at most times.” I’d imagine that their internships are offered in similar areas. I’m not going to run through individual opportunities since it’s Labor Day, but you can learn all about the paid student opportunities and internships at the BLS here. Maybe if you find the right position, you can move some of the statistics in the right direction.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

How do you react to BLS statistics?

DreamBox Learning

Willy Franzen — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 15:46:53 +0000

Have you told your friends about One Day, One Internship? Share us on Facebook and Like Us too (apparently Facebook has moved away from Fans and now prefers “Liking”).

Yesterday I came across a New York Times article about how Reed Hastings, the founder of Netflix, recently donated money to a non-profit called Charter School Growth Fund so that they could acquire online education startup DreamBox Learning, which creates web-based games to teach elementary school students math skills. As far as I can tell, the Bellevue, WA based startup will remain a for-profit entity even though it will be owned by a non-profit fund. Along with the donation Reed Hastings also invested $10 million into DreamBox to help them expand the number of subjects that they cover and to reach more schools with their software. You have to think that a large portion of that investment will be spent on hiring new people in the not so distant future.

Join the Dream Team

I love the online education market. I think it’s going to be an extremely exciting and profitable place to work for at least the next decade, and that’s why I’m part of it (have you seen Found Your Career?). What DreamBox Learning is doing reminds me a lot of Reasoning Mind, which is a non-profit that develops online math learning software and curricula. There’s plenty of room in the market for both, and I imagine there’s room for even more considering the level of math education in our country these days. It’s awesome to see someone with the track record of Reed Hastings putting so much into such an important project, and if you want to join him, you should check out DreamBox Learning’s Careers page. Right now they don’t have any internships posted, but I did find that a few Northwestern CS majors have interned with them in the past. There may not be any specific positions to apply for, but you can reach out to them at jobs@dreambox.com to see what they might have in the future.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your feeling about online education?

Ceteris

Willy Franzen — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:31:37 +0000

The way that large corporations operate often boggles my mind. Take for example my friend who worked in the internal consulting division of a massive, well-known company. Despite being owned and operated by the company, his division had to bid against outside consulting firms for projects. There was a good reason for this (it forced the internal consulting division to watch its back), but it still seems a bit ridiculous. Another example of this kind of thinking is transfer pricing (don’t worry, I had to look it up too). It’s the “pricing of contributions (assets, tangible and intangible, services, and funds) transferred within an organization.” At first it may seem that since all of the money is going to the same place pricing things that are transferred within an organization doesn’t really matter. Unfortunately, that would cause all of the accountants in an organization (and the IRS too) to have a fit. So how do companies price these transfers? There’s no external market to set the price, and trying to do it internally can get really messy. That’s when companies bring in Ceteris a “global independent consulting firm specializing in transfer pricing, intellectual property and valuation services” that is headquartered in Chicago.

Transfer Yourself to Ceteris

For most college students, grasping exactly what Ceteris does is pretty hard. The best way to get a feel for the kinds of projects that they work on is to take a look at examples of their work. It turns out that this stuff is pretty fascinating—at least to me. If you agree, you’ll want to check out Ceteris’ Careers page along with their Campus Recruiting page. Although they don’t explicitly post internship opportunities and they don’t have any campus events coming up, they say that they’re looking to hear from outstanding students with a background in Economics, Business, Accounting, Finance, Statistics, or Mathematics. You should note that Ceteris seems more focused on entry level hiring than on hiring interns, but I did find some mentions of internships in my Google searches. They invite interested applicants to send a résumé and cover letter to careers@ceterisgroup.com, so go after it and see what’s available. The company has only been around since 2003, but they’ve already expanded to 13 locations: Atlanta, GA; Boston, MA; Calgary, AB; Chicago, IL; Dallas, TX; Libertyville, IL; Los Angeles, CA; Mexico City, Mexico; New York, NY; Salt Lake City, UT; Toronto, ON; Washington, DC; and Auckland, New Zealand. It’s not clear which offices have internship opportunities, but their Locations page does allow you to contact the head of each office if you’re so inclined.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Ceteris?

U.S. Census Bureau

Willy Franzen — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:05:57 +0000

Every 10 years our country does a census to collect demographic data about our populous to drive public policy decisions. It’s an extremely big deal, and it temporarily creates 1.4 million jobs (according to government figures). Sometimes temporary jobs like these can be an alternative to an internship, but we want you to get more meaningful work experience if possible. Luckily, the U.S. Census Bureau does a lot more than its once every ten years nationwide census. They are “the leading source of quality data about the nation’s people and economy,” so you’d be amazed by all of the things that they track. For instance, much of the economic data that you have been hearing about in the news lately – as in “Stocks plunge on weakened Monthly Retail Sales” – comes from the U.S. Census Bureau. If you’re fascinated by data or just love counting things, there aren’t many places that offer a more interesting work experience that the Census Bureau.

Everyone Counts at the U.S. Census Bureau

Ok, I’d like to go on about the cool things that the Census Bureau does, but we don’t really have time. Navigating the Census Bureau’s job and internship offerings can get a little confusing, so I want to make sure that you can find what you’re looking for. On their main Jobs page they have links to four sections – Headquarters Opportunities, 2010 Census Taker Opportunities, Regional Office Opportunities, and Student and Research Opportunities. That last one is exactly what we’re looking for. From here there are three options to follow – Student Temporary Employment Program (opportunities in Suitland, Maryland in Analysis, Mathematical Analysis, IT, Geography, and General Office/Office Assistant), Student Career Experience Program (Co-ops in Suitland, MD that include Geographer, Statistician, Mathematical Statistician, and IT Specialist), and Presidential Management Fellows Program (which appears to be geared toward graduate students). There’s a ton of information about these internships, and they are paid. Applying doesn’t appear to be difficult, so just follow directions and you should be ok. It seems to me that the Student Career Experience Program is more like a real internship, while the Student Temporary Employment Program is more like a part-time/Summer job. Still, both appear to offer an excellent chance to get real world experience doing some pretty cool stuff.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you excited for the 2010 Census?

SPARTA

Willy Franzen — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:12:21 +0000

Usually when I’m looking at the job and internship requirements to get a feel for what a company is looking for, I’m looking at things like education, experience, skills, and job functions. It’s not often that I’m thinking about security clearance, but at today’s company, SPARTA, it’s essential for most of their jobs and even some of their internships. (Now, don’t worry if you don’t already have Top Secret Clearance, they still might have jobs for you as long as you didn’t get into too much trouble during your college years or before.) The reason that there’s all this talk about clearance is that SPARTA is a company whose “core business areas include strategic defense and offense systems, tactical weapons systems, and space systems” and whose “major intelligence credentials include intelligence production, computer network operations, and information assurance.”

This Is SPARTA

If you’ve spent your time in college attending peace protests, then SPARTA probably isn’t for you, but if you have a hard science or engineering background that you’d like to put to practical use, then you’ll be fascinated by the job titles that SPARTA is hiring for. Current openings include Weapons Effects Analyst, Cyberspace Analyst, and WMD Engineer (don’t worry, this job is about “supporting national efforts in developing, integrating and synchronizing capabilities to combat weapons of mass destruction”). These obviously aren’t internships, but they give you a good sense of what kind of work SPARTA does.

As for internships, SPARTA has some pretty interesting looking opportunities. There’s an Engineering Internship at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado, a Mathematics / Stats/ Computer Science Internship in El Segundo, CA, a Software Programming Internship in Centreville, VA, and a General Internship in Columbia, MD. There’s no mention of whether or not these internships are paid, but I would be shocked if they weren’t. You can apply for the internships online directly from the postings.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you fascinated by SPARTA’s job titles?

The Mathematical Association of America

Willy Franzen — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 14:00:28 +0000

If you’ve been reading One Day, One Internship for a year or more, you probably remember that last year we did a holiday post for Pi Day. I’m a dork, and I love dorky holidays. That’s why I’m already counting down the seconds until 1:59:26 (ok, I didn’t stay up for it, I’m waiting for the PM version), when the date and time will represent 8 digits of pi. Since today is a weekend, I thought that it was my duty to bring you info on internships with math related non-profits. Unfortunately, there are a lot fewer of those than one would think, so we’re going to stretch a bit by looking at job opportunities with The Mathematical Association of America. They’re located in Washington, DC, and they’re “the largest professional society that focuses on mathematics accessible at the undergraduate level.”

Pi in the Sky Internships

The MAA has 5 core interests:

Education: We support learning in the mathematical sciences by encouraging effective curriculum, teaching, and assessment at all levels.
Research: We support research, scholarship, and its exposition at all appropriate levels and venues, including research by undergraduates.
Professional Development: We provide resources and activities that foster scholarship, professional growth, and cooperation among teachers, other professionals, and students.
Public Policy: We influence institutional and public policy through advocacy for the importance, uses, and needs of the mathematical sciences.
Public Appreciation: We promote the general understanding and appreciation of mathematics. We encourage students of all ages, particularly those from underrepresented groups, to pursue activities and careers in the mathematical sciences.

It’s all about furthering the field of Mathematics, especially at the undergraduate level. Alright, so I admitted that it’s a bit of a stretch to talk about internships at The Mathematical Association of America. They don’t have any information on internships with the organization, but they do have a Jobs page. It includes a link to their Organizational Chart and a page on How to Apply, so you may be able to try cold calling and seeing if they’re open to taking an intern. The other option is to check out their resources on finding an internship in Math or research experiences for undergraduates. It may not be easy, but the MAA should have something for you if you’re a true math lover.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

How are you celebrating Pi Day?

Battelle Memorial Institute

Willy Franzen — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 16:00:59 +0000

We’re always on the look out for different kinds of non-profit internships to feature on weekends, and today we’ve certainly found some. Battelle Memorial Institute is a Columbus, OH based organization that looks very much like a business – their tagline is even “the business of innovation” – but they are actually “organized for charitable, scientific, and educational purposes.” They have 5 main areas of focus – Energy, Health & Life Sciences, National Security & Defense, Laboratory Management, and Community & Education – which means that they do all kinds of things to further their vision of building “long-term relationships with their clients by anticipating their needs and delivering economically and socially valuable science and technology.”

A Battelle You Can Win

The Battelle Memorial Institute is named for Ohio industrialist Gordon Battelle. He “did not live to see his vision realized, but believed in it so strongly that others continue to make it a reality” through the gifts taht he left in his will. It all started with “a few machine shops and foundries,” but Battelle now “oversees 20,000 staff members and conducts $3.9 billion in annual research and development.” They work with all kinds of clients including federeral, state, and local government agencies; large corporations; private sector customers; and other partners. It’s still hard to put a finger on exactly what they do, but taking a look at their job listings will give you a more specific idea of the types of projects that they work on. You can search their jobs here, and you’ll notice that they have 127 open positions as of today including a couple of internships. Right now the internship opportunities are in Mathematics/Computer Science Research and Software Engineering. The internships appear to be paid, and you can apply for them online directly from the job postings.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about Battelle?