Baker Institute 2009 Summer in D.C. Policy Research Internship Program students at the National Archives and Navy Memorial. Seated, left to right, are Jingyuan Luo, Rachel Solnick, Fiona Adams, Cort Malmberg, Kara Calhoun, Sean Graham and Devin Glick.
Economic recession. National security and foreign wars. Health care. Global warming. America is currently facing many policy issues that require long-term solutions, ones demanding intelligence, creativity and resources from future generations of Americans. How are we preparing young Americans to deal with the critical policy problems they will have to solve?
The Baker Institute for Public Policy is trying to do its part by encouraging some of our brightest and most civic-oriented students to become national policy experts. Since 2004, we have supported 41 Rice University students at summer research internships at 33 influential government agencies, think tanks and non-governmental organizations in Washington, D.C. These have included the Council of Economic Advisers, the State Department and the National Science Foundation, as well as the American Enterprise Institute, the Center for American Progress, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Middle East Institute and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, among others.
The institute’s Jesse Jones Leadership Center Summer in D.C. Policy Research Internship Program is inspired by the example of Jesse H. Jones, the Houston entrepreneur who went to Washington, D.C., to direct America’s recovery from the Great Depression as head of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and as secretary of commerce. This unique program is supported by the Houston Endowment and numerous philanthropic Texans and Rice University alumni.
Jones was often asked to comment on public service and leadership, and in his speeches he observed that young Americans often have the intelligence, creativity and desire to solve public problems. What they lack, however, are the opportunities and experiences to see for themselves that they can actually solve these big problems. The Baker Institute’s program reflects this insight and philosophy by identifying bright Rice students who need policy research experience in Washington, D.C., and then supporting them with the resources and critical feedback on their analytical work that they need to become policy experts. In keeping with the independence and self-determination of Jesse Jones himself, the students themselves are responsible for selecting and obtaining a full-time summer research position in the nation’s capital.
What national policy problems are Rice students seeking to solve? Three of the seven students in the summer 2009 program specialized in health policy research: Fiona Adams and Rachel Solnick worked at the Health Policy Center of the Urban Institute, and Kara Calhoun assisted in research at the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems. Devin Glick conducted research on civil rights in the workplace at the Human Rights Campaign, and Sean Graham worked on foreign and domestic security policy at Globalsecurity.org. Jingyuan Luo examined the environmental impact of nanotechnology at the National Science Foundation, and Cort Malmberg analyzed U.S. relations with Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus at the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs at the State Department.
After they return from Washington, the students present their own policy research to Baker fellows and Rice faculty. Many have used their research projects to obtain prestigious scholarships for advanced study, including Rhodes Scholarships, The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans, Thomas J. Watson Fellowships, Fulbright Scholarships and Wagoner Scholarships for Foreign Study. As the faculty adviser of this program, I am proud to see that many among those who have finished their studies have followed the lead of Jesse Jones and entered public service in Washington, in Texas and around the world.
For more information about this program and the achievements of the talented young people who have developed it, see the Web site of the Jesse Jones Leadership Center Summer in D.C. Policy Research Internship Program
Steven W. Lewis is the Baker Institute’s fellow in Asian studies and faculty adviser for the Jesse Jones Leadership Center Summer in D.C. Policy Research Internship Program. He is also a professor in the practice and an associate director of the Chao Center for Asian Studies, as well as an affiliated faculty member of the Department of Sociology at Rice University.