All students in the Human Development Research and Policy (HDRP) MA will be required to complete a semester-long internship at a research, policy, or practice site at or beyond NYU. This experience is meant to offer you an opportunity to apply what you learn during the program to a real-world setting, while receiving support from the program’s faculty. You will be expected to complete 135 hours at their internship site during the Spring semester.
Finding an Internship Site
During the Fall semester, you will attend a speaker series in which you will hear from representatives from a number of potential internship sites through Professional Development Seminar I. Throughout that semester, you will meet with the HDRP program director to identify a site. Then, during the January term, you will work with the program director and your selected site to agree on the tasks and outputs that you are expected to complete, which will be reflected in a Letter of Agreement (LoA).
The following sites at NYU have expressed interest in having HDRP students.
Advocacy and Community-Based Trauma Studies (ACTS, Prof. Alisha Ali)
Culture, Emotion, and Health Lab (Prof. William Tsai)
Families and Children Experiencing Success Lab (FACES, Prof. Anil Chacko)
Home-School Connections Research Team (Prof. Adina Schick)
Mindful Education Lab (Prof. Joshua Aronson)
Prof. Hirokazu Yoshikawa's Lab (multiple projects)
Science of Human Connection Lab (Prof. Niobe Way)
Strengthening Connections and Opportunities for Learning in and out of Schools (CONNECT, Prof. Elise Cappella)
Catalyzing Action for Resilient Ecologies (CARE, Prof. Jorge Cuartas)
Center for Counseling and Community Wellbeing (CCCW)
Culture, Families, and Early Development (CFD, Prof. Gigliana Melzi)
Infant Studies of Language and Neurocognitive Development Lab (ISLAND, Prof. Natalie Brito)
Project for the Advancement of Our Common Humanity (PACH, Prof. Niobe Way)
Prof. Pamela Morris-Perez' Lab (multiple projects)
Sirin Research Lab (Prof. Selçuk Sirin)
Chinese Families Lab (Prof. Niobe Way)
Evidence 4 Education Lab (E4E, Prof. Alejandro J. Ganimian)
Homeplace Research Collective (Prof. Lauren Mims)
Institute of Human Development and Social Change (IHDSC)
Play and Language Lab (Prof. Catherine Tamis-LeMonda)
Researching Inequality in Society Ecologically Lab (RISE, Profs. Shabnam Javdani and Erin Godfrey)
Social Inequality and Intergroup Relations Lab (Prof. Rezarta Bilali)
The Learning Race Lab (Prof. Diane Hughes)
You may identify opportunities at additional sites through Handshake, the Wasserman Center for Career Development’s platform for jobs, internships, and events at New York University. All sites need to be approved by the HDRP program director prior to the drafting of an LoA.
The Internship Experience
During the Spring semester, you will work at your internship site while completing a short course designed to strengthen your skills in four aspects that are essential to succeed in your chosen field: project management, communication, feedback, and negotiation. The course will also create a space for you to reflect on your ongoing experience, receive feedback from peers, and engage in individual and group discussions, exercises, and simulations.
Applying for Internship Grants
All internship experiences are unpaid. However, you may apply for a grant from NYU’s Wasserman Center for Career Development.