Ways the City of Madison collaborates with the UW students

The City of Madison frequently collaborates with the University to provide students with valuable first-hand experience through internships and research funding within city departments. This post highlights two of these collaborations.

The first is a paid internship opportunity through the City's Department of Finance for a Policy and Research Management Intern. This 10-hour per week position will analyze treads in city spending, research performance measures, and compare revenues to other comparable communities. The goal is to fill this position with a student interested in pursuing a bachelor's or master's degree in research methods, statistical analysis, or public administration. All applications are due on March 23rd, 2012.

Paid internships open in many offices over the summer. Among others, the Mayor's Office and City Attorney's Office have previously offered to graduate students.

The second highlight is a resolution adopted by the council last night to fund UW research to improve our city's drinking water. Since 2002, the UW Department of Civil and Environmental Engineers has been providing research evaluating ways to improve system hydraulics and operations to improve high quality drinking water in Madison. The adopted resolution will provide up to $126,000 over three for master's level research, looking for innovative strategies to address our City's water needs.

Academic research generated from the University provides a valuable research for the City of Madison. Programs such as these should be empathized wherever possible to improve the City and provide first-hand learning opportunities for students.

Moreover, I encourage students to pass along the internship opportunity to anyone who might be interested.