Name: Aimee Crozat
Class Year: 2027
Major: Growth and Structure of Cities
Minor: Literatures in English
Internship Organization: Bryn Mawr Humanities & Social Sciences Research Program
Internship Title: Summer Research Intern
Location: Bryn Mawr, PA
What’s happening at your internship? We would love to hear what kind of work you are doing!
A map I made in ArcGISPro showing project boundaries in relation to census tracts and block groups, to aid with data collection
I am working as a research intern with Professor Hurley in the Growth and Structure of Cities department. I am helping with her research project, “Oral Histories of New Urbanism.” As part of this, I am conducting interviews with professionals who were involved in the early years of New Urbanism, which was an urban planning movement that began in the 1980s focused on creating dense, walkable communities. I am also compiling data on numerous new urbanist developments, and writing literature reviews centered around New Urbanism and how best to measure success in the context of urban planning. Additionally, I have been using GIS to create maps that show development boundaries in relation to block group and census tract boundaries. She is still in the early stages of the project, which has allowed me a lot of creativity in what I want to work on and the best ways to help gather data.
Why did you apply for this internship?
I took Urban Culture and Society with Professor Hurley and Professor Restrepo last fall semester, and when I saw that Professor Hurley needed a summer intern, I thought it would be the perfect way to combine my majors of Growth and Structure of Cities and Literatures in English. Her research project sounded so interesting that after doing a deep dive into New Urbanism, I knew I had to apply.
Can you talk about the skills you are learning and why they are important to you?
I have been able to use this summer as an opportunity to develop a multitude of skills! Since beginning the summer, I have developed my abilities in ArcGISPro and Zotero, and I have become proficient in Microsoft Excel. I’ve also gained experience in conducting and transcribing oral history interviews. Later in the summer, I should have the opportunity to learn NVivo, which is a qualitative analysis software that analyzes the data I’ve been collecting from interviews. Being able to pick up skills quickly is something that will hopefully come in handy, and I’m glad I was able to cultivate that this summer.
What is most rewarding about your internship?
The most rewarding part of this internship for me has been the ability to dive into the academic topics that I find interesting without the stress of being graded. I meet with Professor Hurley once a week, but almost all of the work I do is alone, meaning that I can work on my own schedule and at my own pace. If I don’t understand something, I can table it to ask about later and work on something else in the meantime. This has allowed me to learn qualitative and quantitative skills without fear that I’m doing something “incorrectly”. I have also been able to follow my passions within Cities: I took Intro to GIS last semester, and when I asked if I could incorporate those skills and create maps to aid with the research project, I was met with enthusiasm.