For my summer 2018 semester, I interned in New York City at the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI), a small think-do tank that conducts research on economic, security, and environmental issues in the Asia-Indo-Pacific region. As one of four interns, my role was to support any research project any of the researchers or fellows were conducting. Throughout the summer I worked on short-term and long-term projects that included tracking countries or regions, compiling research, and writing memos, website blurbs, and heavily contributing to an article written by ASPI’s assistant director.
One of my daily tasks was to track the current news coming out of Myanmar for the ASPI director. Ever week I provided her with a compiled list of the main news articles and summaries, and this work will help her as she pursues her future research. ASPI is beginning a new research project that looks at the evolving energy security and defense relationship between the Middle East and Asia. In order to help facilitate this new project, I spent several weeks conducting research and writing a memo about how the economic ties between the two regions have been evolving into security relations and how new sanctions on Iran and disputes between Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE might affect the energy supply to Asia.
The most important extensive task I worked on was the Pakistan elections that took place in July. Before the elections I was tasked to conduct research on the different parties running, the main issues of the election, the military establishment and media’s effect on elections, and possible election outcomes. After conducting this initial research I had to produce a memo summarizing and analyzing my findings for ASPI’s assistant director. Leading up to the election I also had to continuously track major developments on a day-to-day basis. After the elections, I had to do quick turnaround research on Imran Khan, and later was assigned to use my research and knowledge to help contribute to an article about Khan and his (tentative) plans for Pakistani domestic and foreign policy. The article I helped write will soon be published on the ASPI website, which is very exciting.
The experience I gained over this summer has been extraordinary. Interning at a small think tank, I have had the opportunity to work on a lot of extensive projects, and I was able to impact the work done at ASPI even from my position as an intern. Working at ASPI not only allowed me to apply my Maxwell education in the real world, but it helped to expand and refine on this skill set. It also reinforced the idea that this is the type of work I want to do after I graduate this coming December. I am ecstatic that I had this wonderful opportunity to meet and learn from so many amazing people, and I feel privileged to have had the chance to contribute to the work done at ASPI, even if it was only for a short time.
Samm Cadwell is a recent MAIR graduate who also studied at Tsinghua University, an SU World Partner program. She formerly lived in China and speaks advanced Mandarin. She’s looking to capitalize on her Asia expertise.