Jeffrey L. Pressman Awards
Talented MIT undergraduates are recognized annually with the Jeffrey L. Pressman Award for research or internship in U.S. government, politics, policy, law, or education. The 2024 application deadline will be February 16, 2024.
Pressman Awards include stipends of up to $7,000 each, in support of special summer projects or internships in issues related to American politics. The project should focus on a legal, political, institutional, or policy issue. All MIT undergraduates returning to campus as undergraduates in the fall semester are eligible to apply.
Recent Pressman internships and projects have included:
- Internship at the Center for American Progress working on a project developing a long- term economic growth strategy for the US
- Internship at the Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy focusing on enhancement of US nuclear security through defense, non-proliferation and environmental efforts
- Internship with the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts
- A research project collecting original data and performing data analysis on the Ohio Educational Choice Scholarship program
Application guidelines are available here.
The application form is available here.
Applications are due February 16, 2024.
For more information, contact Katherine Paton Hoss, Lecturer/Undergraduate Administrator (hoss@mit.edu).
Recent Winners
Summer 2023
Jennifer Ai
Internship at Recidiviz Data Analysis
Lily Chen
Research Project: "Natural Language Processing for Political Polarization"
Paul Irvine
Internship at the Office of CA Governor Gavin Newsom
Liberty Ladd
Internship at the U.S. Department of Defense
Aiden Render-Katolic
Internship at the Center for Strategic and International Studies
Sam Salwan
Internship – Brookings Institution
Maanas Sharma
Research Project: "Algorithmic Redistricting and Gerrymandering in Texas’ 2020 Congressional Districts"
Alec Sheres
Internship at the office of U.S. Representative Juan Vargas (D-CA, 52nd District)
Luka Srsic
Internship at the Department of Government Affairs, Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission
Summer 2022
Umang Bansal
Research Project: “The Effect of the United States’ Unemployment Insurance Program on the Overall American Economy”
Ibrahim Suat Evren
Research intern: Market Design with Profs Scott Kominers and Yannai Gonczarowski (Harvard)
Phillip Hood
Internship at Beto for Texas
Mallika Pajjuri
Research project: Civic Synergy – Depolarization Amongst Generation Z
James Shaw
Internship: City of Boston Mayor’s Office of Economic Opportunity & Inclusion
David Spicer
Internship at the Louisiana Board of Regents, Louisiana Governor’s Fellowship
Summer 2021
Michelle Tang
Internship with Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven
Grace Song
Internship at MIT Washington DC Office
Stephanie Zhang
Internship at Department of Education and Senate HELP Committee
Summer 2020
David Spicer
Massachusetts Advocates for Children
Max Williamson
US Senator Chris Coons’ Re-Election Campaign, Delaware
Heidi Li
Reserch Project: “A Policy Outlook: Energy Transition in Appalachia Pennsylvania.”
Natasha Stamler
Research Project: “Using Earth Observation to Inform New York City Resiliency Planning.”
Prosser Cathey
Research Project: “Experimentally Testing a Game Theoretic Model of Social Dilemmas.”
Summer 2019
Christian Cruz
Environmental Protection Agency
Nwanacho Nwana
MIT Washington DC Office
Ignacio Ortega
MIT Washington DC Office
Sarah Powazek
Mass Civil Liberties Union
Summer 2018
Kevin Downey
New York Office of Securities and Exchange Commission
Jordan Isler
Cortico
Helena Ma
US Department of Health and Human Services
Theresa Machemer
National Geographic
Summer 2017
Megan Schussman
Internship at the MIT Washington, DC Office on Education issues
Rene Zhao
Internship at the US Department of Health and Human Services on the Idea Lab
Deepti Ajjampore
Internship at the Aerospace Corporation as a program and policy intern
Summer 2016
Anit Lui Akpovi
Internship at Child Care Aware
Benjamin Chazen
Internship at the MIT Washington, DC Office on Energy issues
Alex McCullumsmith
Internship at the US Department of the Interior on Environmental issues
Summer 2015
Kathryn Buggs
Internship at the Department of Justice Anti Trust Economic Analysis Group in Washington, DC working on Economic Justice issues
Isaac Silberberg
Internship at US Senator Harry Reid’s Office working on Constituent issues and education
Megan Chang
Internship at the Center for Effective Government working on Regulatory policy