Applications are open for a summer undergraduate internship in the Levin Lab and Behavioral Science and Policy Lab, sponsored by the High Meadows Environmental Institute. The 8-week internship will focus on the local politics associated with sustainable infrastructure transitions in the US. Princeton undergraduates interested in sustainability, environmental policy, infrastructure, or local politics are encouraged to apply by the January 7 deadline. 

For more information: link

Project Motivation: Many sustainability goals, including climate adaptation, clean energy, water quality, affordability, and fair economic access, often require some form of investment to transition or improve infrastructure systems. In the US, local governments are on the frontlines of investment in many critical infrastructure systems, like drinking water, but multiple reasons, many attributable to the local political context, may generate hesitancy to engage in such transitions. In particular, the internship will involve an investigation of two reasons: uncertainty and resistance to raising service fees or “rates” needed to fund investments. 

Project Summary: Depending on the intern’s interest, they will work with two ongoing projects. One is a survey of US local government managers pertaining to their organizational capacity, collaboration with other entities, sustainable infrastructure investments, and perceptions of uncertainty. The second project is a large-scale narrative analysis of local news media pertaining to proposed rate increases to fund drinking water infrastructure investments in U.S. cities. Together, the projects will inform policy designed to steer sustainable infrastructure transitions and advance our understanding of infrastructure politics in an increasingly uncertain world.

Skills Needed: technical familiarity with Excel and Google Sheets and strong reading comprehension skills.