Human Development and Family Sciences Graduate Student
Ashley Smith

Ashley SmithThe IE Pre-Graduate Internship has been an invaluable experience that reinforced my reason for pursuing academia as a career: the opportunity to inspire curiosity in students and the desire to learn. I was fortunate to find the perfect intern, Samantha Wright, who was bubbling over with enthusiasm and curiosity in the research process. Through the IE program, she has had the opportunity to personally take a project from the conceptualization phase through running participants. During the course of the next semester we will complete her training with learning how to code qualitative data, data analysis, and finally poster presentation. However, our time together was much more than learning research skills, it was an opportunity to become excited about the endless possibilities ahead and gain confidence that she can do anything.