Internships

We offer paid summer internships for graduate, medical school, and upper-level undergraduate students.

Our internship program:

  • Generates student interest in injury prevention
  • Supports student educational development
  • Provides mentorship
  • Creates successful injury prevention professionals

We invite all students with an interest in injury prevention to apply.

Organizations, departments, or researchers can apply to be an internship preceptor. We announce a call for placement opportunities in the fall of every year. You can read the requirements below.

Applications close on December 18th, 2023.

Please become a member to receive notifications about this program.

Summer 2024 internship applications are now closed.

Students

We announce five paid summer internship positions for graduate and upper-level undergraduate students each year.

We match selected applicants with a project and mentor from the University of Michigan, the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services, or another organization.

Project examples include:

  • Updating and evaluating the Facts Over Fear opioid awareness curriculum for middle and high school students
  • Working on recruitment and engagement strategies, data collection, survey building, and resource guide development for emergency department interventions to reduce youth firearm violence
  • Evaluating the Recovery Opioid Overdose Team (ROOT+) program, a quick-response team linking overdose survivors to treatment and recovery services
  • Analyzing survey data, writing reports, conducting interviews, and developing materials for community partners as part of the Family Safety Net project, which seeks to increase the safety of youth in NW Alaska by providing information and resources to support safe firearm storage
  • Working to develop a campus climate survey on gender-based violence to be used at universities in sub-Saharan Africa

Responsibilities may include:

  • Assisting in planning, developing, implementing, and evaluating injury prevention projects
  • Conducting literature searches and synthesizing findings in written summaries
  • Attending injury prevention-related workshops, seminars, and meetings
  • Researching legislative policies and initiatives related to injury prevention
  • Developing educational materials and tool kits
  • Communicating and presenting research or policy findings
  • Assisting with grant preparation

Qualifications:

  • Graduate-level applicants must be enrolled in a graduate program or medical school
  • Undergraduate-level applicants must be a rising junior or senior at the time of the internship
  • Interest in injury prevention practice, policy, or research
  • Ability to work independently
  • Ability to maintain the confidentiality of sensitive information
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills
  • Proficiency with computer software applications such as Microsoft Office, Excel, and PowerPoint 

Each selected applicant will receive a $5,700 stipend. Depending on the needs of the preceptor, internships may be in-person or hybrid.

We also sponsor one competitive paid internship position for U-M public health graduate students at the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. The selected applicant will be provided $500 for travel to/from Atlanta, GA if travel is required. Applicants should indicate in their application whether or not they would like to be considered for this placement.

All applicants will be asked to provide:

  • A resume or CV
  • Two letters of recommendation

These letters of recommendation may be from your academic advisor, current or former employer or supervisor, or a current or former professor or research supervisor. One letter must be from a faculty member.

  • A personal statement describing all of the following in 500 words or less
    • Your interest in injury prevention
    • Your career goals
    • Skills that you would bring to the internship
    • A summary of your previous research or practice experience (especially if it is related to injury prevention!)

Preceptors

The University of Michigan Injury Prevention Center will fund five intern positions next summer supporting work in injury prevention. The Center will recruit graduate and upper-level undergraduate students interested in injury prevention research or practice experiences in specific topic areas.

The goal is to offer students an opportunity to gain mentored research and practice-based experience in injury prevention. Internships should provide students an opportunity to work approximately 27-30 hours/week (a cumulative total of no less than 318 hours for the summer).

Interested in hosting an intern next summer?

Contact Taylor (tdhaut@med.umich.edu) for more information.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a specific application form that should be filled out, or is the application a document that I create?

The internship application will be submitted through a Qualtrics form. The form is linked above.

Do the letters of recommendation need to be submitted along with the entire application, or can they be submitted directly to the person of contact for the internship program?

Letters of recommendation can be submitted through the Qualtrics link with the entire application or directly to Taylor Hautala (tdhaut@med.umich.edu)

How is an intern matched up with their internship project? Is it based on the specific intern's injury prevention interests? Or is it based on the current projects of the center?

We aim to match all students to the projects based on their specific interests, goals, and what they hope to achieve in their internship, along with a faculty mentor that works in a similar field. We gather all this information from the personal statements required as part of the application process. Please be as specific as possible when writing your personal statement as this will help us match you with the appropriate mentor if you are chosen for the internship.

How specific would you like our applications to be regarding the topic of interest or experiences we hope to gain?

The more you can speak to your interests (either in terms of injury-related topics you are interested in or would like to learn more about, skills you want to acquire, or experiences you hope to gain), the better. You are welcome to provide examples if that helps.

Is this opportunity open to any graduate or undergraduate students at any accredited university or just those enrolled at the University of Michigan?

The U-M IPC placements are open to all graduate and upper-level undergraduate students from any accredited university. The application doesn’t specify that you must be from the University of Michigan, but strong preference is given to U-M students (including U-M Flint and Dearborn). Only U-M public health graduate students are eligible for the potential placement at the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Information for Student Applicants

Call for Placement Opportunities

FAQs

Watch an Internship Info Session