Center News

Candace Evans, graduate research assistant at the Natural Hazards Center and co-lead developer of the CONVERGE Training Modules, was recently named a National Science Foundation (NSF) Non-Academic Research Internships for Graduate Students (INTERN) awardee.

The NSF INTERN program is designed to help propel the nation’s leading doctoral students into public and private sector internships, ultimately preparing them for potential careers outside of academia. The supplemental funding associated with this award was made possible as part of Center Director Lori Peek’s NSF-supported Natural Hazards Clearinghouse Award.

During the 2023-24 academic year, Candace continued to serve in her roles at the Natural Hazards Center while also spending part of her research time learning from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a federal agency that works to “protect America from health, safety, and security threats” through increasing the “health security of our nation.” Evans was mentored by Dr. Robin Soler, a subject matter expert and scientist in the Center for Preparedness and Response with the CDC, as well as several other colleagues at the CDC.

This internship opportunity closely aligned with Evans’ work on the CONVERGE Training Modules, as well as the robust data management skills she has acquired during her time at the Natural Hazards Center. The in-depth technical training she received while working with the CDC helped to further augment her social science and interdisciplinary research training. She is now using these skills at the Natural Hazards Center and CONVERGE to continue her work in developing a dataset and accompanying data management documentation for user registration data from the CONVERGE modules, which will be published online through the DesignSafe Data Depot Repository.

The skills and experience Evans gained during the internship will also be useful as she continues to pursue her sociological interest in healthcare systems and healthcare justice. “I’m excited to use these skills to augment my own research interests surrounding healthcare systems and healthcare justice,” said Evans. “I’d love to use the writing and analytical skills to aid public policymakers’ consideration of those with chronic illness and disability as they plan for and respond to disasters.”

Evans was excited to apply for the NSF INTERN funding to broaden not only her technical skillset, but her knowledge of working in a government agency. Evans notes that her experience applying for the award allowed her to imagine her future career taking a variety of trajectories, both inside and outside academia. She suggests that other graduate students who are interested in NSF INTERN or similar programs consider new and creative ways that their research interests align with emerging skillsets and technologies.

“Candace is the second student from the Natural Hazards Center and the Sociology doctoral program at the University of Colorado Boulder who has benefitted from the NSF INTERN program,” said Center director and Sociology faculty member, Lori Peek. “It has been amazing to witness all that Candace has learned from the talented scientists at the CDC, and it is inspiring to know that this will shape her future career trajectory.”