Latest Intern Blog Posts

Before I began my internship at START, the words “risk communication” and “resilience” meant nothing to me. All I knew was that I was applying for something that sounded interesting and pertained to terrorism research. I had little to no background in communication, save the required introductory Gen-Ed class all University of Maryland undergraduates are required to complete. As a Biology and Public Health Science major, I was uncertain of how these keywords would relate to my field of interest, but I applied anyway.

In sum, I’ve learned that risk communication has a fluid and dynamic definition that is unique to its exigence. Broadly, it is defined as the way a community converses about past, present, and future risk events. These bring about a few important keywords: preparedness, response, and recovery [1]. Often, communities undergo training in order to manage themselves and the conflict at hand, to be as well prepared as possible and minimize damage or loss. The main… read entire post

So far, I have spent two semesters at START with the Risk Communication and Resilience team. I have worked on numerous projects, but the most interesting research I conducted concerned various disasters and hospitals’ responses in crises.

One of these well-known disasters was 2005’s Hurricane Katrina. At the time, I was old enough to know what was happening, but I did not fully understand the details of what was going on during the crisis. Through my research last summer, I gained a better understanding of the timeline of events, and learned about the communication failures that took place, both before and after the hurricane hit. I read about the serious and horrifying lack of preparedness that ultimately lead to the catastrophic disaster response following Hurricane Katrina. Yes, the storm was devastating, but what made the natural disaster into a full-blown crisis, was the lack of action in the days following the levee break. 

My research revealed stark differences… read entire post

I first applied to START because I had a desire to find a hands-on experience with geospatial intelligence and more deeply explore the academic environment in the field of terrorism research. Prior to my beginning at START, I had a background in non-proliferation work, US defense policy, and Middle Eastern grand strategy. In prior positions, I had the opportunity to work for academics and former members of both the Pentagon and the White House. Over the course of my previous work, I found that I had an affinity toward the field of counterterrorism but had been frustrated with policy research. START exceeded my expectations in allowing me to gain hands-on experience in the field I hope to become a part of.  

START has one of the highest quality intern experiences that a student or graduate could hope to find in the DC area. In my first month, my exposure to various issues in the counterterrorism realm has been outstanding. I have heard from speakers that work at places like… read entire post

Throughout my childhood and teen years, I had the opportunity to meet various people from around the world, and participate in “study abroad” sessions. Those experiences were the catalyst for my interest in international studies. And while I knew I wanted to pursue international studies, I was never sure which facet of it I was most interested in. I became interested in terrorism as a second semester sophomore at American University in a class on peace and conflict resolution. After spending only two classes on terrorism, I knew I wanted to pursue this vast topic even further. I had the chance to do so the following semester during my study abroad in Amman, Jordan. In addition to the classes I took in Jordan, our time was supplemented with speakers on terrorism and visits to the King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Center (KASOTC), just outside the capital.

From there, my interest in terrorism studies only grew. In the fall of 2014, while visiting tourist attractions… read entire post