Application links available to undergraduates subscribed to the Schar listserv
Project 1: Political Capital book project manuscript support
Professor: Dr. Jennifer Victor
Description: Manuscript support for Political Capital -- provide copy editing and background research support for the manuscript production of the book project, Political Capital: Congressional Power through Networks
Duties: Library research; Proofreading, editing, and/or manuscript preparation;
NECESSARY Skills: Writing, Zotero
DESIRABLE Skills: N/A
Project 2: Data Visualization for Political Capital book project
Professor: Dr. Jennifer Victor
Description: Data Visualizations for Political Capital -- provide support for Prof. Victor's book manuscript and various data visualizations that will support the manuscript. This project is best for students with experience in network analysis and visualization in R and/or Gephi.
Duties: Data collection; Managing spreadsheets or databases; organizing data; Support in statistical analysis, writing code, scraping data, etc.;
NECESSARY Skills: R, data analysis
DESIRABLE Skills: adventurous spirit
Project 3: Caucus Explorer
Professor: Dr. Jennifer Victor
Description: Caucus Explorer -- provide technical support for Prof. Victor and Anna Garren's web tool for exploring congressional caucus memberships; experience with R, MySQL, Python, AWS, and related technologies is preferred.
Duties: Managing spreadsheets or databases; organizing data; Support in statistical analysis, writing code, scraping data, etc.;
NECESSARY Skills: SQL, R, GitHub
DESIRABLE Skills: AWS, Shiny
Project 4: Sport Administration in Public Administration
Professor: Dr. Jessica Terman
Description: Data collection and analysis is an integral part of the process of the social science and empirical research. The gateway course to empirical research in graduate level public administration in the Schar School is POGO 511. This URAP opportunity will include building and analyzing datasets looking at the National Football League. Specifically, we will first build datasets for the last fifteen years using NFL Combine, salary and Draft data, merging the datasets. We will then analyze the data to find patterns and create assignments for statistics courses.
Duties: Data collection; Coding (data entry);Managing spreadsheets or databases; organizing data;
NECESSARY Skills: Students must have at least cursory knowledge of Excel.
DESIRABLE Skills: Knowledge of Stata and having taken GOVT 300.
Project 5: Taiwan Security Monitor
Professor: Dr. Michael Hunzeker
Description: The Taiwan Security Monitor (TSM) is a student-driven research initiative dedicated to enhancing public understanding and informed discourse on Taiwan-related security issues. We are seeking Research Assistants who will monitor and collate open-source intelligence materials (including, but not limited to, news reports, official statements, social media feeds, think tank reports, online imagery, maps, etc.); assist in content creation and maintenance for our public-facing website and social media feed; develop data visualization products using QGIS or ArcGIS; and produce timely background research as necessary.
Duties: Data collection; Coding (data entry);Managing spreadsheets or databases; organizing data; Writing literature summaries; Library research; Support in statistical analysis, writing code, scraping data, etc.; Translation;
NECESSARY Skills: Potential RAs should be able to commit to a 15-hour per week workload. Must possess a familiarity with basic regional issues, interest in East Asian security and/or military affairs, and must be responsible, reliable, and able to work independently.
DESIRABLE Skills: Familiarity with open-source intelligence sources/collection. Data collection/entry, database tools. Applicants who demonstrate familiarity with advanced data analytics, military terminology, geolocation skills, Mandarin language proficiency, web design, and data visualization (using QGIS/ArcGIS) are highly desirable.
Project 6: Data Management in Federal Procurement and Government Contracting
Professor: Dr. Jessica Terman
Description: This research project will involve downloading and coding over fifteen years of Federal Procurement Data System data f. Students will learn data collection, data management and data coding skills. More advanced students will learn how to merge and analyze datasets.
Duties: Managing spreadsheets or databases; organizing data; Coding (data entry);Data collection;
NECESSARY Skills: Experience in Excel and knowledge of the importance of data integrity.
DESIRABLE Skills: Knowledge of the statistical software package Stata.
Project 7: Medical necessity standards for substance use disorder treatment within Medicaid
Professor: Dr. Johanna Catherine Maclean
Description: Medicaid is a joint federal and state government health insurance program that provides coverage to low-income individuals and families, including coverage for substance use disorder (SUD) treatment services such as counseling, residential rehabilitation, detoxification, and medication-assisted treatment. When a Medicaid program pays for a health care service, it typically requires that the service be "medically necessary" — meaning that a qualified clinician has determined the service is appropriate and needed for the patient's condition. For SUD treatment specifically, medical necessity determinations often involve deciding not just whether treatment is needed, but also what level of care is appropriate — for example, whether a patient needs intensive inpatient treatment or can be effectively treated in an outpatient setting. The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) has developed a widely recognized set of criteria, known as the ASAM Criteria, that provides a standardized, evidence-based framework for making these level-of-care determinations across a continuum of SUD treatment services.
This research project systematically reviews the Medicaid programs of all 50 states and the District of Columbia to examine whether each jurisdiction has formally adopted a specific medical necessity standard for SUD treatment reimbursement, with a focus on the ASAM Criteria. For each jurisdiction, the project documents: (1) whether a formal standard exists; (2) the date on which the policy was implemented; and (3) the specific details of the standard, including whether it was adopted through federal legislation, state legislation, administrative regulation, or a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Section 1115 demonstration waiver — a special federal agreement that allows states to test new approaches to delivering and financing Medicaid services. The project also examines whether the standard applies to all types of SUD treatment services or only to specific levels of care such as residential or inpatient treatment. Understanding variation across states in the adoption and scope of these standards is important because inconsistent or absent medical necessity criteria may create barriers to accessing appropriate SUD treatment for Medicaid beneficiaries, a population disproportionately affected by substance use disorders.
Duties: Managing spreadsheets or databases; organizing data; Coding (data entry);Data collection;
NECESSARY Skills: Experience in Excel and knowledge of the importance of data integrity.
DESIRABLE Skills: Knowledge of the statistical software package Stata.