Research Internship Opportunities

Our application for the Fall 2023 semester is closed. We are currently accepting applications for the Spring 2024 and Summer 2024 semesters.

Children’s Research Triangle (CRT) is a mental health non-profit that seeks to provide therapy to children and families in underserved communities. CRT has also been in the forefront of many issues related to maternal substance abuse in pregnancy, the outcomes of children prenatally exposed to alcohol and drugs, the child welfare implications of substance abuse in families, as well as the treatment of youth who have been exposed to trauma. The staff at CRT has written articles that have been published in Pediatrics, The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Research in Developmental Disabilities, and numerous other leading medical and psychological journals.

Internship Description: The CRT research team is offering part-time unpaid research internships to qualified undergraduates in the Chicago area. Most of the work is remote; however, interns are expected to come into the office at least 4 times a month in order to help with tasks on site. Interns will be involved in multiple ongoing projects, such as

- ongoing evaluation of the Trauma Treatment Program
- evaluation of a grant program focused on providing early mental health therapy and resources for children age 0-12
- evaluation of a grant program focused on community outreach in the Illinois Southland for children age 0-8
- evaluation of a grant program providing training in Youth Mental Health First Aid
- evaluation of a screening tool for alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use
- the development of a database about children 0 to 18 who have been assessed and treated at CRT. 

Interns will be actively involved in most aspects of the research process including searching for relevant literature, putting together research materials, interviewing families, inputting and cleaning data in Excel and IBM SPSS, and helping with data management and analysis. This internship does not provide any clinical experience, i.e., direct contact with children, but is geared for students who would like to learn more about the research/program evaluation work at a non-profit organization.  Students will receive the necessary training to do these tasks on these projects and will receive supervision from research team members led by a licensed clinical psychologist. Interns are expected to work at least 6 hours per week, but more hours can be accommodated. Internships can be set up for one, two, or more semesters.

Qualified Applicants will be undergraduate students who have: 
- Completed at least one introductory course in psychology, behavioral science, child development, or social work with a grade of B or above, or enrolled in a pre-medical course of study
- Demonstrated merit in their undergraduate studies up until the present time
- Expressed an interest in pursuing future careers or further education in empirical research or medicine
- Displayed the ability to work well with other people in a team-oriented atmosphere. 

Compensation: Interns will be given multiple learning experiences in scoring, interpreting, and managing the data from standardized measures for childhood trauma, behavior, and development; working on a team to meet the requirements of federal grants; and will gain experience in conducting interviews with client families.

Interns who are interested in psychological evaluations are invited to observe a psychological evaluation after at least one month of service. Finally, interns may be offered authorship on submitted papers to which they have contributed substantially. 

To Apply: The Research Team interviews candidates throughout the year, but it is typically divided into three cohorts: Spring, Summer, and Fall. Interested candidates should fill out the job links for their intended cohort. A resume/CV, unofficial transcripts, and a cover letter are required to apply. Applications without a cover letter will not be reviewed. 

If there are any questions, please email Kayla Scanlan, the Research Internship Manager, at kscanlan@cr-triangle.org.

Spring 2024 Cohort Application (mid-January through mid-May)
Application Deadline: November 1st, 2023

Summer 2024 Cohort Application (mid-May through mid-August)
Application Deadline: March 1st, 2024

Please visit the job links above to apply.