The Harvard Center for Research on Computation & Society has (paid) research opportunities available for undergraduate students interested in computational research that serves public interest. The different positions listed below have differing skill requirements, although most of them require some programming and data analysis expertise. Instructions on how to apply are at the bottom.
We are looking for student who are eager to participate in term-time research alongside faculty or postdoctoral fellows, for up to 15 hours per week. We will provide skill-building workshops twice a month (and we’ll feed you!). We will schedule these to accommodate student schedules, so we expect that all interns will attend.
For general information, email CRCS Program Manager Kimia Mavon (kmavon@seas.harvard.edu). For more information about a particular project, please contact the PI directly.
Research Opportunities
PI: Maia Jacobs, CRCS Postdoctoral Fellow Project
Description: This work uses human-computer interaction (HCI) methods and behavior change theory to create new computing approaches for mobile health tools that consider the personal and dynamic needs of individuals over time. Specifically, this research focuses on understanding patients’ use of technology to support chronic disease management. Students of all educational backgrounds are welcome to apply.
PI: Margo Seltzer, CRCS Faculty Director
Description: If you’re the type of person who likes to think formally about real systems problems, we’ve got a project for you! Whole-system provenance is the record of the history of an OS execution as a directed acyclic graph. We use provenance to 1) perform intrusion detection via machine learning techniques; 2) demonstrate compliance with regulations and access policies; and 3) help with the reproduction of scientific experiments. We have developed a system called CamFlow that we use to capture this provenance. We are looking for someone who wants to tackle the thorny issues around what it means for provenance to be correct and/or complete and then determine if CamFlow satisfies those criteria. If it doesn’t, we hope that you are up for some hacking to make it so. Our goal is that by the end of the project, we can claim that our system generates accurate and complete provenance and then demonstrate that that data is sufficient for the use cases listed above as any others you can come up with. We expect that you’ll join us in writing a paper as the final piece of the project. Although it’s not required that you have taken any/all of these courses, this project will make use of things you learned in CS61, CS161, CS152, and probably many others!
Salary
$12.50/hour for up to 15 hours per week, plus dinner twice a month
Instructions on how to apply:
Please send your resume or CV, a transcript, and paragraph or two about which project(s) you’re interested in and and why to kmavon@seas.harvard.edu.