Meet the winners of the 2023 Graduate Student Internship Fellowship

Internships can unlock countless opportunities for graduate students to develop job skills that cannot be gained through their graduate studies, but are nonetheless crucial to their career success. UC Santa Barbara's Graduate Student Internship Fellowship assists graduate students with attaining experience related to career goals and professional development. This funding is made possible through the GSA referendum fees and additional support from the Graduate Division, under the leadership of Career Services.

This spring, Andrew Pettit (M.S. Student, Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology), Amy Fallas (PhD Student, Department of History), Lindita Djokovic (PhD Candidate, Counseling, Clinical and School Psychology), Alexandra Noi (PhD Student, Department of History), and Damaris Garcia-Valerio (PhD Candidate, Counseling, Clinical and School Psychology) were each awarded the 2023 Graduate Student Internship Fellowship. Read on to learn how the five awardees will be gaining new skills in exciting positions at their internships!

Andrew Pettit

Andrew is the Field Assistant for National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration at the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. He is excited to gain a deeper understanding of a career in the government sector and expand his professional network. This internship will provide him excellent opportunities to improve his communication skills by presenting science to stakeholders, researchers, and the general public. Andrew will also learn research and field techniques such as underwater fish tagging and water sampling. In addition, this internship will allow him the privilege of collaborating closely with remarkable scientists and gaining real world experience in a potential career path.

Amy Fallas

Amy is the Research Intern for Egypt Migrations in Cairo, Egypt. This internship offers her the opportunity to craft projects focused on current initiatives in historical preservation. She will meet leading Egyptian advocates and professionals who are engaged in heritage management and conservation intervention work for endangered monuments, cemeteries, and other historically significant structures from the medieval to modern periods. This will result in part of a series of policy reportage and interviews for publication. Amy will develop her skills in project management, policy writing, and media strategy as it pertains to historic preservation. This experience builds upon the excellent training Amy has received at UCSB and allow her to explore the applied and practical aspects of heritage management of modern Middle East history.

Lindita Djokovic

Lindita is the Graduate Student Clinician for the Mind and Behavior Assessment Clinic at UCSB. She is excited to apply her clinical knowledge and skills in a new way through practicing and administering neuropsychological assessments for a wide range of diagnoses. By working directly with clients, she will gain skills in writing comprehensive reports and in classifying symptomatology in many applied, clinical settings. This invaluable hands on experience will enhance her abilities as a therapist and give her an advantage when pursuing other professional opportunities.

Alexandra Noi

Alexandra is the Research Intern for the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in Washington, D.C. She is excited to work at a human rights, research, and educational nonprofit that speaks to her interests in academic research and civic activism. As a historian who studies the theory and practice of Soviet and Chinese forced labor camps in the 20th century, this hands-on experience will give her the opportunity to explore how the history and legacy of the phenomena is presented to a broader American audience. Alexandra expects to gain practical skills in summarizing new and analysis on current events, preparing information sheets and descriptive briefings for staff, writing and publishing blog reports, and reporting on DC metro based think tanks and universities events. She also expects to meet with policymakers, dissidents, and human rights activists. This internship enables her to share her knowledge with wider audiences and engage in conversations about ways to undo the past violence and to envision a just future.

Damaris Garcia Valerio

Damaris is the Program Assistant for
the California-Mexico Studies Center in Long Beach. She is excited to work and support DACA recipients. She will gain skills in managing groups of students abroad and as well as more experience in Mexican culture and Spanish. It is her goal to work with immigrants and hear their stories and realizations about their intersectional identities as a future psychologist, and this opportunity allows her to start her training and exposure to this career path.

Congratulations again to all of the recipients! We wish these interns a wonderful experience and look forward to checking back in with them at the conclusion of their work to see what they learned. Stay tuned!

If you are interested in learning how you can get a graduate-level internship, come speak with a career counselor!