Nicole Stoddard

My role: This summer, I’m interning with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in the Massachusetts office through The Washington Center’s Summer Transportation Internship Program for Diverse Groups (STIPDG). 

My responsibilities: My responsibilities as a Data Analyst Intern include looking at crash data across four New England states: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. My goal in doing this is to find the biggest risk factors, like weather, specific location, or time of day, that led to these crashes. I then report back to the state offices to help them develop safety strategies that aid in crash prevention. Along with this, I’m working with interns from the South Carolina and DC offices on a research project addressing transportation funding disparities across the U.S., which we will present at a virtual research symposium at the end of the summer. I also attend professional development and networking sessions through the program, and I even got the change to go to a transportation conference in DC this week as a TWC field trip!

I Learned: Along with sharpening my skills in Microsoft Excel, the most important thing I have learned so far is that this work has a real and tangible impact. For example, when analyzing the crash data, I found that across the four states, Tuesday was the highest crash day. When I presented my data to the state offices, they had told me that the majority of the traffic safety monitoring had been conducted on Thursdays, and that they now planned to increase the monitoring on Tuesdays! Knowing that my work as an intern is contributing toward making our roads safer and possibly reducing injuries and deaths has been extremely fulfilling. 

How My Classes Helped: I chose to study public policy because I’m interested in learning more about how government can be used address inequities and improve the lives of all Americans. Through this internship, I’ve been given a first-hand look into how a federal agency operates, and have been able to help make the U.S. a safer place!