Jeffrey L. Pressman Awards

Talented MIT undergraduates are recognized annually with the Jeffrey L. Pressman Award for research or internship in U.S. government, politics, policy, law, or education.  The 2024 application deadline will be February 16, 2024.

Pressman Awards include stipends of up to $7,000 each, in support of special summer projects or internships in issues related to American politics. The project should focus on a legal, political, institutional, or policy issue. All MIT undergraduates returning to campus as undergraduates in the fall semester are eligible to apply.

Recent Pressman internships and projects have included:

  • Internship at the Center for American Progress working on a project developing a long- term economic growth strategy for the US
  • Internship at the Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy focusing on enhancement of US nuclear security through defense, non-proliferation and environmental efforts
  • Internship with the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts
  • A research project collecting original data and performing data analysis on the Ohio Educational Choice Scholarship program

Application guidelines are available here.

The application form is available here.

Applications are due February 16, 2024.

For more information, contact Katherine Paton Hoss, Lecturer/Undergraduate Administrator (hoss@mit.edu).


Recent Winners

Summer 2023

Jennifer Ai
Internship at Recidiviz Data Analysis

Lily Chen
Research Project: "Natural Language Processing for Political Polarization"

Paul Irvine
Internship at the Office of CA Governor Gavin Newsom

Liberty Ladd
Internship at the U.S. Department of Defense

Aiden Render-Katolic
Internship at the Center for Strategic and International Studies

Sam Salwan
Internship – Brookings Institution

Maanas Sharma
Research Project: "Algorithmic Redistricting and Gerrymandering in Texas’ 2020 Congressional Districts"

Alec Sheres
Internship at the office of U.S. Representative Juan Vargas (D-CA, 52nd District)

Luka Srsic
Internship at the Department of Government Affairs, Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission

Summer 2022

Umang Bansal
Research Project: “The Effect of the United States’ Unemployment Insurance Program on the Overall American Economy”

Ibrahim Suat Evren
Research intern: Market Design with Profs Scott Kominers and Yannai Gonczarowski (Harvard)

Phillip Hood
Internship at Beto for Texas

Mallika Pajjuri
Research project: Civic Synergy – Depolarization Amongst Generation Z

James Shaw
Internship: City of Boston Mayor’s Office of Economic Opportunity & Inclusion

David Spicer
Internship at the Louisiana Board of Regents, Louisiana Governor’s Fellowship

Summer 2021

Michelle Tang
Internship with Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven

Grace Song
Internship at MIT Washington DC Office

Stephanie Zhang
Internship at Department of Education and Senate HELP Committee

Summer 2020

David Spicer
Massachusetts Advocates for Children

Max Williamson
US Senator Chris Coons’ Re-Election Campaign, Delaware

Heidi Li
Reserch Project: “A Policy Outlook: Energy Transition in Appalachia Pennsylvania.”

Natasha Stamler
Research Project: “Using Earth Observation to Inform New York City Resiliency Planning.”

Prosser Cathey
Research Project: “Experimentally Testing a Game Theoretic Model of Social Dilemmas.”

Summer 2019

Christian Cruz

Environmental Protection Agency

Nwanacho Nwana

MIT Washington DC Office

Ignacio Ortega

MIT Washington DC Office

Sarah Powazek

Mass Civil Liberties Union

Summer 2018

Kevin Downey

New York Office of Securities and Exchange Commission

Jordan Isler

Cortico

Helena Ma

US Department of Health and Human Services

Theresa Machemer

National Geographic

Summer 2017

Megan Schussman

Internship at the MIT Washington, DC Office on Education issues

Rene Zhao

Internship at the US Department of Health and Human Services on the Idea Lab

Deepti Ajjampore

Internship at the Aerospace Corporation as a program and policy intern

Summer 2016

Anit Lui Akpovi

Internship at Child Care Aware

Benjamin Chazen

Internship at the MIT Washington, DC Office on Energy issues

Alex McCullumsmith

Internship at the US Department of the Interior on Environmental issues

Summer 2015

Kathryn Buggs

Internship at the Department of Justice Anti Trust Economic Analysis Group in Washington, DC working on Economic Justice issues

Isaac Silberberg

Internship at US Senator Harry Reid’s Office working on Constituent issues and education

Megan Chang

Internship at the Center for Effective Government working on Regulatory policy