ICST.Fall2012

BEYOND THE CLASSROOM
This fall, 36 undergraduate students will join
ICST as interns to work on the a project titled
“Pathways, Processes, Roles and Factors for Terrorist
Disengagement, Re-engagement and Recidivism.”
These interns complete 25 hours of initial training in
data collection and processing for network, semantic,
and event-data analysis. Throughout the course of
the semester, the interns complete assigned readings,
attend regular meetings with postdoctoral fellows and
graduate research assistants, and code and process data
relevant to their research project. Some also choose to
write a 15-20 page research paper in order to receive
academic credit for their internship.
Intern Profiles
Profiled below are two recent ICST interns, Danna
O’Rourke and Ruth Canagarajah. Danna recently began
her first year of a Master of Public Policy program at
the University of Maryland, where she also serves as a
graduate research assistant for the National Consortium
for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism
(START). Ruth will soon be leaving for Sri Lanka,
where she will conduct research as a Fulbright scholar.
Danna O’Rourke
“Two years ago I was an
English major with useful
skills but no idea of how and in
which field I wanted to apply
them. Coming to ICST was not
part of a larger plan, because I
didn’t have one. I do now – and
my experience here has helped
me to determine what I want to do with my future.
Interning for ICST has been challenging, rigorous
and, at times, draining. I make no pretense of the
work being easy, because it never was. But as a result,
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I’m leaving the internship with a sense of what I want
to do, some amazing skills, experiences and contacts.
Beyond learning from my work, I was fortunate enough
to learn from the speakers ICST brought in and the
Fellows and post-docs who were always kind enough to
put time aside for me whenever I needed it; from these
individuals, I received information, advice, networking
assistance, some guidance and a lot of encouragement.
Interning for ICST was challenging, but it is also
immeasurably rewarding, illuminating and – at times –
fun. Learning that I can enjoy what I do and see the realworld
impact of my efforts absolutely confirmed that
this is the field that I intend to devote myself to. ICST
has opened a door that led me to more opportunities
than I could have conceived of. Because of the many
emerging areas of study in this field, I’m not sure
where I will ultimately end up, but what I can say with
absolute certainty and gratitude is that this internship
has changed my life. I am entering graduate school with
the best preparation I could have hoped for.
This opportunity to use my abilities has been enormously
rewarding and has taught me far more than I thought
it would; it has given me a distinct perspective on the
why, the who and the when of contemporary affairs and
policies. It has not only developed my critical thinking
and communication skills, but it has made me a more
interested and concerned citizen.”