MDI is Hiring: Media and Journalism Student Assistant

MDI is excited to announce a new position: Media and Journalism Student Assistant. Apply here for full consideration; please apply by August 1st

The Massive Data Institute (MDI) is looking to engage a current Georgetown undergraduate student to provide communications support specifically centered on writing news announcements, long-form reports, and developing email campaign communications. This role will be focused on developing stories and writing content in a timely manner to highlight the work of MDI faculty, MDI-affiliated faculty, post-doctoral fellows, MDI Scholars, and staff; this role might also include taking photos and producing video content to be shared alongside stories. This student will work alongside the MDI Communications and Student Engagement Student Assistant who is responsible for the MDI website and events.

Learning opportunities: Through this experience, the student employee will gain experience in developing short- and long-form content (i.e., news announcements, blog posts, reports, etc.). In addition, the student assistant will develop experience in building meaningful partnerships with MDI faculty and affiliated faculty across campus to highlight the work at MDI for an external audience.

This student must be creative to identify story opportunities and take initiative to develop and implement improvements on how MDI develops content and publishes in different channels.

This is a new position at MDI. Possible opportunities might include:

Researching and writing stories on current events, trends, and issues that would be relevant to MDI’s audience
Interviewing students, faculty, and postdoctoral fellows to develop content for the website
Monitoring news for story ideas of topics so that we can highlight work of MDI faculty and affiliated faculty
Developing stories on topical events, such as events on data ethics, AI, and data governance
Editing and proofreading stories
Taking photos and producing video content to be shared alongside stories
Building relationships across MDI and MDI affiliates to develop content for the website, and publish stories online, with the possibility to develop content in print
Attending and documenting MDI-sponsored programming and events, including writing timely posts for the website

Requirements include:

Highly motivated and accountable
Strong teamwork and collaboration skills
Strong attention to detail
Strong writing and editing skills
Experience in journalism / print media / online publication a plus
Copy editing experience is strongly preferred
Ability to learn quickly and approach projects of any size with confidence
Ability to embrace ambiguity and communicate specific needs and questions to supervisor, partners and collaborators
Ability to balance competing priorities and communicate changes in capacity and availability in a timely manner
Discretion, maturity, and confidential management of all incidental information acquired on the job
Openness to learning project management and communications software including Slack, Notion, etc.
A growth mind-set and openness to learning
Experience with Constant Contact, Mailchimp, WordPress, and Medium a plus

APPLICATION: Candidate applications will be reviewed by MDI Director Lisa Singh. Applications should include a writing sample from a website, blog, newspaper, or other publication (not a class assignment). In the cover letter, please include a paragraph reflection (3-5 sentences) of what potential ways you think MDI could improve how we communicate stories about MDI. Students who wish to make inquiries should contact MDI Administrative Coordinator, Khai Booker at mdiresearch@georgetown.edu.

PROGRAM TIMELINE (subject to change)
Application Deadline: For full consideration, please apply by August 1st
Interviews: Begin the week of Jul 31, 2023
Notification of selected MDI Media and Journalism Student Assistants: Beginning the week of Aug 21, 2023
Position start date: Week of Aug 28, 2023

ABOUT MDI: At Georgetown’s McCourt School of Public Policy, the Massive Data Institute (MDI) is an interdisciplinary research institute that connects experts across computer science, data science, public health, public policy, and social science to tackle societal scale issues and impact public policy in a way that improves people’s lives through responsible evidence-based research. For more information on MDI, please visit: https://mdi.georgetown.edu/

PLEASE NOTE: Georgetown University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer fully dedicated to achieving a diverse team of employees. All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity and expression, and sexual orientation), disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.