Mason is committed to preparing students for meaningful careers in a global society. Internships are important opportunities to experience the real world of the workplace while gaining knowledge and skills through the application of classroom theories to practical problems.
The Center for Social Science Research (CSSR) supports this Mason commitment. By providing opportunities to work closely with Research Hubs and faculty, the CSSR strives to create meaningful and engaging internship opportunities.
For additional information about CSSR internship opportunities, see Handshake or email cssr@gmu.edu. Handshake is Mason’s job search platform for on-campus, part-time, work-study, internship, and full-time jobs.
Brandon Barnes is a junior at New York University majoring in Sociology while on the premed track. His primary interests are around food insecurity in low-income communities and rural areas, health outcomes for the LGBTQ+ community, and the sociological factors that impact an individual’s willingness to seek out medical care. Brandon’s time interning at the Center for Social Science Research was spent working on capacity mapping for local area food access and hunger mitigation. He also spent time interviewing, transcribing and coding interview data, as well as cleaning and coding survey data for a project on the global impact of K-Pop. In his free time, Brandon can be found hiking, bird watching, and cooking.
CSSR 2022 Summer Intern, Brandon Barnes (NYU, sociology undergraduate) poster won best student poster at The 2023 Eastern Sociological Society Meetings!
Using ArcGIS, Brandon built a food assistance program capacity map for Fairfax County. He then compared his capacity map with Fairfax County’s Vulnerability Index, which spatially documents areas with high percentage of low-income, rent burdened households, and found food assistance programs are spatially matched to serve high-need residents. Brandon also identified other barriers to accessing emergency food assistance, including hours of operation that also can limit food access.