Name: Emily Johnson
Home Institution: Darmouth University
Major: Government and Middle Eastern Studies

“I am truly grateful for the opportunities I received at CNS this summer. I interacted with distinguished experts and practitioners from the field of nonproliferation, attended lectures given by nuclear physicists and senior diplomats, worked on substantive, fulfilling projects, and got to know an amazing group of undergraduates — my fellow interns.

The CNS internship program is genuinely focused on giving its interns the best possible learning experience. From the very first day, when I met with Dr. Potter, the director of the Center, to discuss how my skills and interests matched with ongoing CNS projects, it was clear that the CNS staff was committed to making this a meaningful and rewarding experience. From there, the interns attended lectures, participated in discussion groups, and went on a fun weekend trip to visit the local sights, all of which was organized for us by CNS. In addition, various staff members continuously checked in throughout the summer to make sure we were enjoying our work.

At a lot of undergraduate internships, interns spend most days doing busy work or administrative duties. This is certainly not the case at CNS. At the end of the day, I felt that the work I did genuinely contributed to CNS’s mission. As an undergraduate, that was a really exciting feeling.”