CISS Hosts 2026 Social Science Writing Internship Program Showcase
On July 21, 2026, the Center for Innovation in Social Science hosted the 2026 Social Science Writing Internship Program (SWIP) showcase. The showcase featured presentations by the six student interns, and inspiring talks by expert faculty and staff writers at BU.
The SWIP program was launched in 2024 as a collaboration between the CAS Writing Program’s Writing in the Disciplines (WID) initiative and the Center for Innovation in Social Science (CISS) to provide hands-on writing experiences for students with a background in social science. The program is generously supported by University and CAS Advisory Board Member and Alumna, Jennifer Simpson (CAS’00), and the Psalm 103 Foundation.
SWIP interns were placed at a social science research institute on the BU campus for a ten-week period. This year’s sites were: CAS Communications, Center for Innovation for Social Science, Center on Forced Displacement, Global Development Policy Center, and Institute for Global Sustainability. Interns worked closely with their site supervisors, and carried out tasks including writing news, feature, and personality profile articles that describe the research, teaching or outreach activities carried out at their site. The interns worked approximately 15 hours per week and attended a 90-minute weekly writing workshop/seminar led by Stephen Hodin, SWIP Coordinator and Writing Program Senior Lecturer. At the weekly workshop, the interns also developed and refined their own writing projects, such as honors thesis proposals or expanding on papers they had previously written for their classes.
The July showcase opened with greetings from CISS director Deborah Carr and David Shawn, Writing Program master lecturer, SWIP Program Director, and Associate Director for Writing in the Disciplines. Jonathan Mijs, associate professor of sociology, and Andrew Thurston, Editor at THE BRINK, shared their own personal trajectories as writers, and offered helpful advice to students who would like to share their own work – whether in academic or popular publications. The five interns then presented on their own writing products. Read on to learn more about the interns, and see scenes from the showcase!
| Intern | Placement | Independent Writing Project | |
Amita Ganesh (CAS’27; Sociocultural Anthropology) |
Global Development Policy Center | “Purity and Honor: Ethnographic and Bollywood Film Representation of the 1947 Partition” | Amita developed her Honors Thesis, which examines how ideas of purity and honor shaped gendered violence during the 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan, focusing on representations in Bollywood film and ethnography. |
 Lindsay Griesman (CAS ’27; Anthropology) |
Center for Innovation in Social Sciences | “For Health or Enhancement? GLP-1 Use in the Era of Molecular Biopolitics“ | Lindsay’s summer project (“For Health or Enhancement?: GLP-1 Use in the Era of Molecular Biopolitics”) explores the many sides of the GLP-1 debate, from the medicalized management of obesity to socialized body standards. |
Zuzu Janesn (CAS ’27; Medical Anthropology) |
CAS Communications | “Act Natural: The Weaponization of Scientific Language in the Anti-Trans Movement“ | In her project “Act Natural: The Weaponization of Scientific Language in the Anti-Trans Movement,” Zuzu argues that anti-trans rhetoric relies on ‘denaturalizing’ transpeople in order to deny their existence and basic human rights. |
 Krishna Nagarajan (CAS ’28; Economics) |
Center on Forced Displacement | “Migration & Money: What It Means Be Locked Out of a Formal Economy“ | Krishna’s summer research investigates the causes and implications of financial exclusion for immigrants around the world. He finds an individual’s immigration involves a complex decision-making process of an entire family. |
 Jieun Paik (CAS ’28; English and Philosophy) |
Center on Forced Displacement | “Food Sovereignty as a Way of Seeing“ | Jieun is working on a historical and theoretical analysis of the food sovereignty movement. She investigates why the movement resonates with various political groups, highlighting themes of solidarity and transformation. |
 Robin Sheng (CAS ’28; History) |
Institute for Global Sustainability | “Half A Mile West and Away: The Orange Line Relocation and the Unfulfilled Promises for Roxbury’s Washington Street Corridor“ | Robin’s project challenges the mainstream narrative that Boston’s Southwest Corridor Project fully realized the demands of the anti-highway protestors from the South End, Roxbury, and Jamaica Plain. |
Click here to view the 2026 SWIP Showcase Presentation booklet.