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CPL Undergraduate Summer Institute

The California Policy Lab

The California Policy Lab (CPL) generates research insights for government impact. Through hands-on partnerships with government agencies, CPL performs rigorous research across issue silos and builds the data infrastructure necessary to improve programs and policies that millions of Californians rely on every day.

The Summer Institute

For four summers, from 2021 to 2024, CPL hired a cohort of talented UC undergraduates to work on independent, data-focused policy research projects. Applicants had a background in data science, economics, statistics, or public policy, and were well-equipped in coding and data analysis.

Instituters had the opportunity to develop and execute a project to completion using the University of California Consumer Credit Panel (UC-CCP), a longitudinal panel of approximately 40 million consumers starting in 2004 and continuing quarterly through the present.

Using the UC-CCP, Instituters studied:
• The effect of minimum wage increases on financial well-being
• Student debt burdens in California (later published as a CPL brief!)
• Post-wildfire displacement
• Measuring neighborhood change using households’ financial health

Instituters met at least weekly to discuss project progress with a CPL coordinator. At the end of the summer, Instituters wrote-up and presented their findings to CPL staff and faculty.

2024 was the fourth summer CPL offered the Summer Institute, however, our funding expired and was not renewed. If you are interested in supporting the revival of the Summer Institute, please reach out to development@capolicylab.org.

Testimonials

Here’s what Instituters had to say about the program:

“As a Summer Research Fellow at the CPL’s Undergraduate Summer Institute, I gained invaluable experience in using data analysis and quantitative methods to investigate a policy area of interest, as well as in executing a research project from start to finish. With the support and guidance of the program instructor, my project lead, my mentor, and fellow Instituters, I was given the flexibility to explore research questions that intrigued me, without fear of failing to fulfill established requirements that can come with more rigid internships or research programs.” Megan Son, UCLA, 2021 

“Being part of the CPL summer institute was a great experience, and I really enjoyed being able to conduct my own research amongst a group of like-minded peers and supportive mentors. This program allowed me to develop the skills needed to work at the intersection of public policy and data analytics– and I’d highly recommend it to anyone trying to make an impact in the policy world!”
Niru Ghoshal-Datta, UC Santa Cruz, 2021 

I had a great experience because I learned tangible programming skills while also learning about public policy issues at a larger scale. My mentor, project leads, and instructor made this experience much better because they were very supportive and patient with me while figuring out a research question I wanted to explore, and further developing my R skills. I thoroughly enjoyed this experience and think it was very valuable for my professional and career goals. Lindsey Sanchez, UC Merced, 2022 

The CPL Summer Institute was the perfect propeller for connecting my passions in statistics and data science with policy analysis by wrangling raw, complex data and collaborating in actionable and fulfilling research plans. Through conducting research with large and complex datasets, I was able to study SQL, enhance my skills in Python, learn how to structure writing for policymakers, and digest advanced research papers. The rich resources that the CPL provided to us instituters gave me promising potential for deep dives into research and analytical techniques which perfectly positioned my entrance into a data-driven policy analysis career.
Cindy Xu, University of California, MASDS, UCLA, and University of California, Santa Barbara (BS), 2023 

“I had a great experience with the CPL as a Computer Science major and enjoyed the different ways to understand data analysis. I believe having access to such a large dataset was a good challenge that helped me to develop my skills in R.” Aaditya Borse, UC Irvine, 2024 

Recipients of the Maria X. Martinez Prize

Each year, we awarded one student with the Maria X. Martinez Prize, for Excellence in Data Analysis for the Social Good. Maria was a former colleague of CPL at the San Francisco Department of Public Health who died in 2020. She exemplified data-driven public service focused on improving people’s lives.

  • 2021: Megan Son, “Analysis of Police-Stop Data Across Four Counties”
  • 2022: Lindsey Sanchez, “Homelessness in Public Schools”
  • 2023: Dickson Chung, “Parental Homeownership and Children’s Financial Trajectory”
  • 2024: Halle Strause, “Examining the Effect of the Medical Debt Wipe”

Former Summer Instituters 

Simon Alam, UC Berkeley, 2021
Michelle Belon, UC San Diego, 2021
Rohan Bijukumar, UC Riverside, 2023
Andrea Bizarro, UC Davis, 2023
Aaditya Borse, UC Irvine, 2024
Jong Wook Choe, UC Davis, 2022
Dickson Chung, UC Santa Cruz, 2023
Elizabeth Franck, UC Berkeley, 2024
Niru Ghoshal-Datta, UC Santa Cruz, 2021
Shubham Gupta, UCLA, 2021
Elizabeth Hafen, UC Irvine, 2021
Benjamin Ho, UC Irvine, 2022
Helen Hoang, UC Berkeley, 2022
Helena Hu, UCLA, 2023
Jamie Hui, UC Davis, 2024
Genie Kwak, UCLA, 2024
Quyen Le, UC Santa Barbara, 2023
Jiayi Li, UCSD, 2022
Daniel Lopez-Orozco, UC Berkeley, 2023
Tomas Lopez, UCSD, 2024
Diana Lua, UC Merced, 2021
Megan Ma, UCLA, 2022
Daniela Dula Mejia, UC Davis, 2021
Seetal Neelon, UC Riverside, 2024
Daniel Perez, UC Merced, 2023
Ramona Mukherji, UCLA, 2023
Kenny Morris, UC Santa Barbara, 2021
Pallavi Murthy, UC Berkeley, 2022
Trevan Nguyen, UCSD, 2023
Celine Phan, UC Santa Barbara, 2024
Lindsey Sanchez, UC Merced, 2022
Axel Morales Sanchez, UC Santa Cruz, 2022
Tamar Sasson, UC Santa Cruz, 2022
Sukham Sidhu, UC San Diego, 2023
Megan Son, UCLA, 2021
Halle Strause, UC Santa Barbara, 2024
Andrew (Wei Ting) Teo, UC Santa Cruz, 2024
Sean Tjoa, UCLA, 2022
Emily Wang, UC Irvine, 2023
Cindy Xu, UC Santa Barbara, 2023
Andy Yang, UC Davis, 2024
Bobby Zhu, UC San Diego, 2024

Learn more

This program and other opportunities are promoted via the CPL newsletter www.capolicylab.org/newsletter-signup



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