Experiential Learning in Public Policy

what is experiential learning, and how will i Learn public policy beyond the classroom?

• Gain tangible skills through work opportunities both on- and off-campus, including research and teaching assistantships alongside our faculty experts.
• Solve a real-world problem for a real-world client in your team-based Capstone Project, collaborating with our top industry and government partners.
• Make meaningful connections through internships and fellowships, many of which lead to full-time job offers.
• Apply your newly earned knowledge from class to immersive activities, workshops, events, and student clubs.

Not only do these opportunities crystallize concepts and strategies learned in coursework, they add highly marketable industry experience to your résumé prior to graduation.

behind the scenes: Experiential learning at heinz

Group projecs with real-world clients

Most full-time Heinz College master’s students complete a team-based project, working in close collaboration with a real-world client. These projects fulfill an actual business or operational need for our partners, giving students an opportunity to have a measurable impact while still in school.

Recent student groups have mapped city-led efforts to respond to, and prevent, hate crimes; predicted peer-to-peer lending to help underserved communities; and analyzed the discrepancies between organ transplant patient care handbooks across the U.S.

Recent Public Policy and Management Capstone clients include:

• World Economic Forum
• The Aspen Institute
• SAS Institute
• World Bank
• Pittsburgh Regional Transit
• Global Emancipation Network
• OECD
• U.S. Department of Education
• U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
• Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (multiple departments)
• RAND Corporation
• Green Edge Technologies
• New Orleans Police Department
• YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh
• Bike Pittsburgh
• Allies for Children
• UNICEF
• Footbridge for Families
• Overseas Vote Foundation / U.S. Vote Foundation
• Amtrak
• Heinz Endowments
• City of Pittsburgh (multiple departments)
• Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh 
• One To World
• Bipartisan Policy Center
• UnitedHealth

Policy internships

Most Heinz College master’s students are required to complete a 10-week, full-time internship during the summer between the first and second years. Students in our Pittsburgh and Data Analytics track all complete required internships; Washington, D.C., students complete a summer internship as well as a Heinz Policy Fellowship during their second year; Fast Track students are not required to complete an internship, however many opt to do so.

Internships present you with the chance to apply what you’ve learned in your first year to real-life situations, gain exposure to your future field, build your résumé, and make lasting professional contacts.

Recent internships:

Work directly with Faculty

Our faculty are more than researchers and instructors. They are innovators and mentors who work to solve major problems facing companies, governments, and society. Most importantly, our faculty are uncommonly accessible and include students in their groundbreaking work.

As a Heinz College student, you have many opportunities to enrich your grad school experience by working closely with world-renowned faculty.

• Collaborate one-on-one with a faculty member on an independent research project
• Contribute to a faculty member’s work as a research assistant. MSPPM students have worked with Professor Jonathan Caulkins, for example, on projects related to drug policy and illegal online drug markets.
• Get involved with faculty projects through a CMU research center, including Metro21 Smart Cities Institute, the Block Center for Technology and Society, the Digital Transformation and Innovation Center, and CyLab Security & Privacy Institute

EXPERIENTIAL CLASSES

Many classes focus on experiential projects, such as Measuring Social (see video), in which students learn to analyze social media data and solve problems for partner organizations from industry, government, and the media.

Also, for many years, Heinz College has welcomed colleagues from the U.S. Army War College to campus to conduct an International Strategic Crisis Negotiation Exercise with our students, providing an invaluable experience in leadership and international diplomacy.

Our Machine Learning for Public Policy Lab, taught by Professor Rayid Ghani, is a project-based course that teaches students to solve real-world problems using machine learning, with a focus on public policy and social good. Students build end-to-end machine learning systems, starting from project definition and scoping, to modeling, to field validation and turning their analysis into action. 

Policy innovation lab: User-centered research, human-centered design

At Heinz College, students learn by engaging with the real world—while under the tutelage of our trail-blazing faculty. Heinz's Policy Innovation Lab provides students with an avenue to gain real-world experience as they earn their master's degree. 

The Policy Innovation Lab is an intensive, applied course that prepares students to become public-interest technologists who are creative, ethical, inclusive, and responsive. Our faculty teach students how to design and build public-interest technology services with human-centered design. Working directly with a client from a government office or public-service nonprofit, students aim to develop and deliver a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) with high-impact results.