Three students from the Bush School of Government and Public Service researched three critical transportation safety issues as part of their internship at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s Center for Transportation Safety (CTS) this summer. They studied sobriety checkpoints, ignition interlock systems and traffic safety culture, in preparation for the upcoming legislative session.
This was the first time the CTS internship program involved students from the Bush School at Texas A&M University, which was founded by former president George H. W. Bush. The mission of the Bush School is to educate principled leaders in public and international affairs, conduct research, and perform service.
“CTS is honored to conduct this internship, which has given us a great opportunity to work with these gifted students,” said Research Scientist Melissa Walden, who leads the internship program at CTS. “The policy papers they developed have been extremely valuable to the Center and to the traffic safety needs of the entire state.”
One of the interns, Jason Wagner of Houston, will continue working with CTS as a research associate while he finishes his studies with the Bush School.
“This internship has provided me with an excellent opportunity to put into practice the theoretical skills I’ve learned at the Bush School and apply them to real-world problems,” he said. “It’s been an extremely rewarding experience.”
Crawford is political science major and a Master’s in Public Administration candidate.
The other summer interns from the Bush School were Tricia Beifuss of Bryan, and Brady Olsen of Haltom City.