Summer Research Intern - Evaluating Electricity Market Tools

Program Description

Summer 2026 Research Internships – Application Period is Now Closed

We are no longer accepting applications for summer research internships for 2026. If you applied, thank you for your interest! We are reviewing all applications and plan to make hiring decisions by end of April.

Do you want to begin a career in economics or policy research? Are you interested in contributing to impactful, balanced research that is aimed at improving environmental, energy and natural resource decisions? A summer research internship with Resources for the Future (RFF) might be right for you.

The RFF summer internship program provides an opportunity for students to prepare for careers that engage in rigorous, policy-relevant research. Interns are essential members of RFF’s Research and Policy Engagement team; they are responsible for providing technical support that, under the direction of RFF Fellows, allows for the production of compelling and impactful research that aligns with RFF’s mission of improving environmental, energy and natural resource decisions through impartial economic research and policy engagement.

At RFF, interns will have the opportunity to connect with researchers and other staff members through seminars, coffee chats, and RFF staff events. Further, the internship co-coordinators will organize an external intern event near the beginning of the summer to foster DC-wide connections with interns from other environmental organizations. The internship program will culminate with presentations from interns about their summer projects and an end-of-summer celebration.

The internship program will run June 15–August 21, 2026. Start or end dates for individual interns can be adjusted as needed. All internships will be conducted in RFF’s offices in Washington, DC.

RFF is also able to host a limited number of summer interns who are funded by their universities and study relevant topics like environmental economics or environmental policy research. Please feel free to contact internships@rff.org with any questions.

The Summer 2026 internship projects are listed below:

Evaluating Electricity Market Tools. Working with Karen Palmer (Senior Fellow), Jenya Kahn-Lang (Fellow), and Molly Robertson (Associate Fellow), the intern will help investigate and compare models and tools that assess capacity markets and resource adequacy. This will inform the intern and team to either create a new analytical tool or combine existing approaches to assess market design features. Depending on circumstances, the intern may be able to continue collaborating with the Fellows on a research paper beyond the paid internship.