This summer I am working as a research intern for the Healthy Buildings program at the Harvard School of Public Health. The goal of this program is to improve the lives of people in all buildings and indoor spaces by conducting and conveying research regarding public health and building science. I am responsible for three projects this month. The first one is creating the layout for a website for an extensive three-part research regarding the impact of green buildings on cognitive function. The second project that I am a part of is called the “healthy homes app” where I am able to work with a very innovative and diverse team. The purpose of this project is to create a mobile application in order to raise awareness of the existence of and harm related to indoor air pollutants on human health. We are trying to develop a digital solution to reduce the effects of indoor air pollutants. In order to do this, effective background research is necessary which is what I have been focusing on. The third project that I have dedicated my time to is translating various scientific papers in order to make it more accessible to the public. I truly believe that all the work I do this summer will contribute to helping the program rapidly make progress in the world of research and bringing real- world change.
As my background is in Environmental Studies, this internship directly aligns with my interest and the type of higher education I plan to pursue in the future. I am very passionate about sustainability and have started developing greater interest when it comes to the built environment and its impact on people. My work to help conduct more research regarding this subject and translating the findings to make it more accessible to the general public is definitely a substantial learning opportunity. Throughout this internship, my goal is to learn more about the correlation between the built environment and the impacts on human health.