Job Specifications
Policy Analysis Intern
As a leader in advancing New York’s energy transition, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) has remained a credible, objective and trusted partner in ours state’s energy planning as well as deploying new and innovative technologies to expand New York’s economy. NYSERDA has worked for the past 50 years to protect the environment and help New Yorkers increase energy efficiency, lower energy costs and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. NYSERDA engages with stakeholders including residents, business owners, developers, community leaders, local government officials, universities, utilities, investors, entrepreneurs, and more, to develop, invest, and foster conditions that:
Attract the private sector capital investment needed to expand New York’s clean energy economy.
Overcome barriers to using clean energy at a large-scale in New York.
Enable New York’s communities and residents to benefit equitably in the clean energy transition.
INTERNSHIP OVERVIEW
The Policy Analysis team within the Policy, Analysis and Research unit analyzes policies and programs related to energy use, supply, and greenhouse gas emissions across New York state. This includes forecasting buildings adoption of clean energy technologies and energy demand under different policy scenarios as part of NYSERDA studies and planning exercises. The Policy Analysis team works closely with Buildings program teams to incorporate program findings and data into the modeling framework. The intern will provide support of buildings data analysis and policy model software development used for buildings policy analysis.
The intern’s work will improve the buildings functioning of three modeling tools used by NYSERDA to simulate the effects of possible future policy conditions on technology adoption, energy use, demand, greenhouse gas emissions, and co-pollutants:
An economywide model used to assess the State’s progress toward emissions and energy goals.
A regional buildings-specific model used to analyze the building stock’s energy use and demand under various precise appliance and envelope conditions.
A regional buildings-specific model in development that predicts appliance and weatherization adoption.
This is a paid internship for current students at an accredited college. The pay rate is from $18 to $20 per hour based on current class year. This internship will begin on June 1, 2026 and continue to December 31, 2026, with a possible option to extend
Interns must be located in New York State or an immediately adjacent state while working. It is expected that interns will follow our telework policy, with a combination of in-office and remote work. Interns work up to 18.5 hours per week during the semester, and the option to work up to 37.5 hours per week between semesters, when not attending classes.
Primary Responsibilities
The intern will conduct data analysis and coding work that will support the realism, integrity, and usability of buildings program data and surveys for the purposes of analyzing the building stock’s energy use, demand, and emissions (greenhouse gases and co-pollutants). They will work with NYSERDA staff and contractors on efforts to clean and quality-check data, and test, validate, and document analytical tools. They will also conduct analytical work and document efforts and findings in briefs for staff and management.
Specifically, the intern will be responsible for:
Cleaning, re-coding and analyzing building electrification and weatherization program data
Testing and validation of models and software used to analyze and forecast building decarbonization in New York State
Analyzing data, in particular data related to building energy performance to inform policy takeaways
Documenting and occasionally presenting work
The intern may also be involved in the following as time and skills permit:
Researching available data sources
Using buildings energy simulation software or analyzing its output
Supporting projects involving advanced statistical coding
Other energy research and data projects
The intern will utilize R or Python and Excel to work with data. They will use Microsoft Outlook, Word and Powerpoint to communicate and document their work.
The intern will meet with their NYSERDA supervisor once per week and will attend occasional virtual staff meetings.
Minimum Qualifications
1. At least FOUR undergraduate semesters, or TWO graduate semesters, in a degree that directly employs or overlaps with data sciences OR a degree related to the built environment. These may include (but are not limited to):
Data science
Engineering
Computer science
Public policy, economics, and other social sciences
Math
Physical sciences and biology
Public health
Urban planning
Architecture
2. Experience with analyzing, querying, or cleaning large datasets and using at least ONE of the following data coding languages and platforms
R
Python
Julia
SQL
STATA
3. Applied experience using Microsoft E
About the Company
Clean energy can power New York while protecting the environment. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, known as NYSERDA, promotes energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources. These efforts are key to developing a less polluting and more reliable and affordable energy system for all New Yorkers. Collectively, NYSERDA’s efforts aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, accelerate economic growth, and reduce customer energy bills.
NYSERDA works with stakeholders throughout New York includin...
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