By Ethan Quinn
For Sarah Brown, academic research has always been about making a real-world impact. A funded internship opportunity introduced her to a research career that goes beyond the classroom.

For Sarah Brown, academic research has always been about making an impact. After six years in the nonprofit sector working to address anti-immigrant bias, the doctoral candidate in sociology came to Carolina hoping to gain a deeper understanding of the structural factors behind social inequality.
Brown’s research focuses on inequality in criminal justice and education. She hopes to apply the skills gained in her doctoral program to real-world research that goes beyond the classroom. As she prepared for her final year at Carolina, she wasn’t sure how to chart that course.
That’s when Brown learned about an opportunity to apply for a funded internship through The Graduate School’s new Bridge Beyond Carolina program. She applied for one of the program’s inaugural internships and spent the summer doing criminology research at RTI International, an independent nonprofit research institute headquartered in Research Triangle Park. Brown’s work focused on the Clean Slate Initiative, which aims to implement policies that clear eligible records for people who have completed their sentences and remained crime-free.
Bridge Beyond Carolina provides funding that allows students to explore careers beyond academia by completing an internship outside the University that would otherwise be unpaid. Brown expected to dedicate her summer to other responsibilities, but this funding enabled her to pivot to the internship at RTI, gaining experience aligned with her professional goals.
Brown’s internship was offered by Pam Lattimore, a double Tar Heel who received her doctorate in economics from Carolina in 1987. After graduating, Lattimore chose not to pursue a career in academia, working instead in federal and nonprofit research and becoming an internationally recognized expert on prisoner reentry. She knows from experience that there are many career paths available to doctoral students, including those in the humanities and social sciences.
“The Bridge Beyond Carolina program is providing opportunity to students like me,” Lattimore said. “I think because people getting their Ph.D. are working mainly with people who have always been in the academy, they just don’t realize what opportunities are out there.”
Brown is one of those students seeking opportunities outside of the academic sector.
“Within the PhD program, there is such a strong emphasis on preparing for academic careers that I just didn’t have a good way of connecting with non-academic or industry-based job opportunities,” Brown said. “So not only did I lack personal connections, but I also lacked concrete knowledge about how to even go about pursuing a non-academic career”
“It was a fantastic opportunity because it allowed me to participate on a research team in the applied research world, make invaluable connections, and get first-hand insight into how this work operates on the ground,” Brown added. “And that gives me the experience to back up future job applications. Now I’m not just saying ‘I promise I have these skills,’ but ‘I’ve actually done this work; I can prove it.’”
Lattimore’s team at RTI offered Brown the opportunity to continue working part-time during the final year of her doctoral program. Hoping to land a full-time job with the institute after she graduates in the spring, Brown is excited about the prospect of applying her research skills to real-world applications.
While the Bridge Beyond Carolina program fully funded Brown’s summer internship in 2024, Lattimore was so impressed with Brown’s work and the value of the internship for both her team and Brown’s career trajectory that she plans to personally cover the cost of an internship for the upcoming summer 2025 program.
“I have friends who graduated and now work in applied research,” Brown said. “And they’re interested in having students intern for them through Bridge Beyond Carolina. It’s really attractive from a grad student perspective, and also from an employer perspective.”
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The Bridge Beyond Carolina program will accept student applications for Summer 2025 internships starting in February. Questions can be sent to bridgebeyond@unc.edu
If you’re interested in hosting an intern through the Bridge Beyond Carolina program in 2025, please contact Katie Stember: kstember@unc.edu
If you’re interested in other opportunities to support Carolina graduate students, please contact Kate Moser: katemoser@unc.edu