WITI Internship Program

About

The USDOT Women & Girls In Transportation Initiative (WITI) offers an internship program enabling young women from colleges and universities across the country to participate.  The WITI internship programs is administered through the department's Small Business Transportation Resource Centers (SBTRC) which provide resources, technical assistance and outreach to all 50 states and U.S. territories.

Mission

The mission is to  increase  the  participation  of  women  in  the transportation  industry  and  prepare  young  women  to  become our nation’s future leaders by creating ladders of opportunity and small business' economic competitiveness through careers, internships, strategic partnerships and education.

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Qualifications

  • Currently attending an HBCU or MSI  (Preferred)
  • An undergrad Junior or Senior
  • STEM-related field of studies (i.e., transportation, civil engineering, public administrations, urban planning, etc.)
  • Receiving course credit
  • The Intern should work at least 20 hours a week for at least 6 weeks* 

*The exact number of hours is to be set by the Project Director and host agency. 

Application Process

If you are currently applying for internships or have already secured an internship during the school year or Summer/Fall, please submit an interest form below, with your resume and relevant documentation.

If accepted, Interns will be required to complete a survey or personal statement on their experiences following their internship. 

Apply Here

Placed Interns

In accordance with the USDOT's WITI Program, the SBTRC-SW placed three interns with the California Mobility Center (CMC) in 2021. In 2022, we placed interns at UC Davis- Institute of Transportation Studies and Cool Davis.

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Obehi Ehigie

Intern, California Mobility Center Mechanical Engineering
"Over the course of the past few weeks I had learned about market trends for the alumina industry, buyers and sellers of the compound and what corporate regions they reside in, forecasted futures for the production of alumina, market demands, its environmental benefits and how our methods used for production will be better than our hypothetical competitors."
Maryam WITI

Maryam Farhangfar

Intern, Cool Davis
"Working with Cool Davis as a qualitative research analytics intern has been an enriching experience. Through this opportunity, I have gained many skills which I am sure will be transferable to my future career. During my time with this organization, I have taken on various responsibilities, which involved me stepping out of my comfort zone and taking risks.

Although working on such large, collaborative projects could be challenging at times, it certainly helped me to develop time management and communications skills. For me, this internship reaffirmed that in my future career, I would like to primarily focus my time and efforts on community matters." 
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Joycelynn Situ

Intern, California Mobility Center Civil Engineering
"This project inspired me to develop more connections in the professional world, as it is an advantage for my profession to have connections with multiple industries. From this project, I learned how to study the market for a product in depth, and how to analyze competing markets. Furthermore, I learned how to approach companies, and discuss with them formally to attain information needed."
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Ananyaa Arvind

Intern, California Mobility Center Cell & Molecular Biology
"The idea that I, someone with almost no skills in the business and marketing department before this internship, am now making an actual business plan, is incredibly telling of the growth that I have experienced. Throughout this project, I not only learned time management and self-motivational skills, but also the skills needed to run a business and propose a plan one day."
Makena WITI

Makena Bohannon

Intern, UC Davis- Institute of Transportation Studies
"Working as an intern at the Institute of Transportation Studies has allowed me to discover the broad range of career paths and interesting studies being done in the transportation field. I found the research being done particularly about the injustice in the transportation sector very interesting. Safe and accessible transportation is an important issue that I would want to continue to learn about in the future."