Sister Neighborhoods: The Historical Relationship Between Chinatown & Little Italy

Olivia Mistretta

Project Description

I completed a 120 hour research internship at the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs and then I did a research project the semester after.

What Form will your Final Project Take?

Academic paper.

Who was supporting you in your work?

Esther Franke, my mentor & PhD student at TNS / Jane McNamara, Associate Dean of Lang. Esther and I met to discuss my research and also during my internship to plan my paper, Jane led our initial meetings and helped us with check-ins throughout the research process.

Project Themes:

Research

How has this project has been impactful or transformative?

I definitely think this experience made a massive difference for me networking wise/internship wise. I immediately added the work experience to my resume when I was applying for graduate school and I was accepted into 3 really strong Master’s programs shortly after. I also made some great connections at MOIA who I still keep in contact with today. I also definitely think the skills I learned (working in the office, excel, photoshop, filing, people skills, etc) will help me in future jobs. Definitely wish I hadn’t waited until senior year to do a fellowship, but very glad I got to do the program.

What would you do differently?

I definitely wouldn’t wait until my final semester to do a big research project. It was a lot to juggle with the capstone, but that’s the only thing I would change about the experience.

Will you publish or print your work?

Probably not, if I print it, it will just be privately for myself.

How was this experience connected to your work?

I was able to research more about immigration on the city level, which ties into the work I’ll be starting this year with my Master’s. I’ll be starting my MSc in Migration and Public Policy at the European Institute in The London School of Economics and Political Science, so this fellowship was perfectly aligned with my career goals.

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