The 2022 Spring Innovation Internship Program has come to a close and we are proud of the achievements of this cohort! The interns at Business Innovation & Technology spent their spring semesters working with Jeffco employees across several departments to research emerging technologies, explore new uses of existing county technologies, develop prototypes, and create business cases.
About the 2022 Spring Cohort
We had four interns this spring from major universities including University of Colorado, University of Denver, and Colorado School of Mines. They worked on technology projects across various parts of the organization including transportation and engineering, cybersecurity, human resources, and finance.
Making an Impact at Jeffco
Jefferson County Innovation and Digital Transformation interns lead technology and business process improvements within our local government.
- Asher Bursnall, Colorado School of Mines, investigated how the county could improve cybersecurity practices and education. Asher partnered with the Cybersecurity team and 1) conducted interviews with employees to understand how current training could be improved, 2) disseminated and analyzed survey data on phishing behavior, and 3) identified specific areas of continued investigation to improve the program. Asher’s work has created behavioral insights that will be used to inform continuous improvement of our cybersecurity training program.
- Paul Gagliardi, University of Denver, evaluated how the county could use smart technologies to reduce motorist congestion and improve safety across Jeffco operating traffic intersections. Paul worked with the Transportation and Engineering Division to 1) research practical uses of smart technologies, 2) prototype use of intersection data to alert the county to malfunctioning pedestrian buttons, and 3) perform a comprehensive vendor analysis of analytics tools that could be deployed to optimize traffic signal timings. Paul’s prototype demonstrated that the existing data the county current collects at intersections could be used to improve operations.
- Rupangi Jain, University of Colorado, contributed to the Strategy, Innovation and Finance Department’s efforts to publicly display progress made on the county’s strategic plan. Rupangi 1) took time to understand SIF’s needs, 2) explore technology solutions, and 3) create a prototype using the Microsoft Power BI analytics tool. Rupangi’s prototype has laid the foundation on how the county could communicate progress made on the strategic plan.
- Braedan Weart, University of Colorado, collaborated with the Human Resources Department to identify tools that they could deploy to increase the quality and quantity of applicants to county job vacancies. Braedan 1) performed a current state analysis of the county’s recruitment practices, 2) evaluated recruitment tools in the marketplace, and 3) used data to derive key recommendations on where the county should consider posting job vacancies. Braedan’s recommendations will be provided to hiring managers and Human Resources will subscribe to a large government specific recruitment tool to help reduce the time it takes to fill job vacancies.
We thank our interns for their time working at Jeffco this spring. We are proud of their growth and the impact they have made at Jeffco. We also appreciate our project sponsors, Jennifer Fairweather (HR), Yelena Onnen (T&E), Kelly Dunne (T&E), Zoe Jenkins (SIF), and Jill Fraser (BIT) for providing challenges for our interns to tackle. And lastly, thank you Ericka Bremer and Marlin McDaniel for running the spring program.
Future Intern Opportunities
Business Innovation & Technology offers Innovation Internships every fall, spring, and summer and we are currently recruiting for Fall 2022! If you are interested or know someone that would like to be a part of our future internship programs, please contact the Innovation Team.