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Training/Fellowship Opportunities

Gone are the days of alternative careers. There are so many ways to be a scientist beyond the bench!

Fellowships and Professional Opportunities

  • AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowship
    • AAAS places more than 250 fellows each year across all branches of federal government to learn first-hand about policymaking and use their knowledge and skills to address today’s most pressing societal challenges. This 12-month paid learning experience based in the Washington, D.C. area is for applicants with a terminal scientific degree (Ph.D., Sc.D., M.D, D.V.M., PharmD, etc.).
  • AAAS Mass Media Science Engineering Fellows Program
    • AAAS Mass Media Science & Engineering Fellows collaborate with media professionals at radio and television stations, newspapers, and magazines to make science news easy for the public to understand. This 10-week, paid, summer fellowship is for students in the life, physical, health, engineering, computer, mathematical, or social sciences. Applicants must be enrolled as upper level undergraduates or graduates, postdoctoral trainees, or have completed such training within the past year.
  • American Geophysical Union – Congressional Science Fellowship
    • The AGU Congressional Science Fellowship program places highly qualified and accomplished scientists, engineers, and other professionals in the office of an individual member of Congress or on a committee for a one-year, paid, assignment. Fellows have been involved in water policy, climate research, energy conservation, and a range of other science-based issues. This program is aimed toward those who have completed a doctoral degree.
  • American Association of Immunologists – Public Policy Fellows Program
    • The PPFP provides early-career researchers, who are within 15 years of receiving their terminal degree and who are committed to a career in biomedical research, with a year-long opportunity to learn about and participate in the public policy and legislative activities of AAI.
  • Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology – Science Policy Fellowship Program
    • FASEB’s Science Policy Fellowship is a competitive three-month program for trainees (graduate students or postdocs) who are interested in pursuing projects that embody policy development, government relations and advocacy, policy research, coalition building, and clear writing.
  • American Academy of Arts and Sciences – Hellman Fellowship in Science and Technology Policy
    • The Hellman Fellowship in Science and Technology Policy provides an opportunity for an early-career professional (one who has completed their Ph.D.) with training in science or engineering to learn about a career in public policy and administration.
  • The Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Graduate Fellowship Program
    • This program is a full-time hands-on training and educational program that provides individuals who have completed graduate students within the last five years, graduate and professional students, with the opportunity to spend 12 weeks at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in Washington, DC learning about science and technology policy and the role that scientists and engineers play in advising the nation. Areas of study may include social/behavioral sciences, health and medicine, physical or biological sciences, engineering, law/business/public administration, or relevant interdisciplinary fields.
  • American Astronomical Society – John Bahcall Public Policy Fellowship
    • The John N. Bahcall Public Policy Fellowship was created in 2006, in collaboration with Neta Bahcall, to provide an opportunity for early-career astronomers to gain experience in the world of science policy and to augment the advocacy programs of the society. The Bahcall Fellowship is currently a one-year postdoctoral level appointment, renewable for a second year.
  • American Association for Cancer Research
    • This year-long, paid, fellowship is designed for early-career cancer research professionals who hold an advanced degree (PhD, MD, MD/PhD) and are interested in the development and implementation of cancer research-related policies on the national level. The fellow will gain experience drafting, analyzing, and implementing policy through time spent working within the U.S. Congress, the National Cancer Institute, and in the AACR Office of Science Policy and Government Affairs in Washington, D.C.
  • American Chemical Society – Public Policy Fellowship Programs
    • ACS has two types of Public Policy Fellowship programs: the Science Policy Fellowship and the Congressional Fellowship, both year-long paid opportunties. Fellows may be entry-level PhDs or experienced professionals from academia, industry, or non-profits.
  • North Carolina STEM Policy Fellowship
    • The NC STEM Policy Fellowships provide graduate students from North Carolina colleges and universities with opportunities to serve full-time for a paid year in high-level state government offices, focusing on policy topics related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Placements are available in offices/departments of Environmental Quality, Energy, Biotechnology, Commerce, Science/Technology/Innovation, Transportation, and Intergovernmental Affairs.
  • CCST Science and Technology Policy Fellows (California)
    • The CCST Science & Technology Policy Fellows program annually recruits and trains a cohort of fifteen PhD scientists and engineers to spend one, paid, year working in Sacramento, directly serving decision makers within the California State Legislature and Executive Branch.
  • Institute for Defense Analyses – Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI) Fellowship
    • This two-year, paid, fellowship provides recent bachelor’s degree recipients with a unique opportunity to use their critical thinking and analytic skills to work on a diverse set of challenges in science and technology (S&T) policy areas, including energy and the environment, space sciences, innovation and competitiveness, evaluation, life sciences, information technologies, national security, and STEM education.
  • Gulf Research Program’s Science Policy Fellowship
    • Fellows gain first-hand experience as they spend one, paid, year on the staff of federal, state, local, or non-governmental environmental, natural resource, oil and gas, and public health agencies in the Gulf of Mexico region. Applicants must be currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program or hold an eligible degree, including MA/MS, MPH/MSPH, PhD, ScD, EngD, MD, DrPH, and DVM.
  • John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship Program
    • The Sea Grant Knauss Fellowship provides a unique educational and professional experience to graduate students who have an interest in ocean, coastal and Great Lakes resources and in the national policy decisions affecting those resources. The Fellowship, named after one of Sea Grant’s founders and former NOAA Administrator John A. Knauss, matches highly qualified graduate students with “hosts” in the legislative and executive branch of government located in the Washington, D.C. area, for a one year paid fellowship.
  • American Educational Research Association – Congressional Fellowship
    • The Congressional Fellowship Program will bring up to three doctorate-level education researchers to Washington, DC each year to work closely with policymakers and staff on Capitol Hill. AERA seeks candidates across career stages, areas of research specialization, and work sectors with a solid foundation and accomplishments in research (appropriate to career stage) and interests in policymaking and public service.
  • International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) – Young Scientists Summer Program
    • This summer program in Vienna is for PhD students to work under the direct mentorship of an experienced IIASA scientist in a unique interdisciplinary and international research environment. They will undertake a topic compatible with ongoing research at IIASA and a wish to explore the policy implications of their work.
  • Alaska Sea Grant State Fellowship Program (Alaska)
    • This program provides soon-to-graduate or recently finished graduate students an opportunity to acquire on-the-job experience in the planning and implementation of marine resource policies and programs in Alaska. The program matches highly motivated graduate students and recent graduates with hosts in Alaska-based state or federal agencies for a 12-month paid fellowship.
  • Many other professional society science policy fellowships, including those linked in this list by Kelly Singel

Outreach Opportunities