Who are the AIP Fellows?

Meet the AIP Congressional Fellows  |  Meet the AIP State Department Fellows

Fellows come to the programs from all sectors and all career levels, and have gone on to varied careers, including positions in academia, industry, non-profits, congressional staff, science teaching, and consulting. Some former AIP Fellows ensure that the voice of science is heard in policymaking circles long after their Fellowships.

George Atkinson, an AIP State Department Science Fellow (2001-2002) went on to serve as Science and Technology Adviser under two Secretaries of State. One former AIP Congressional Fellow was a senior policy advisor to two Secretaries of Commerce, and several others work as permanent Capitol Hill staffers.

Just as the careers of former Fellows are varied, so is the experience they bring to their Fellowships. Some arrive in DC as newly-minted PhDs, others as faculty members and department heads. Still others have come from industry and government labs, and two started Fellowships after serving in the Peace Corps.

What do AIP Science Fellows do?

AIP has sponsored Congressional Science Fellows since 1988, and in that time its Fellows on Capitol Hill have made contributions to areas as wide-ranging as judicial misconduct, digital piracy, dairy industry disaster relief, Native American issues, encryption and consumer privacy, and even commercial whaling, as well as the more commonly-cited issues of energy, environment, nuclear power, homeland security, nonproliferation, education and the workforce, and technology transfer. 

AIP State Department Science Fellows have worked on portfolios as diverse as water resources management, critical infrastructure protection, export controls, use of remote sensing imagery, biotechnology, biodiversity, the safety of agricultural products, European and Russian science policy, UNESCO, and the World Summit on Sustainable Development.

How to apply

Candidates are invited to apply to as many programs as they are interested in and eligible for, but please note that requirements and application deadlines for the various programs may vary.