Policy should be informed by scientific data. It’s critical that scientists are directly involved in ensuring policy decisions both reflect scientific knowledge and support innovation. For scientists interested in shaping public policy, there are many career options, including working for elected officials, government agencies, and nonprofits who advise on policy. However, PhD and postdoc training typically doesn’t include career development for these options, making it hard to know how to prepare for policy careers.

To highlight training opportunities in policy, the Early Career Scientist Policy Subcommittee at the GSA has created a searchable policy fellowship database. This database is a central repository that allows prospective applicants to easily and quickly learn about opportunities, filtering by features such as required education, location, compensation, and deadline. We hope this added functionality enables early career scientists to more easily find opportunities that fit their needs.

To accompany this resource, we are publishing a series of interviews with program staff and fellows that will help put the fellowships into context,from the application process to potential career outcomes. These interviews are designed to give you the information you need to craft a successful application.

Fellowships give scientists a vital entry point into policy work. We hope this new resource makes it easier for you to explore and apply for these valuable opportunities.

Browse the GSA Policy Fellowship Database.

Read the Policy Fellowship interviews published so far.

The White House National Science and Technology Council’s Committee on STEM Education (CoSTEM) has developed a pair of portals to connect undergraduates and graduate students to Federally-sponsored opportunities. These resources compile programs across federal agencies, which may be searched or browsed by discipline, location, and more.

• STEMUndergrads.science.gov includes listings for undergraduate fellowships, scholarships, courses, internships, prize, and institution-based awards for undergraduate programs.

• STEMGradStudents.science.gov includes listings for graduate fellowships, scholarships, traineeships, internships, and collaborations; scientific meeting support; thesis research; prizes; and institution-based awards for graduate programs.

Among the agencies who are included in the new portals are the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Transportation, Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Institutes of Health, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Science Foundation (NSF), Smithsonian Institution, U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and U.S. Geological Survey.

CoSTEM was established in 2011 to coordinate Federal programs and activities in support of STEM education. Its co-chairs are France Córdova, Director of NSF, and Jo Handelsman, Associate Director for Science at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture is seeking applications for its Research and Extension Experiential Learning for Undergraduates (REEU) program offered through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) and its Education and Literacy Initiative. The program seeks to “promote research and extension experiential learning for undergraduates such that upon graduation they may enter the agriculture workforce with exceptional skills.”

Through support of REEU Fellows, USDA will enable undergraduates to acquire laboratory research and extension skills, benefit from strong mentoring, and gain valuable experience to prepare them for future careers in the food, agriculture, natural resources, and human sciences. In addition to responding to the 2012 report from the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, Agricultural Preparedness and the Agriculture Research Enterprise, this program also follow from the 2009 National Research Council report on Transforming Agricultural Education for a Changing World.

Applications may request up to $300,000 total for up to four years, which is expected to be predominantly for student support (e.g., stipends, housing, meals, travel, lab fees). Fellowships may be provided for up to two years for each undergraduate student, who must be U.S. citizens, nationals, or permanent residents. USDA strongly encourages the involvement of underrepresented students and those early in their college careers. At least 50% of the supported undergraduate fellows must come from outside the host institution or organization.

The review process will give preference to projects that lead to a self-sustaining model for increased/enhanced experiential learning for a diverse undergraduate student population. USDA also encourage the development of new collaborations with institutions that have limited STEM opportunities and partnerships with industry.

REEU awards will support projects relevant to AFRI’s six identified challenge areas: agricultural and natural resources science for climate variability and change, childhood obesity prevention, food safety, food security, sustainable bioenergy, and water resources.

Projects should also be aligned with one of the six AFRI Foundational Areas:

• Plant health and production and plant products
• Animal health and production and animal products
• Food safety, nutrition, and health
• Bioenergy, natural resources, and environment
• Agriculture systems and technology
• Agriculture economics and rural communities

Application information

• Request for Applications: Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Human Sciences Education and Literacy Initiative
• Application Deadline:  March 24, 2016, 5:00 pm local time

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is seeking applications for predoctoral and postdoctoral fellowships offered through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) and its Education and Literacy Initiative. The fellowships will support training and students and postdocs relevant to AFRI’s six identified challenge areas: childhood obesity prevention, climate change, food safety, food security, sustainable bioenergy, and water.

Projects should also be aligned with one of the six AFRI Foundational Areas:

• Plant health and production and plant products
• Animal health and production and animal products
• Food safety, nutrition, and health
• Bioenergy, natural resources, and environment
• Agriculture systems and technology
• Agriculture economics and rural communities

According to the request for applications, “predoctoral and postdoctoral fellowships serve as a conduit for new scientists and professionals to enter research, education, and extension fields within the food, agriculture, natural resources, and human sciences. The aim of these fellowships is to cultivate future leaders who are able to address and solve emerging agricultural challenges of the 21st century.”

Predoctoral fellowships

The predoctoral program seeks to support current doctoral students in their dissertation research. As such, those seeking predoctoral support must have advanced to candidacy, as per institutional requirements, by the application deadline of February 11, 2016. Documentation from the graduate advisor or institution is required.

Predoctoral applications may request up to $95,000 total for up to two years including the following elements:

• Stipend of up to $25,000 per year
• Tuition, fees, fringe benefits, supplies, travel, workshops, and publications of up to $19,500 per year
• Institutional allowance (in lieu of indirect costs) of up to $3,000 per year

Postdoctoral fellowships

To be eligible for the postdoctoral program, individuals must have satisfied all doctoral degree requirements between January 1, 2013, and November 11, 2016. Documentation from the graduate advisor/committee or the institution is required.

Postdoctoral applications may request up to $152,000 total for up to two years including the following elements:

• Salary support
• Fringe benefits, supplies, travel, workshops, and publications of up to $30,000 per year
• Institutional allowance (in lieu of indirect costs) of up to $3,000 per year

Although a proposed project may be related to the mentor’s scientific area, Postdoctoral Fellows are expected to “initiate an independent scientific program,” rather than merely an extension of ongoing projects in the mentor’s lab.

Application information

NIFA recommends that applications be submitted through the mentor’s institution so that the institution will ensure proper stewardship of federal funds, although students may also apply on their own behalf.

Those seeking support must be a citizen, national, or permanent resident of the U.S.

• Request for Applications: Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Human
• Sciences Education and Literacy Initiative
• Application Deadline:  February 11, 2016, 5:00 pm local time

NIH’s National Cancer Institute (NCI) has issued a request for applications (RFA) for a new program that will bridge predoctoral and postdoctoral training. Its aim “is to encourage and retain outstanding graduate students who have demonstrated potential and interest in pursuing careers as independent cancer researchers.”

Similar to NIH’s Pathway to Independence Award (which bridges postdoctoral training and an independent research position), the NCI Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Fellow Transition Award will have two phases:

• F99 phase will provide support for 1–2 years of dissertation research training to complete those last few experiments, prepare the dissertation, and select a postdoctoral mentor
• K00 phase will provide up to 4 years of mentored postdoctoral research career development support upon completing the PhD and securing a postdoc position.

Allowable expenses include stipend support, tuition and fees, and an institutional allowance to help defray fellowship expenses and career development. The K00 phase may also include indirect reimbursement to the institution at 8% of direct costs.

Institutions may only submit only one F99 application per due date, but there is no limit on the number of K00 awardees an organization may sponsor. Applicants must be currently enrolled in the third or fourth year of a mentored PhD (or similar) program at a U.S. institution. Applications may be submitted on behalf of non-U.S. citizens as long as they have the appropriate visa status.

NCI is requesting a brief letter of intent to help plan the review, but this letter is not required nor does it enter into the review itself. Specific instructions for submitting the intent letter are included in the RFA.

The review process will consider the applicant, sponsor(s)/mentors, research training program, training potential/development plan, and the institutional environment.

• Request for Applications:  RFA-CA-16-005: The NCI Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Fellow Transition Award (F99/K00)
• Letter of Intent Due Date:  January 19, 2016 (not required)
• Application Due Date:  February 19, 2016, 5:00 pm local time

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has released a funding opportunity announcement for the NIH Director’s Early Independence Award (DP5). This program “supports exceptional investigators who wish to pursue independent research directly after completion of their terminal doctoral/research degree or clinical residency, thereby forgoing the traditional post-doctoral training period and accelerating their entry into an independent research career.”

Funded through the NIH Common Fund, the Early Independence Award provides an opportunity for “exceptional junior scientists” to move directly from their PhD to an independent research position, skipping the traditional postdoctoral training period.

Applicants should already have a record of innovative and productive research and have demonstrated leadership and maturity unusual for someone at their career stage. Candidates must not have research independence at the time of application submission.

NIH expects to make approximately 10 awards, each of which may be for up to $250,000 in direct costs per year for up to five years.

Applications must be submitted by a potential host institution, each of which may submit up to two applications. To assist institutions and candidates in finding each other, NIH has established a web resource to facilitate the matching process.

Earlier this year, GSA members Jason Sheltzer (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) and Zhao Zhang (Carnegie Institution for Science) were among the 16 recipients of the Early Independence Awards for 2015.

Request for Applications:  RFA-RM-15-006: NIH Director’s Early Independence Awards (DP5)

Letter of Intent Due Date:  December 29, 2015 (not required)

Application Due Date:  January 26, 2016, 5:00 pm local time

The National Science Foundation is seeking applications for its Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology program. The fellowships encourage independence at an early stage of the research career to permit Fellows to pursue their research and training goals in the most appropriate research locations regardless of the availability of funding for the Fellows at that site.

The Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO) offers postdoctoral fellowships in the following competitive areas:

• Broadening Participation of Groups Underrepresented in Biology. This area supports a wide range of biological research and training across BIO’s research programs. “The goal of the program is to prepare minority biologists and others who share NSF’s diversity goals for positions of scientific leadership in academia, industry, and government.” Applications should describe how the Fellow will “broaden or effectively encourage broadening the participation of underrepresented minorities in biology supported by BIO.”

• Research Using Biological Collections. This area “seeks transformative approaches that use biological collections in highly innovative ways to address grand challenges in biology.” Applications should include “substantive and significant use of specimens and/or data from existing, archived biological research collections and their associated collection databases.”

• National Plant Genome Initiative. Co-sponsored by the US Department of Energy and USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, this programs allows “recipients to focus their studies in plant genomics with an emphasis on quantitative genetics, modern breeding approaches, and bioinformatics.” “The purpose of these fellowships is to provide postdoctoral training opportunities that target interdisciplinary research in plant improvement and associated sciences such as physiology and pathology, quantitative genetics, and computational biology.”

Although fellowships are made to individuals, the work supported must be conducted at an appropriate U.S. or international host institution, under the mentorship of a sponsoring scientist(s). Awards are only available to U.S. citizens, nationals, or permanent residents.

Thanks to GSA, Fellows are able to remain at their doctoral institution as long as the sponsoring scientists or departments “offer a significant opportunity to broaden your research focus and training.”

Fellows generally receive a stipend of $54,000 per year with an additional $15,000 provided annually for research- and training-related costs and fringe benefits.

Program Solicitation:  NSF 15-501: Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology

Deadline:  November 3, 2015, 5 pm local time (first Tuesday in November annually thereafter)

The folks behind the Cards Against Humanity party game have established the Science Ambassador Scholarship, which offers a full tuition scholarship of up to four years for a woman seeking an undergraduate degree in science, engineering, or math. They are looking for individuals who are passionate about discovery and able to share that excitement with others.

Applications include a video of three minutes or less where you explain a scientific topic you are passionate about. Just record and upload a public video to YouTube and fill our a very brief application by December 1, 2015. Videos will be reviewed by a board of 50 judges (including GSA members Joyce Kao and Renee Robbins and former GSA member Mónica Feliú-Mójer) who all work in science and engineering. Ten finalists will be asked to submit additional materials early next year.

Eligibility is limited to U.S. citizens or permanent residents who will be full-time college students in the 2016–2017 academic year seeking a STEM undergraduate degree.

The scholarship is supported by proceeds from the game’s Science Pack.

Three GSA members have been named by the Damon Ruyon Cancer Research Foundation as Damon Runyon Fellows. The recipients of this prestigious, four-year award are outstanding postdoctoral scientists conducting basic and translational cancer research in the laboratories of leading senior investigators across the country.

Congratulations to:

	Lacy J. Barton, PhD (project) Sponsor, Ruth Lehmann, PhD Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine New York University School of Medicine GENETICS Author, 2014
	Gina V. Caldas, PhD (project) Sponsor, Craig C. Mello, PhD University of Massachusetts Medical School
	Tera C. Levin, PhD (HHMI Fellow) Sponsor, Harmit C. Malik, PhD Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

The Damon Runyon Fellowship encourages the nation’s most promising young scientists to pursue careers in cancer research by providing them with independent funding ($208,000 each for basic scientists) to work on innovative projects.

Additional Information: