APA Executive Branch Science Fellowship

APA Executive Branch Science Fellows spend 1 year working as special assistants in executive branch science mission agencies, most often in research funding and coordinating offices. Specific placement is determined based on the fellows’ expertise and interests in coordination with APA staff. Placement opportunities often include the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Education and the Department of Justice. Activities may involve soliciting research applications and running peer review panels, staffing intergovernmental scientific task forces and committees, producing scientific media materials, responding to congressional inquiries, working on agency budgets and programming, and preparing briefs and speeches.

APA fellows attend a 2-week orientation program on congressional and executive branch operations as well as participate in a yearlong science and public policy seminar series administered by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). AAAS administers these professional development activities for the APA fellows and for fellows sponsored by more than two dozen other professional scientific societies.

APA will sponsor one fellow for a 1-year appointment beginning approximately August 30, 2028. The Fellowship stipend will be 93,750ドル. In addition, the Fellowship provides reimbursement for health insurance coverage and a 3,500ドル stipend for professional development.

To learn more about the fellowship experience please watch the 2021 presentation video:

APA Convention Fellowship Presentation 2021opens in new window

For questions, contact Ben Vonachen, APA Advocacy Office.

A prospective fellow must:

• Demonstrate excellence in scientific and/or professional psychology.
• Understand the application of psychological science to national policy issues.​
• Be able to work quickly and communicate effectively on a wide variety of topics and work cooperatively with individuals having diverse viewpoints.
• Commit to working full-time in an in-person office environment in Washington, D.C. with a schedule to be determined by their respective federal office placement. Fellows may not pursue concurrent professional employment or volunteer opportunities that conflict with the schedules set by their federal office placements.

An applicant must:

• Have a doctorate in psychology or related field.
• Be a member of APA (or applicant for membership) and a U.S. citizen.

A special exception is made for current psychology interns who may apply with certification from the director of training in their doctoral program that they have met all but the internship requirement for their doctoral degree by the application deadline. It should be noted that preference will be given to applicants with 2 or more years of experience following receipt of their doctorate.

Applicants may also simultaneously apply for APA’s Congressional Fellowship, Goldman Congressional Fellowship, and Springfield LGBTQIA+ Congressional Fellowship.

Applications deadline will be in January 2028.

• a completed online application: Submitting the application will require uploading and submitting the following materials electronically:
  1. detailed curriculum vitae providing information about educational background, professional employment and activities, professional publications and presentations, public policy and legislative experience, and committee and advisory group appointments;
  2. statement of approximately 1,000 words addressing your interest in the fellowship, contributions you believe you can make to the federal scientific research process, what you want to learn from the experience, and how the fellowship fits within your overall career goals; and
  3. three letters of recommendation that specifically address your ability to serve successfully in the executive branch as a fellow: Each of the three recommenders must upload their letters by the application deadline. Applicants are responsible for providing this link to each of their recommenders.

For more information about the fellowship, please contact:

Ben Vonachen
Executive Branch Science Fellowship Advocacy Office

2024-25 fellow

image of Jami Pittman Jami C. Pittman, PhD , is the 2024-25 Executive Branch Science Fellow at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Mental Health Services, Office of the Director. There, she is working on various projects such as those related to improving access to behavioral healthcare services through Medicare and Medicaid, interdepartmental coordination on advancing systems that work for those living with serious mental illness and serious emotional disturbance, and exploring use of AI to augment mental health therapies.

Prior to her fellowship and continuing in the present, Pittman has worked as a psychologist conducting school-based assessments in Washington DC, and delivering trauma-focused treatment at The Center for Child and Family Traumatic Stress, Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, MD, where, in affiliation with Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, she also completed her APA-accredited predoctoral psychology internship. She has also engaged in consulting work related to developing best practices for reducing school violence. Pittman completed her postdoctoral fellowship in Baltimore, MD, at the National Center for School Mental Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry where she supported the development and implementation of a statewide school mental health response program, among other work with local, state, and federal departments and agencies. Pittman completed her undergraduate studies (BS Psychology) at Millsaps College in Jackson, MS, and her graduate work at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI, earning an MA and PhD in Psychology.

Pittman is a community-engaged, licensed child clinical psychologist whose research, clinical, and community work centers on facilitating systemic and organizational change and promoting healthy relationships and well-being amidst violence exposure, including that of systemic violence.

Past Fellows

2023-24

• Latoya C. Conner, PhD
  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Mental Health Services, Office of Policy Coordination and Innovation

2022–23

• Katherine M. Serafine, PhD
  National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Office of Science Policy

2021–22

• Sonji Jones-Manson, PhD
  U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education in the Office of Innovation and Early Learning

2019–20

• Gina Rousso, PhD
  National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities
  Read about Rousso's fellowship year experiences.

2018–19

• Laura Van Berkel, PhD
  National Science Foundation, Directorate for Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences
  Read about Van Berkel's fellowship year experiences.

2017–18

• Amanda Dettmer, PhD
  Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences
  Read about Dettmer's fellowship year experiences.

2016–17

• Christin Ogle, PhD
  Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice

2015–16

• Matthew Johnson, PhD
  Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice

2014–15

• Wendy Grolnick, PhD
  National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

2013–14

• Barbara Oudekerk, PhD
  Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice

2012–13

• Drika Weller, PhD
  United States Agency for International Development
  National Science Foundation, Directorate for Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences

2011–12

• Abigail Haydon, PhD
  National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

2010–11

• Sarah Johnson, PhD
  National Institutes of Health, Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research

2009–10

• Kimberly Montgomery, PhD
  National Science Foundation, Office of Legislative and Public Affairs

2008–09

• Erin Jonaitis, PhD
  National Science Foundation, Directorate for Social, Behavioral, & Economic Sciences