Our Graduates

Of our 137 Ph.D. graduates -

While there is a large demand for EPP graduates, in some areas, such as academia, the number of available positions is limited.  This is true in virtually all areas of science and engineering, where faculty positions are very competitive.  Our graduates must plan and prepare well to secure positions in traditional academic departments (ensuring that their traditional, disciplinary skills are solid), but they then can offer additional qualities for the growing number of traditional departments seeking to expand their horizons and policy relevance.  Not all academic disciplines are equally accessible to graduates with EPP degrees.  Outstanding students with environmental interests can often find positions with mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, or civil and environmental engineering departments.  However, graduates working in telecommunications policy have not found jobs in traditional electrical engineering departments -- such departments simply don't do such work.  Some graduates find positions in the growing (though admittedly still small) number of interdisciplinary programs at the interface between science, engineering and policy, or in business or other professional schools.  For some, this has been in programs developing out of related disciplines in business schools, industrial management, public health or risk science.  As in other disciplines in the sciences and engineering, a growing number of our graduates interested in academia have found it necessary to pursue and accept a post-doctoral appointment for their first position.

Some years ago our students told us (and our Advisory Board) that they felt they needed more exposure to the real world of policy analysis and decision making and related opportunities for internships.   The opening of our new EPP Washington Office in 1997, located in the AAAS building six blocks from the White House, has provided such opportunities.  Recent EPP undergraduate project courses, managed by our graduate students, have made their final presentations either in Washington or with an audio-video hookup to the office.  Students have begun to use the office and connections fostered by Alexandra Carr, the Director of our Washington office, to meet and work with members of the technical policy community in Washington or as a base for meetings, workshops or individual research.  In 1998 we initiated our first "Washington Immersion Program" where 9 of our first- and second-year graduate students spent three days with Alexandra and EPP faculty members visiting and meeting with leaders in the Washington science and engineering policy community, including law firms, the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, the State Department, the FCC, the President's Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the National Academy of Sciences.  The program provided a very insightful and enjoyable venue for students to learn about how science and technology decisions and research strategies are formulated and implemented, and an opportunity to identify contacts to help them with their current research or future career options.  For more information, please see the Summary Report on the 1998 Washington Immersion Program, prepared by the student participants.

In addition to the Washington Immersion Program, many of our students have participated in extended visits or internships at various research and policy organizations during their studies here.  Students benefit the most (and we are most happy) when these visits contribute directly to their research plans and progress.  Such visits also help to identify future employment opportunities. 

To contact some of our graduates:
 
The following EPP Ph.D. alumni have agreed to volunteer their time to answer questions and provide further information on their experience at Engineering and Public Policy. Click here for a list of contacts.