About EEPS
Applications for EEPS 2025 are now closed.
The Thomas B. Fordham Institute and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) offer a unique program aimed at cultivating human capital within the education policy sector. The Emerging Education Policy Scholars (EEPS) program brings newly minted Ph.D. scholars and Ph.D. candidates who have a keen research eye, fresh ideas, and boundless (or budding) enthusiasm for education policy to our nation’s capital to meet with education-policy experts and to share and brainstorm exciting new directions for K–12 education research. The EEPS program seeks to counter the long-standing, well-documented divide between research and policy in education.
It focuses on three overarching goals:
- to foster an opportunity for talented, promising scholars to connect with other scholars in their field, as well as to introduce them to key players in the education policy arena;
- to expand the pool of talent and ideas from which the education policy arena currently draws;
- and to increase understanding of how the worlds of policy and practice intersect with scholarly research in education and related fields.
EEPS is a seminar-based program that cultivates talent within the education research and policy fields by introducing new scholars to one another and to the members of the reform-minded education-policy community in Washington, D.C. The program encourages new scholars and experts to share both research and ideas.
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Who are EEPS?
Emerging Education Policy Scholars are current doctoral candidates or a doctoral-degree recipients in the last five years. They may work in higher education, K–12 administration, or a nonprofit or for-profit organization. They also have a keen interest in public policy, are eager to engage in the national conversation about how best to educate children (including amending the structure of our current system in pursuit of that goal), and are in the process of or have recently completed some notable scholarly research that will further that conversation.
EEPS are organized into cohorts that meet for two events in D.C., typically in the summer and winter. After the second meeting, EEPS graduate to “alumni status,” have the opportunity to present at future EEPS meetings to new cohorts, and can engage with fellow alumni at cross-cohort EEPS events and annual research conferences.
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What do EEPS do?
Participants gather informally with think-tankers, academics, policymakers, and reformers in Washington, D.C. The purpose of these events is to bridge connections between up-and-coming scholars and senior education-policy experts and K–12 education practitioners, as well as to foster an opportunity for both groups to share research and ideas.
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How are EEPS chosen?
Admissions decisions are made jointly by Fordham and AEI. We seek a diverse group in terms of experience and expertise.
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How do I apply?
Applications for EEPS 2025 are now closed.
If you have any questions about the EEPS program for 2026, please email Jeanette Luna (jluna@fordhaminstitute.org) -
What is the cost of the program?
There is no cost to apply to EEPS. Accepted scholars attend EEPS events free of charge, and will also be reimbursed for reasonable travel and accommodation expenses.
The EEPS Experience
“While professional societies provide ample opportunity for within field collaboration, we often lack opportunity to bridge the silos. EEPS not only provided me with a broader perspective on education policy, it allowed me to network with folks from different fields working towards similar goals whom I might not have met otherwise.”
Andrew Schaper
Cohort Five
“EEPS allowed me to expand my professional network, and to access a side of policy consideration and dissemination that I had not previously encountered in any meaningful way. Perhaps most importantly, since completing my EEPS experience I have further grown my cross-cohort EEPS network and benefited enormously from collaboration and conversations that this networking has spurred!”
Shaun Dougherty
Cohort Three
“EEPS is professionally valuable, totally unique, and thought-provoking.”
Michael Ford
Cohort Five
“In addition to connecting with other young scholars from across the country, the experience has expanded my view of the ways in which I can use my research to contribute to public debates currently underway in education policy. As a result of the experience, I feel better equipped to translate my research into approachable mediums suitable for broader audiences.”
F. Chris Curran
Cohort Five
EEPS Class of 2024–2025
Kate Barnes: Ph.D. candidate and Doctoral Academy Fellow in Education Policy at the University of Arkansas.
Caroline Bartlett: Ph.D. candidate in Education Policy and K-12 Educational Administration at Michigan State University and National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation Fellow.
Alexander Cassell: Government relations specialist at the American Council on Education (ACE) with a Ph.D. in higher education from The Pennsylvania State University
Sofia Dueñas: Ph.D. candidate in Sociology at the University of Notre Dame.
Daniella Ganelin: Ph.D. candidate in Education Data Science at the Stanford Graduate School of Education.
Kendall Hageman-Mays: Ph.D. candidate in NC State University’s College of Education’s Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development Program.
Eric Hengyu Hu: Postdoctoral associate at the University at Albany’s Institute of Social and Health Equity with a Ph.D. in Educational Theory and Policy from Penn State University.
Ogechi Irondi: Ph.D. candidate in Education Policy at the University of Pittsburgh.
Alvin Makori: Ph.D. candidate in Urban Education Policy at the University of Southern California.
Dillon McGill: Ph.D. candidate in Education Policy at Vanderbilt University and research affiliate of the Research Alliance for New York City Schools and the Tennessee Education Research Alliance.
Alex Moran: Ph.D. candidate at Florida State University.
Anna Moyer: Quantitative and mixed methods researcher with a Ph.D. in Education Policy and Leadership from Vanderbilt University.
Sarah Novicoff: Ph.D. Candidate in Educational Policy and Economics of Education at the Stanford University Graduate School of Education.
Diana Quintero: Ph.D. candidate in Education Policy at Vanderbilt University.
Ayman Shakeel: Economics Senior Analyst at Abt Global with a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Prasiddha (Sid) Shakya: Ph.D. candidate in Economics at Colorado State University.
Daniel Sparks: Postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education with a Ph.D. in Economics & Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Tom Swiderski: Research Associate at the Education Policy Initiative at Carolina (EPIC) at UNC Chapel Hill with a Ph.D. in Public Policy from UNC Chapel Hill.
Emily Wilcox Walls: Ph.D. candidate at the Martin School of Public Policy at the University of Kentucky.
Minseok Yang: Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis at the University of Missouri with a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
EEPS Alumni |
Annual Newsletters |
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For more information about the EEPS program, please contact program coordinator
Jeanette Luna ([email protected]).