About EEPS

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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • How are EEPS chosen?

    Admissions decisions are made jointly by Fordham and AEI. We seek a diverse group in terms of experience and expertise. 

  • How do I apply?

    The application window for our 2023 EEPS cohort has now closed. Please email Abigail Hamilton @[email protected] to be notified about when the application period for our 2024 cohort will open. 

  • 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 2022–2023

William Delgado

Research assistant professor at Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development in the Educational Leadership & Policy Studies Department.

Melissa Diliberti

Assistant Policy Researcher at the RAND Corporation and a doctoral fellow at the Pardee RAND Graduate School.

Rian R. Djita

Ph.D. candidate in the Education Policy program at the University of Arkansas.

Justin B. Doromal

Research Associate at the Urban Institute’s Center on Labor, Human Services, and Population.

Beth Ann Hart

Research Associate at WestEd.

Elizabeth Huffaker

Doctoral candidate in the Economics of Education and Education Policy at the Stanford Graduate School of Education

Samantha Kane

Ph.D. candidate in education policy at Harvard University.

Hannah Kistler

Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Leadership, Policy, & Organizations at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College.

Virginia Lovison

Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University.

Meghan Mackay

Executive Director of LeveragED.

Alexis Orellana

Postdoctoral associate at the Wheelock Educational Policy Center at Boston University.

Aaron Park

Public Policy Fellow through Leadership for Educational Equity at Council of the Great City Schools in Washington, D.C.

Rachel M. Perera

Fellow in the Governance Studies program for the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution.

Susha Roy

Ph.D. candidate in Education Policy and Program Evaluation at Harvard University.

Julia Szabo

Ph.D. candidate in sociology at Rice University and a former middle school teacher.

Iwunze Ugo

Research fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California.

Manuel Vazquez

Ph.D. candidate at the University of Oregon and a Senior Researcher at Education Northwest.

Sandy Frost Waldron

Ph.D. candidate studying Education Policy at Michigan State University.

John Westall

Postdoctoral research associate at the Education Policy Innovation Collaborative at Michigan State University.

EEPS Alumni

Annual Newsletters

For more information about the EEPS program, please contact program coordinator
Abigail Hamilton ([email protected]).