ANS members encouraged to apply for 2025 congressional fellowship
The application process is open for the Glenn T. Seaborg Congressional Science and Engineering Fellowship. Participants in this program will work on energy legislation in the halls of Congress as representatives of the American Nuclear Society, either in a congressional member’s personal office or with a committee.
Goals: ANS invites its members to apply for the fellowship, which helps the Society fulfill its strategic goal of enhancing nuclear public policy. Applications and all required materials are due to ANS no later than May 31 at 11:59 p.m. (EDT). Fellows who are accepted into the program will begin their yearlong term on January 1, 2025.
ANS joined the fellowship program in 2000 and in 2023 expanded it by sponsoring two openings; this will be the third term that ANS selects two members to serve as ANS congressional Fellows. During the fellowship, they will be joining a group of nearly 30 scientists and engineers who participate through the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Congressional Science and Engineering Fellowship Program. More than 2,000 individuals have served as Fellows on Capitol Hill since the inception of the AAAS program in 1973.
Fellows receive an $80,000 stipend payable in monthly installments. Also included is up to $5,000 in travel reimbursement for expenses related to attending the AAAS orientation prior to the fellowship start date, as well as the two ANS national meetings during June and November of the fellowship year.
ANS congressional Fellows will have an opportunity to work in either a U.S. senator’s or U.S. representative’s personal office or on a Senate or a House committee and become a direct contributor to the federal policymaking process. Along with providing Congress with expertise in nuclear science and technology, Fellows will support other issues of importance. In return, they will gain a better understanding of how the legislative process works. Oftentimes, the year as a “Beltway insider” results in a new career direction.
The current Fellows: The current ANS congressional Fellows are Emily Caffrey and William Murray. Caffrey is an assistant professor and the director of the graduate-level Health Physics Program at the University of Alabama–Birmingham. She is also the founder and president of Radian Scientific LLC, which provides health physics consulting services. Caffrey earned a B.S. in nuclear engineering and a Ph.D. in radiation health physics and statistics from Oregon State University and is a board-certified health physicist and a member of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements.
William Murray is an advanced reactor systems engineer at GE Hitachi. He holds a B.S. and M.S. in nuclear engineering from North Carolina State University and has interned at the Department of Homeland Security and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. His nuclear policy interests include closing the nuclear fuel cycle, deploying advanced reactors, and expanding nuclear medicine capabilities.
Previous Fellows share experiences: The 2023 Fellows, whose term ended in December, are Sarah Stevenson, a recent Ph.D. graduate in nuclear engineering at the University of California–Berkeley, and Joseph Orellana, an engineer at GE Hitachi.
Stevenson worked with the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, specifically supporting the majority side led by Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.V.) and helping finalize the bipartisan Nuclear Fuel Security Act. Orellana worked on the staff of Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D., R.I.) and experienced a diverse portfolio related to renewable energy technologies, nuclear energy regulation, and spent fuel management.
“The ANS congressional fellowship is an incredible career-broadening opportunity,” said Stevenson. “Working on the Hill has deepened my understanding of policymaking while enhancing many other skills, such as effective communication and consensus-building.” She continued, “It was an honor to contribute to the impactful work being done on the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources with Chairperson Manchin. More than anything, I am grateful for the incredible people I learned from and worked with during my fellowship year.”
Apply: To apply for this once-in-a-lifetime experience, visit ans.org/honors/cfellowship/ or email fellow@ans.org for instructions and details.
