Program Fellow: American Physical Society and American Astronomical Society Civic Science Fellow

Job Details

Public Engagement and Civic Science Across the Physical Sciences

Host organizations: American Physical Society (Public Engagement) and American Astronomical Society (Education)

Fellowship term: 18 months

Supervisors: Dr. Claudia Fracchiolla, Head of Public Engagement, APS; and Dr. Tom Rice, Director of Education Programs, AAS

Location: Remote, with possible hybrid arrangements for candidates located in the Washington, DC area

Anticipated start date: September, 2026

Position Summary

The American Physical Society (APS) and the American Astronomical Society (AAS) seek a Civic Science Fellow to help build and strengthen a network of professional scientific societies committed to advancing civic science and evidence-based public engagement. This fellowship is made possible through the generous support of the Kavli Foundation and the Rita Allen Foundation.

Public engagement is essential to public trust in science and to the ability of science to serve society. Yet in many scientific fields, it is still treated as optional rather than as a core part of scientific practice. APS and AAS are working to change that by supporting a culture in which public engagement is integrated, valued, rewarded, and resourced as part of what it means to be a scientist.

This is a collaborative fellowship. The Fellow will bring their own expertise, perspective, and professional goals to the role and will help shape the final work plan with APS, AAS, and participating organizations.

About The Project

The Fellow will help APS and AAS identify, convene, and coordinate a growing network of professional scientific societies. The network will share knowledge, identify gaps and opportunities, and develop practical frameworks that help scientists engage more meaningfully with communities, policymakers, educators, and publics.

The project is grounded in the belief that disciplinary societies are uniquely positioned to shift scientific culture. Scientists often look to their professional societies to set norms and expectations for their fields. By working through these societies, the Fellow will help advance public engagement not as a luxury or add-on, but as an essential practice of science.

Key Responsibilities

The Fellow will work with APS, AAS, and participating organizations to:

• Build and support a professional society network by convening staff and leaders, supporting communication across organizations, and helping define the network’s purpose, structure, and opportunities for collective action.
• Map the current landscape of public engagement and civic science across relevant professional societies, including existing programs, training models, policy statements, resources, evaluation approaches, and gaps.
• Develop shared resources and frameworks such as guiding principles, case studies, a field-facing report or white paper, practical tools, or recommendations for how societies can support, evaluate, recognize, and reward public engagement.
• Support civic science programming at APS and AAS, including helping to share learning from APS dialogue-based public engagement pilots and supporting AAS as it develops a sustainable, evidence-based, measurably impactful public engagement program for the astronomy community.
• Advance learning and evaluation by helping define success for the network, documenting lessons learned, and identifying approaches that combine qualitative and quantitative evidence of change.
  
  

Possible work products may include a landscape scan, shared principles, a white paper or field-facing report, case studies, a toolkit or recommendations, and a strategy for sustaining the network beyond the fellowship period.

Who We Are Looking For

We encourage applications from candidates with a range of backgrounds, including public engagement, civic science, science communication, informal science education, science policy, community engagement, evaluation, sociology of science, science and technology studies, organizational change, or related fields.

We are especially interested in candidates who can bridge across disciplines, organizations, and communities.

Relevant Experience And Skills

A strong candidate may bring experience in several of the following areas:

• Designing, supporting, or evaluating public engagement, civic science, community engagement, or science communication programs.
• Working with scientists, educators, community organizations, policymakers, professional societies, or other networks.
• Understanding dialogue-based, participatory, and/or community-centered approaches to public engagement.
• Coordinating multi-organization collaborations, coalitions, or communities of practice.
• Conducting landscape scans, interviews, needs assessments, qualitative research, or synthesis work.
• Writing clearly for multiple audiences, including practitioners, organizational leaders, funders, or scientific communities.
• Facilitating meetings, listening across diverse perspectives, and helping groups move toward shared goals.
• Commitment to equity, inclusion, and the idea that all people should be able to shape and benefit from science and technology.
• Collecting, analyzing, and interpreting qualitative and/or quantitative data to inform program learning, evaluation, and decision-making.
  
  

Fellowship Environment and Mentorship

The Fellow will be co-supervised by Dr. Claudia Fracchiolla at APS and Dr. Tom Rice at AAS. They will also work closely with members of the APS Public Engagement team, including Dr. Alexandra Lau and Dr. Jen Parsons, APS’s 2024–2025 Instructional Design Lead.

The Fellow will have opportunities to engage with APS and AAS members, committees, conferences, and partner organizations. APS and AAS are committed to supporting the Fellow’s professional growth, including opportunities to expand their network, develop leadership experience, and contribute to field-level strategy. The fellow will have no direct reports.

Commitment to Inclusive Recruitment

APS and AAS are committed to attracting candidates with a variety of experiences, expertise, and perspectives. We especially welcome candidates from backgrounds and communities historically underrepresented in science, public engagement, policy, and civic science.

The hiring process will emphasize relevant competencies and lived experience, not only traditional academic or professional credentials.

How To Apply

Applicants should submit:

• A resume or CV.
• A cover letter describing their interest in the fellowship, relevant experience, and what they hope to learn or contribute.
• Email to public-engagement@aps.org
  
  

This is a remote position, with the possibility of office space for a Fellow located in the Washington, DC area. APS will serve as the formal employer of record, in close collaboration with AAS as co-host organization. Some travel to conferences, meetings, and other relevant events will be required, with travel plans determined collaboratively by the Fellow and their APS/AAS supervisors. Unfortunately, this position does not support visa sponsorship.

About The Civic Science Fellows Program

The Civic Science Fellows program is building a network of leaders committed to ensuring that all people shape and benefit from science, technology, and innovation. The program brings together scientists, scholars, community leaders, journalists, educators, media producers, public-interest organizations, and funders to seed new collaborations between science, diverse communities, and civil society. Envisioned as a Civic Science Lab, Fellows and the organizations that host them carry out pioneering work to co-create pilots, partnerships, knowledge, models, and new ways of working. Fellows and partners engage as part of a network of learning and action that spans organizations, disciplines, and communities—a growing effort to catalyze civic science culture change.