Friends & Colleagues, 

Deploying talented individuals in public service and empowering them to tackle the world’s most pressing problems can yield dramatic impact. Eighteen months ago, FAS created our Impact Fellow program. To date, FAS has selected 52 fellows to complete tours of service in 22 offices across the federal government, with 20 additional placements in the pipeline by the end of 2022. Last Tuesday, FAS hosted our inaugural Impact Fellow Summit and learned, first hand, the impact FAS Fellows have. 

If you joined us, you heard from FAS staff and Impact Fellows that the call to public service is powerful and can create good not only for our country but also good for a Fellows’ career. Each fellow – whether asked directly or speaking off the cuff – shared excitement about the value they could create once their fellowship in government started.

Fellows like Katy Newhouse, who serves at the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), provided a perfect illustration of this during one of the panel discussions at the event. Newhouse worked at Amazon before her fellowship started, and said she often wondered if she could ever work for another organization that affected as many people – where decisions on sustainability could impact millions. She’s found her answer working at CEQ. “The federal government owns more buildings, has more vehicles, and has a larger footprint than Amazon,” Newhouse told Tuesday’s crowd.

Another Fellow, Dr. Yenda Prado – working at the Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology – told us that her Impact Fellowship has ripple effects that go far beyond her tour of service.

“I’m here to be of service, to do what I can for the office that I’m stationed with, and hopefully, eventually, to come out on the other side as a mentor – cultivating the future line of emerging technical talent,” she said.

Beyond the Fellows, federal hiring directors are also excited by how FAS’ Impact Fellows can amplify the work of agencies as well. Matt Soldner, Chief Evaluation Officer at the Dept. of Education, told the Summit this: “We had really challenging problems we needed to solve, that really demanded the work of some out of the box thinking and thinkers.” The Impact Fellowship, he said, made it possible to bring in experts who brought new approaches to working, creative thinking, and problem-solving.

This is just some of what has me so excited about what the Impact Fellowship program has become and what its continuing growth promises. Thank you to all who attended this year’s Summit, and to those of you who couldn’t make it, we hope we’ll see you at next year’s event. 

Until then, if you are interested in becoming an Impact Fellow, or if you are a government partner interested in bringing on Impact Fellows to drive change at your agency, you can learn more. We hope you’ll help us spread the word about what makes the FAS Impact Fellowship so exciting!

Sincerely,

Dan Correa
Federation of American Scientists