Post-Graduate Opportunities
Please scroll down for a list of website links and descriptions for Non-Profit and Organizations, Private Sector, and Government organizations that you can review and evaluate.
NON-PROFIT AND ORGANIZATIONS
The Jewish Service Corps strengthens the Jewish community's fight against the causes and effects of poverty in the United States. They do this by engaging participants in service and community building that inspire them to become lifelong leaders for social change whose work for justice is rooted in and nourished by Jewish values.
Founded in 1996, the African American Policy Forum (AAPF) was developed as part of an ongoing effort to promote women’s rights in the context of struggles for racial equality. It serves as an information clearinghouse that works to bridge the gap between scholarly research and public debates on questions of inequality, discrimination and injustice.
The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research is a small to mid-sized private, not-for-profit institution with research in three program areas: Economic Policy Studies, Foreign and Defense Policy Studies, and Social and Political Studies. Although officially non-partisan, those with a politically conservative background are a good fit for AEI.
American Institutes for Research (AIR)
AIR is a large non-profit research firm headquartered in Washington, DC. Areas of social science research include Health Policy, Education and Human Development, International Development, and Workforce Research and Analysis.
The Beyond Barnard office has compiled a selected list of scholarships and fellowships.
Located in Washington, DC. the Brookings Institution is a large non-profit, independent think tank funded by private endowments that produces research reports and other scholarly products. Brookings conducts social science research in the areas of Foreign Policy, Economics, Governance Studies, Global Economy & Development, and Metropolitan Policy.
Challenge Detroit is a leadership and professional development program that invites approximately 30 of tomorrow’s leaders to live, work, play, give, and lead in and around the greater Detroit area for one year.
City Year partners with most at-risk schools to help bridge the gap between what their students need and what the schools are designed to provide. In doing so, City Year helps students reach their full potential and graduate high school in communities all across America.
Echoing Green believes investing in and supporting the right people relative to the right ideas and ability to execute, rather than specific business plans, results in a lifetime of leadership. Echoing Green has invested over $40 million in seed-stage funding and strategic assistance in nearly 700 world-class leaders driving positive social change around the globe. Echoing Green Fellows include the founders of Teach For America, City Year, College Summit, Citizen Schools, One Acre Fund, and SKS Microfinance.
Economic Policy Institute (EPI)
EPI is a small non-profit social science research firm headquartered in Washington, DC. Those with a politically liberal background are a good fit for EPI. Areas of social science research include Living Standards and Labor Markets, Government & the Economy, Trade and Globalization, and Education.
Frontier Group provides information and ideas to help citizens build a cleaner, healthier, fairer and more democratic America. They address issues that will define our nation’s course in the 21st century – from fracking to solar energy, global warming to transportation, clean water to clean elections. Their experts and writers deliver timely research and analysis that is accessible to the public, applying insights gleaned from a variety of disciplines to arrive at new ideas for solving pressing problems. To maximize their impact, they partner with groups in The Public Interest Network – the nation’s premier network of public interest organizations – and other organizations to insert their research and ideas into public policy debates at the local, state and federal levels.
Fund for the Public Interest is a national, non-profit organization that runs campaigns for America’s leading environmental and public interest organizations. The Fund was launched in 1982 to help find ways to engage people on the most pressing problems of our day and turn that support into solutions. Now they run the nation’s largest and most effective canvassing and telephone membership operation. Our canvassers and callers talk to people one-on-one and, through those interactions, help make thousands, sometimes millions of people’s voices heard, through petitions, emails, small donations and meetings. That’s people power, and that’s what it takes to make a difference for the environment, for our democracy, and more.
Impact was created by leading advocacy organizations like Environment America, U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG),and the PIRG Campus Action project. Impact builds the grassroots action and power it takes to make an impact on important issues. From making sure life-saving antibiotics aren’t used to fatten up chickens and pigs on factory farms, to calling on the Trump administration to uphold America’s commitment to the new renewable energy economy the world needs, we need organizers now more than ever. People with the determination, training and skills to win over Americans who aren’t with us yet, and who can galvanize those who are with us, but aren’t yet involved. By joining Impact, you’re making a full-time, two-year commitment to advocate for our environment, our democracy and our future.
Their mission is to engage students and recent college graduates to address community needs, empowering a generation through collaborative efforts to promote change in the communities they serve.
Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness (ICPH)
The Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness(ICPH) is a New York City-based policy research organization focused on family homelessness in New York City and throughout the United States. The Institute for Children and Poverty—now the Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness—was founded in 1990 as federal and state governments looked for ways to address growing rates of family homelessness. Through the examination of empirical, quantifiable data, ICPH seeks to inform and enhance public policy related to homeless families, with an emphasis on the impact on children. ICPH examines the demographics of this growing population, the challenges these families face in becoming self-sufficient, and the programs that are most effective in helping them transition out of homelessness in their many reports, research-based books, policy research commentary, and national magazine, as well as the biennial American Almanac of Family Homelessness.
The Jain Family Institute is a new think tank founded by Bob Jain. They research and act on the interdependencies of society's critical systems and institutions in order to have the highest-level effect. Their work focuses on economics, politics, academia, information technology, finance, and culture. Prospective job applicants may email them at admin-apps@jainfamilyinstitute.org for more information.
Created in 1974 by the Ford Foundation and a group of federal agencies, MDRC is a non-profit, nonpartisan education and social policy research organization dedicated to learning what works to improve programs and policies that affect the poor. MDRC is committed to finding solutions to some of the most difficult problems facing the nation — from reducing poverty and bolstering economic self-sufficiency to improving public education and college graduation rates. They design promising new interventions, evaluate existing programs using the highest research standards, and provide technical assistance to build better programs and deliver effective interventions at scale. They work as an intermediary, bringing together public and private funders to test new policy-relevant ideas, and communicate what they learn to policymakers and practitioners — all with the goal of improving the lives of low-income individuals, families, and children.
The Milken Institute is a non-profit, nonpartisan think tank determined to increase global prosperity by advancing collaborative solutions that widen access to capital, create jobs and improve health. They do this through independent, data-driven research, action-oriented meetings and meaningful policy initiatives. The research focus at Milken is on applied economic and social policy to promote struggling economies in the U.S. and elsewhere, especially education and job growth.
National Opinion Research Center (NORC)
NORC, in Chicago, IL is a large non-profit research firm closely affiliated with the University of Chicago. Areas of social science research include Criminal Justice, Education, Health, International Policy, Labor and Employment, Organizations, Special Populations, Society and Culture, and Substance Abuse.
The Aspen Institute’s New Voices Fellowship is a year-long media skills, communication and leadership program designed for standout development professionals from the developing world. Candidates for the Fellowship are expected to have both a record of significant professional achievement and a desire to share their perspectives on global development with a broader international audience. The Fellowship is open by nomination only.
The Population Council conducts research to address critical health and development issues. Their work allows couples to plan their families and chart their futures. They help people avoid HIV infection and access life-saving HIV services. And they empower girls to protect themselves and have a say in their own lives. The Population Council conducts research and programs in more than 50 countries. In the developing world, governments and civil society organizations seek their help to understand and overcome obstacles to health and development. They also work in developed countries, where they use state-of-the-art biomedical science to develop new contraceptives and products to prevent the transmission of HIV. Their New York headquarters supports a global network of offices in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.
Post-Baccalaureate Fellowship Program, Rice University
Launched in 2009, Rice’s post-baccalaureate fellowship provides recent college graduates the opportunity to work with a sociology department faculty member in an intensive research and mentoring experience. Designed as a one-year fellowship, participants must be interested in attending graduate school in the social sciences or related professional fields after the completion of their fellowship year. In addition to receiving hands-on training in the methods of social science research, Fellows benefit by having the opportunity to attend academic conferences, obtain recommendations for graduate school, and receive assistance in applying to top graduate programs.
The Public Interest Network is a group of people and organizations working to address questions that our society can’t afford to ignore. How do we preserve irreplaceable resources like air, water and a livable climate for our grandchildren? How do we transform vast systems of transportation and energy that were designed to meet the needs of a different century? How do we produce food for a growing world in ways that won’t threaten human health and destroy the environment? How do we sustain the democratic ideal of the United States, as civic participation is diminished by consumerism and the rise of corporate personhood? Questions like these drive all of their work. The 15 groups in The Public Interest Network each strive for solutions on their own, while the force of their combined strategies builds pressure for change across the political and economic spectrum.
Public Policy Institute of California
The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) is a non-profit, nonpartisan think tank. They are dedicated to informing and improving public policy in California through independent, objective, nonpartisan research.
Public Policy Research Institute, Texas A&M University
Established by the Texas State Legislature in 1983 at Texas A&M University, the Public Policy Research Institute (PPRI) serves as a leading interdisciplinary government and social policy research organization. Since inception, PPRI has secured external research contracts totaling $140 million for providing scientific research and evaluative services to more than 90 public and private sponsors engaged in formulating public policy.
The RAND Corp (derived from ‘research and development’) is a large non-profit research firm headquartered in Santa Monica California, but with offices around the country and world. Areas of social science research include Health, Education, National Security, International Affairs, Law and Business, and the Environment.
Research Triangle Institute (RTI)
RTI is a large non-profit research firm headquartered in the research triangle park (Durham, NC), but with offices around the country and world. With close ties to three major research universities in North Carolina (Duke, UNC, NC-STATE) RTI conducts research in a variety of social and physical sciences. Areas of social science research include Education, Health Policy, Survey Research, and Economic and Social Development.
The Tobin Project is an independent, non-profit research organization motivated by the belief that rigorous scholarship on major, real-world problems can make a profound difference. With an interdisciplinary network of over 350 leading scholars across 80 universities, from Nobel Laureates to the most promising graduate students, the Tobin Project is currently focused on four core research inquiries: Government & Markets, Institutions of Democracy, Economic Inequality, and National Security.
Venture for America is a two-year fellowship program to help you launch your career as an entrepreneur, with the goal of revitalizing cities through entrepreneurship. They recruit, train, and place top recent graduates at startups in cities with emerging startup ecosystems such as Baltimore, Detroit, and New Orleans, with the goal that their Fellows go on to revitalize those cities, build businesses, and ultimately, create jobs.
Their mission is to provide opportunities for the best and brightest to create dynamic companies for themselves and others, to restore entrepreneurship as a career path for elite young grads and to assist great companies through providing sharp young minds to help them grow.
PRIVATE SECTOR
Empirical Creative LLC is a boutique trial consulting firm in New York. Their specialty is providing jury research and graphics consulting on complex, high-stakes civil and criminal litigation with an eye towards understanding and reducing risk and uncertainty for their clients. They recognize that to be of real value, trial consulting requires the skillful interplay between rigorous social-science research methodologies on the one hand and artful advocacy on the other hand. NOTE: In June 2016, Empirical Creative contacted the Sociology dept. for graduate students interested in careers in applied social science research as Research Associates or Jury Consultants.
GALLUP is a large for-profit research corporation. Famous for the GALLUP Poll, they have a variety of applied research programs in social science fields as well as marketing research and publishing.
Manhattan Institute for Public Policy Research
A leading free-market think tank focusing on Economic Growth, Education, Energy and Environment, Health Care, Legal Reform, Public Sector, Race, & Urban Policy
Press Ganey is a for-profit company that conducts assessments of health care providers, including survey research.
Located in Washington, DC and overseas, the Urban Institute is a mid-sized company conducting research on Crime & Justice, Economy &Taxes, Education, Healthcare, Housing, Welfare, and Work & Income.
WESTAT is a large employee-owned research corporation headquartered in Rockville, MD, with offices around the country. Areas of social science research include Education, International Policy, Employment, Training, and National Service, Social Services, Housing, Transportation, and Survey Research & Polling.
GOVERNMENT
Corporation for National and Community Service
The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that helps more than 5 million Americans improve the lives of their fellow citizens through service. Working hand in hand with local partners, they tap the ingenuity and can-do spirit of the American people to tackle some of the most pressing challenges facing our nation.
Federal Research Bureaus
A variety of large federal research bureaus and many small ones conduct social science research. The list below is not an exhaustive list, but includes many of the largest Bureaus and those that conduct research that overlaps with sociological inquiry. Many more government agencies sponsor research by universities and corporations. This list contains only intramural research bureaus, those that have large numbers of research positions available in-house.
Administration for Children and Families (ACF)
ACF has a small research branch that conducts research and policy analyses to assess child and family welfare program performance and inform policy and practice.
Collects, analyzes, publishes, and disseminates statistical information on crime, criminal offenders, victims of crime, and the operation of justice systems at all levels of government.
Primarily employs economists, but also survey researchers.
Bureau of Transportation Statistics
Compiles, analyzes, and makes accessible information on the Nation's transportation systems.
The CENSUS Bureau is a branch of the federal government (Department of Commerce). The CENSUS Bureau conducts a variety of survey research, not just the official census. In addition to the D.C. Headquarters, there are 12 regional CENSUS offices.
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
NCES is the research division of the U.S. Department of Education.