About this website

Why consider work in emerging technology policy? 

Technology is advancing at an unprecedented rate. Powerful technologies are both a cause of and a potential solution to many of society’s most critical problems:

• Artificial intelligence could revolutionize the economy, science, and medicine, some believe, but also exacerbate social inequities or disrupt national security.
• Biotechnology tools like gene synthesis can lead to groundbreaking medicines, but they can also lower the barriers for creating bioweapons.
• Advances in information technology have given rise to the internet, while also enabling disruptive cyber attacks. 
• Breakthroughs in nuclear physics allowed us to harness nuclear energy, a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels, but also to develop nuclear weapons.  
• Space flight has opened up a critical domain for science and commerce, but also for warfare and competition.

But technology is not deterministic. Governments play a critical role in ensuring that these technologies benefit society. Policy professionals—such as think tank researchers and staffers in Congress and executive agencies—can meaningfully contribute to improving the governance of emerging technologies, helping society balance the benefits and challenges of technological progress.

Our focus

This website compiles expert advice and resources on how to enter and advance in public service careers. It combines in-depth guides, lists of existing resources, and first-person accounts from practitioners. We’re working to further expand our content and improve existing articles.

The website is currently organized into seven sections:

1. Policy career essentials (intro to policy careers, testing fit, professional development) – why work in policy, how to test your fit for and advance in policy, and other foundational knowledge.
2. Pathways into policy (graduate school, fellowships, etc.) – how to gain policy experience and get a job no matter your background and level of experience.
3. Institutions (Congress, think tanks, executive branch) – explaining the structure of key US policy institutions, why you might want to work in each, and how to land a job.
4. Policy areas (AI policy, biosecurity policy, etc.) – highlighting key resources, institutions, and fellowship programs to learn about and pursue careers in specific emerging technology policy areas.
5. Tips and resources (networking, policy skills, security clearances, etc.) – offering tactical advice on key topics relevant to pursuing policy careers.
6. Federal agency profiles (Departments of Defense, Commerce, Energy, etc.) – outlining federal agencies that work on emerging technology policy issues, incl. lists of offices and key developments.
7. Policy career profiles – practitioners in emerging technology policy share details about their career journey, offer advice, and highlight resources.

We link to and hope to complement other excellent resources like GoGovernment (general advice on getting government jobs), Tech to Gov (advice for technologists on pivoting to public sector work), and Public Interest Tech (introduction and resources on public-interest technology careers).