Fellows Program

About

The Center for Information Technology Policy Fellows Program is a competitive, fully-funded, in-residence program that supports scholars and practitioners in research and policy work tied to the Center’s mission. CITP research falls into the following three areas: Platforms and Digital Infrastructure; Data Science, AI and Society; and Privacy and Security. Fellows accepted into this program conduct research with members of the Center’s community — including faculty, scholars and other Fellows — across disciplines, and engage in our public programs, such as workshops and conferences. The program offers three fellowship tracks:

Postdoctoral track: for people who recently received a Ph.D.
Visiting professional track: for academics and professionals (e.g., lawyers, journalists, technologists, former government officials, etc.)
Microsoft Visiting Professor track: for academics

Find additional information and compare each track below.

Application Process

We hire for the Fellows Program each year. Applications are posted in the fall and can be found here on the Princeton University hiring page. Click on the drop-down box that says “Filter By Academic Unit” and click on “Center for Information Technology Policy” for the list of openings. You can also click on the links below for each individual position.

Applicants may apply for more than one track. Both CITP and Princeton University place high value on in-person collaborations and interactions. As such, candidates are expected to participate in-person research at CITP.

CITP’s fellows committee began reviewing applications on Thursday, December 15, 2022. Applications submitted after this date will be considered if the position has not been filled. Contact information for three references must be included in the application materials. References will only be contacted if the candidate becomes a finalist.

Postdoctoral Research Associate

The postdoctoral track is for people who have recently received or are about to receive a Ph.D., and work on understanding and improving the relationship between technology and society. Selected candidates will be appointed at the postdoctoral research associate or more senior research rank. These are typically 12-month appointments, commencing on or about September 1, 2023, and can be renewed for a second-year, contingent on performance and funding. Fellows in the postdoctoral track have the option of teaching, subject to sufficient course enrollments and the approval of the Dean of the Faculty.

CITP is especially interested in hearing from postdoc candidates who specialize in “information integrity,” as part of our privacy and security focus. We are also seeking postdocs who work at the intersection of precision health, data-driven medicine and public policy, as part of our “Data Science and AI and Society” focus area.

Candidates are expected to have their Ph.D. on the start date of the appointment. The appointment will not be finalized, and an exact start date will not be set, until the candidate has successfully defended their thesis.

Apply here for the Postdoctoral Research Associate position.

Visiting Professional

The Visiting Professionals track of the CITP fellows’ program is for professionals who hold an advanced degree —such as a M.A., Ph.D. or J.D. — and will be on leave from their full-time job. This includes professors on sabbatical or journalists on leave from their newsrooms. This fellowship appointment is roughly nine months long, and will begin on or about September 1, 2023. However, CITP does offer some flexibility between May 1, 2023 and October 1, 2023. The primary appointment will be at the rank of “Visiting Research Scholar” or “Visiting Professional Specialist” depending on experience.

In addition to a current curriculum vitae, research statement, and cover letter describing your background, interest in the program, and salary requirements, applicants to the Visiting Professionals track should provide a breakdown of all of the sources of financial support you will receive during the fellowship. This includes sabbatical funding or financial support from your home institution. Upon hire, written proof of employment, leave dates and salary must be provided by candidate’s home institution for the appointment period while at CITP.

Apply here for the Visiting Professionals position.

Microsoft Visiting Professor

The Microsoft Visiting Professor track is for visiting academics who are nationally or internationally recognized experts in technology policy. Appointments are typically for a term of up to nine months with an expected start date in September 2023. The Microsoft Visiting Professor must hold a Ph.D. or J.D., be on leave from their home institution, and is expected to teach one course related to their research during their term, subject to sufficient enrollments and with the approval of the Dean of the Faculty.

The Microsoft Visiting Professor track will carry the title of Microsoft Visiting (Assistant/Associate) Professor in the semester of teaching. Their primary appointment will be at the rank of “Visiting Research Scholar” or “Visiting Professional Specialist,” depending on experience. Typically, there will be one Microsoft Visiting Professor per year.

In addition to a current curriculum vitae, research statement, and cover letter describing your background, interest in the program, and salary requirements, applicants to the Visiting Professionals track should provide a breakdown of all of the sources of financial support you will receive during the fellowship. This includes sabbatical funding or financial support from your home institution. Please include a description of a course you would like to teach in either your cover letter or your research statement. Upon hire, written proof of current employment, leave dates. and salary must be provided by candidate’s home institution for the appointment period while at CITP.

Apply here for the Microsoft Visiting Professor position.

How the three Fellows tracks compare

Track	Degree Requirement	Teaching Requirement	Additional Details
Postdoctoral Research Associate	Recent Ph.D.	Optional with approval	Must provide proof of Ph.D.
Visiting Professional	Advanced degree (e.g., Ph.D., J.D., M.A.)	Optional with approval	Must provide documentation of leave from home institution at the time of appointment
Microsoft Visiting Research Scholar	Ph.D. or J.D.	Expected to teach one course	Must provide documentation of leave from home institution at the time of appointment; Open to all faculty ranks. Applicant’s who prefer not to teach may consider the Visiting Professional track.

Can I apply to more than one track?
Yes.

Are fellows on the visiting professionals track expected or required to teach?
No.

Are fellows on the Microsoft Visiting Professor track expected to teach?
Yes. If you are interested in becoming a fellow but don’t want to teach, you can consider the visiting professional track.

Is the Microsoft Visiting Professor position open to all faculty ranks?
Yes.

Are there any formatting requirements?
No, there are no formatting requirements for any of the application materials, i.e., font, word count, format of documents.

CITP is committed to building a culturally diverse community, and we are interested in receiving applications from members of groups that have been historically underrepresented in this field. If you have any questions about these position or the application process, please feel free to contact us at . All offers and appointments are subject to review and approval by the Dean of the Faculty.

Princeton University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Current Fellows

2022-23:
Shazeda Ahmed, Archana Ahlawat, Nia Brazzell, Jordan Brensinger, Monica Greco, Kenia Hale, Eszter Hargittai, Klaudia Jazwinska, Amna Liaqat, Katrina Ligett, Jakob Mökander, Sarah Scheffler, Christelle Tessono, and Rebecca Weiss

Past Fellows

2021-22:
Shazeda Ahmed, Kenia Hale, Klaudia Jazwinska, Lauren Kilgour, Arunesh Mathur, Orestis Papakryiakopoulos, Sergey Sanovich, Sarah Scheffler, Christelle Tessono, and Elizabeth Watkins

2020-21:
Shaanan Cohney, Ashley Gorham, Arunesh Mathur, Orestis Papakryiakopoulos, Sergey Sanovich, Paul Schmitt, Carsten Schwemmer, Elizabeth Watkins

2019-20:
Kevin Borgolte, Shaanan Cohney, Ashley Gorham, Danny Huang, David Johnson, Madelyn Sanfilippo, Sergey Sanovich, Paul Schmitt, Carsten Schwemmer, Yan Shvartzshnaider, Ari Waldman, Annette Zimmermann

2018-19:
Gunes Acar, Kevin Borgolte, Barton Gellman, Danny Huang, Kathryn Kleiman, Hans Klein, Guilherme Martins, Nathan Matias, Madelyn Sanfilippo, Paul Schmitt, Yan Shvarzshnaider, Ben Zevenbergen, Annette Zimmermann

2017-18:
Lefteris (Jason) Anastasopoulos, Aylin Caliskan, Roya Ensafi, KY Hong, Joel Reidenberg, Srikanth Sundaresan, Philipp Winter, Elana Zeide

2016-17:
Aylin Caliskan, Roya Ensafi, Brett Frischmann, Bart Gellman, Seda Gurses, Katherine Haenschen, KY Hong, Joel Reidenberg, Philipp Winter

2015-16:
Hadi Asghari, Peter Asaro, Solon Barocas, Joanna Bryson, Vaibhav Garg, Seda Gurses, Homero Gil de Zuniga William Hudson, Young Mie Kim, Eren Kursun, David Levine, Andrea Matwyshyn, Yong Jin Park

2014-15:
Peter Asaro, Solon Barocas, Joseph Bonneau, Roya Ensafi, Dipayan Ghosh, Alex Halderman, David Levine, Lisa Lynch, Andrea Matwyshyn, Helen Nissenbaum, Joel Reidenberg, David Ribes, Raul Rojas

2013-14:
Solon Barocas, Joseph Bonneau, Alex Halderman, Jared Ho, Merlyna Lim, Jeffrey Tignor, Diego Vicentin

2012-13:
Josh Gottheimer, Alex Halderman, Philip Howard, Gina Neff, Steven Roosa, Bjarne Stroustrup, Jeffrey Tignor, Zeynep Tufekci

2011-12:
Nicholas Bramble, Annemarie Bridy, Benedicte Callen, Alex Halderman, Philip Howard, Ronald Hedges, Bart Huffman, Andrew McLaughlin, Steven Roosa, Christopher Wong, Zhifeng Yang

2010-11:
Susan Crawford, Alex Halderman, Joseph Lorenzo Hall, Ronald Hedges, Adrian Hong, Ronaldo Lemos da Silva, Fengming Liu, Rebecca MacKinnon, Phillip Napoli, Russ Neuman, Frank Pasquale, Steven Roosa, Wendy Seltzer

2009-10:
Devin Desai, Jens Grossklags, Alex Halderman, Joseph Lorenzo Hall, James Katz, David Lukens, Rebecca MacKinnon

2008-09:
Grayson Barber, Alex Halderman, Pablo Hinojosa, Edward Tenner

News About Current and Past Fellows

Former CITP Fellow Orestis Papakyriakopoulos was quoted in What we found when analyzing 1,000 viral TikToks on #Abortion, an October 19, 2022 Opinion piece in the Washington Post.

Former CITP Fellow Kathy Kleiman will discusses her book, Proving Ground: The Untold Story of the Six Women Who Programmed the World’s First Modern Computer, as part of CITP’s November 8, 2022 Tuesday lunch seminar series.

Former CITP researcher Paul Schmitt has a “Simple Software Fix to Limit Location Data Sharing.”

Former CITP fellow Barton Gellman ’82 is featured in episode one, season two of Cookies Tech Security & Privacy. Gellman discusses his own privacy habits and why he doesn’t trust ordinary email or text messages, but also why he’s unable to give up carrying a smart phone despite its ability to track our movements.