A scholar’s path to policy

Adam Shapiro, AM’03, PhD’07, reflects on his path from the history of science to public service.

Like many people who enroll in PhD programs, Adam Shapiro, AM’03, PhD’07, arrived at the University of Chicago planning on a traditional academic career. For nearly a decade he did just that, serving as a lecturer and research fellow at institutions around the world. But eventually Shapiro, who studied the history and philosophy of science and technology, found himself wanting to make a more direct impact through his work.

Shapiro’s dissertation, which focused on the politics of science education in the twentieth century, gave him an understanding of the stakes of policy implementation. He got his first on-the-ground experience with policy through the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s policy fellowship program, which placed him at the US Department of State. He remains there today, serving as a human rights and civil society analyst in the Office of International Religious Freedom. 

What does a typical day look like for you?

Every day looks a little bit different. You wake up in the morning and sometimes whatever has happened overnight completely changes what you had planned to do the next day. Sometimes it’s being reactive and responsive to world events. Sometimes it’s more proactive planning to get a project off the ground and then implementing it, monitoring it, and talking to the people who did it to try to find out whether it worked and how to make it better next time. 

What’s a project you feel especially proud of?

Back when I was in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, we were developing new public exchange programs that were trying to use science education as a tool to bring people together around the world: Science is the same everywhere, more or less. Let’s use that commonality to emphasize the commonality of our cultures. 

We did a program where we brought middle school– and early high school–age students together virtually to talk about why the education programs they were doing mattered to them. They talked about preserving a local park and doing environmental monitoring there, and about trying to figure out how to prevent mosquito-borne diseases in their communities. You could tell how much this mattered to them and how much they were getting out of the experience of talking to people in other countries. That was great. It also probably advanced American interests to help broker that kind of understanding.

How much do shifting political winds in Washington change the nature of work like yours?

It depends on the office. When I first came to State, I had the opportunity to work under foreign service officers who had served, in some cases, for decades. They’d seen things come and go, and they reminded me that there are a lot of times when we might disagree on how to do things, but we don’t disagree on what to do. In American foreign policy, we all basically agree that American prosperity, safety, and security are our keystones. 

What have you enjoyed about your time working at State?

With rare exceptions, everyone I’ve worked with seems genuinely to be committed to the idea that they’re there to make the world a better place. Very few people are focused on maintaining their own ego or their own professional accomplishments, as opposed to serving a wider constituency. It’s not just about my research, my project, my grant. It’s about enabling other people to thrive as well.

What advice would you give to PhDs interested in pursuing policy careers?

You may be surprised to know that you already have a lot of skills that apply outside the ivory tower. If you have done a thesis or a dissertation, you have done a form of project management. If you’ve written a grant, you’ve done financial management. You’ve probably developed diplomatic skills, just to get the members of your dissertation committee to actually remain in the same room. These are translatable skills.