Funding your master's education and gaining practical experience

In addition to merit-based funding awarded competitively to SIS applicants, external funding opportunities are available. Examples of organizations offering internships to IER graduate students, both domestically and abroad, are also listed.  

Fellowship Opportunities

External grants and membership organizations are great ways to fund your MA research and make career connections.

  • The Adel Ait-Ghezala Graduate Research Fellowship is available to graduate students who are full-time enrolled students in a master's or doctoral program at American University. The fellowships are intended to support applied, educational, or policy-relevant research programs designed to improve the lives of the citizens of developing countries. This is a competitive fellowship, and students must be making satisfactory academic progress (SAP) toward their degrees in order to be eligible.
  • The Fulbright US Student Program offers research, study and teaching opportunities in over 140 countries to recent graduates and graduate students. The program includes several types of awards, the most common being the Fulbright Study/Research Award, a traditional award opportunity where a candidate designs a proposal for a specific country, and the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant program, which places grantees in schools overseas to supplement local English language instruction and to provide a native speaker presence in the classrooms.
  • The DACOR Bacon House Foundation Fellowship offers $10,000 tuition-only grants for study toward a master's degree in international affairs. Typically, 11 schools participate in this program, including American University's School of International Service, and nominate three candidates based on merit. The Education Committee then interviews the nominees and selects one winner from each participating school.
  • The Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) Program was established by Executive Order in 1977 to attract to the Federal service outstanding men and women from a variety of academic disciplines and career paths who have a clear interest in, and commitment to, excellence in the leadership and management of public policies and programs. By drawing graduate students from diverse social and cultural backgrounds, the PMF Program provides a continuing source of trained men and women to meet the future challenges of public service.

Internship Opportunities

Located in one of the world’s leading centers of international interaction, IER encourages students to participate in the unique internships opportunities available in DC in the field of international economic relations. Below are a few examples of where past IER students have worked and interned.

  • US Department of Commerce
  • US International Trade Commission
  • US Department of State
  • US-China Business Council
  • US-Russia Business Council
  • Honeywell International
  • Booz Allen Hamilton
  • International Management Institute
  • Brookings Institution
  • Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
  • International Monetary Fund
  • World Bank
  • Institute of International Finance
  • Inter-American Development Bank
  • International Labor Organization