National Institute of Justice’s (NIJ’s) 

Research Assistantship Program 

Informational Webinar 

September 28, 2023 | 1:30 PM ET 

The webinar will begin shortly 
 

 

NIJ’s Research Assistant Program (RAP) 

Webinar Presenter: 

Angela Moore, Ph.D. (Senior Science Advisor, RAP Manager) 

Office of the Director 

September 2023 
Today’s Webinar 

• Overview of NIJ

• Purpose and Benefits of the RAP

• Funding

• Requirements

• Review Process

• Ideal Candidate

• Types of Work Performed by Research Assistants

• Q & A
 

National Institute of Justice 

Who are we: 

• NIJ is the research, development and evaluation 

agency of the U.S. Department of Justice. 

Our mission: 

• Improve knowledge and understanding of crime and 

justice issues through science. 
 

Agency Structure 

• Office of the Director 

• Five Science Offices: 

• Office of Crime Prevention and Youth Justice 

• Office of Criminal Justice Systems 

• Office of Investigative and Forensic Sciences 

• Office of Technology and Standards 

• Office of Violence and Victimization Prevention 

• Office of Communications 

• Office of Operations 

• Office of Grants Management 
Purpose of the RAP 

• Build a talent pipeline by nurturing and growing a pool of

researchers involved in studying criminal justice. 

• Provide doctoral students with practical and applied 

research experience. 

• Afford doctoral students an opportunity to work with NIJ 

scientists on research and development activities. 
Benefits of the RAP 

• Work with the only federal agency in the U.S. solely 

dedicated to criminal justice (CJ) research, development, 

testing, and evaluation 

• Career development for doctoral students wanting to bridge 

their science to criminal justice 

• Ability to network with NIJ’s partners and stakeholders 

internal and external to government 

• NIJ scientists work with emerging scholars 

• Funding 
 

Funding Provided Through RAP 

• Stipend 

• Students work 20-30 hours per week during academic year (AY) 9.5 

or 12 months 

• Tuition remission 

• Up to 20 credits for RAs who work for NIJ during AY only, up to 24 

credits for RAs who work for NIJ throughout calendar year 

• Health benefits through university 

• Approved travel and training 
 

Eligibility Requirements 

At application deadline 

• U.S. citizen or a permanent U.S. resident 

• Enrolled in a research-based doctoral program at an 

accredited U.S. university 

After Acceptance 

• Successful completion and approval of all required U.S. 

Department of Justice background checks 
 

Application Requirements 

• Statement of Interest 

• Public Safety Challenge Essay 

• Resume/CV 

• Writing sample of a scientific paper 

• Unofficial Transcript(s) 

• One Letter of Recommendation 

• Three References 

Work with your Graduate Program Director (GPD) to 

submit your application electronically 
Application Review Process 

• Applications reviewed and rated by science staff 

• Select applicants interviewed and rated by science staff 

• NIJ Director (or designee) approves 

• Contact GPDs & candidates with intentions of acceptance 

• Research Assistants (RAs) begin in Fall 
Ideal Candidate 

• Strong writing skills 

• Advanced communication skills 

• Solid analytical, statistical, and methods knowledge 

• Strong reasoning ability 

• Specialized training yet able to function as a generalist 
Types of Work Performed by RAs 

• Develop and maintain measurement and program databases 

• Conduct quantitative analyses and produce peer reviewed 

journal articles 

• Conduct qualitative interviews and focus groups, code data, 

and draft technical reports for NIJ intramural studies 

• Co-present on NIJ-sponsored webinars and presentations 

• Co-author NIJ Journal articles, book chapters, summaries, 

briefs, reports to Congress, and white papers 
Questions? 

Please enter your questions into the Q&A box 
 

For More Information 

Visit the RAP webpage at: 

https://nij.ojp.gov/funding/nijs-research-assistantship-program 

Or contact us at: 

NIJ_RAP@usdoj.gov 

WORK WITH YOUR UNIVERISTY TO COMPLETE YOUR 

APPLICATION NOW!