The Federal Energy Management Program's Early Career Professionals Program (ECPP) brings together passionate early career professionals in the energy and water fields to support efficient and secure operations in federal agencies.
ECPP aims to help professionals early in their energy and water careers develop a baseline of subject matter knowledge and expertise while building professional relationships to successfully carry out their federal agencies' missions related to energy and water management.
2026 Early Career Professionals Program – Cohort 3
Applications are closed.
The application period for the third cohort of the Early Career Professionals Program (ECPP) is now closed. FEMP anticipates reaching out to applicants in December 2025.
Technical training for the 2026 sessions will focus on:
- Energy and water fundamentals
- Energy and water audits and assessments
- Project development pathways
- Professional development skills
- Capstone projects.
Frequently Asked Questions
FEMP considers an early career professional to be an individual who has less than 3 years of applied experience within the federal water and energy field (or broadly related experience) or who completed a degree (undergraduate, graduate, professional, doctorate) less than 3 years ago.
FEMP prioritizes federal staff to be selected for this program; however, private-sector professionals and broader stakeholders who meet the above criteria are also encouraged to apply.
Applications for the 2026 ECPP cohort are closed.
Once cohort selections are made, the program runs for several months, and trainings are held monthly. Cohort members are required to present a capstone project, which can be done virtually or in-person at a future FEMP event.
Most trainings are provided virtually via Microsoft Teams.
There may be required in-person meetings for the initial kickoff of the program and if a member chooses to present their capstone in-person at a future FEMP event.
The technical training series focuses on topics that serve as baseline information for federal energy and water managers. Key training topics may include:
- Recent federal policy.
- Energy and water fundamentals.
- Energy and water audits and assessments.
- Project implementation.
- And more.
Topic experts from FEMP and the broader federal energy and water management community share their expertise with the ECPP participants.
Unfortunately, the program is only available for U.S. citizens.
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