Research Fellowship program

The Penn State Eberly College of Science invites nominees for the Eberly Research Fellowship program.

Eberly Fellowships are designed to attract exceptional early career scientists to Penn State to enhance their career goals in the vibrant, highly collaborative environment of the Eberly College of Science and the broader STEM community at Penn State. The Eberly College of Science—including the Departments of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mathematics, Physics, and Statistics—ranks in the top 10 universities in the United States and has annual research expenditures exceeding $125 million.

Each of these six departments expects to appoint one or more Eberly Fellows. Nominations of early career scientists with exceptional promise in basic research in physics, biology, molecular biology, astronomy, mathematics, and statistics, and/or applied research in health, energy, materials, or the environment, are encouraged. Interdisciplinary as well as traditional disciplinary research is encouraged. Fellows who wish to also gain training and experience in teaching may elect to receive mentored teaching experience. Eberly Fellow advisers must hold their primary appointment in one of the seven departments of the Eberly College of Science. Coadvisers and cross-disciplinary research are also supported.

Eligibility and appointment:

Applicants must be a current doctoral student or have received a doctoral degree in science, statistics, or mathematics within the past three years.Current doctoral students must have their doctoral degree prior to the start of their fellowship. Current doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows at Penn State are not eligible. Eberly Research Fellowships may be held for up to three years. After an initial appointment of one year, subsequent appointments are conditional on progress, funding, and eligibility. Fellows will receive a stipend of $65,000, and $5,000 per year in discretionary funds for travel and other research expenses.

Nomination and applications:

Nominations will be accepted from past and/or current faculty advisers, graduate program chairs, department chairs, or others who can attest to the nominee’s potential as a scientist. Nominations should include the nominee’s curriculum vitae. Nominations of women and underrepresented minorities are strongly encouraged. The review of nominations will begin on December 1, 2020. Nominations should be sent to researchfellows@psu.edu.

The departmental Eberly Research Fellowship selection committees will select the nominees to be invited to submit applications, which will be reviewed beginning on December 15, 2020. Applications will include (1) a biographical sketch, including publications, accepted, and submitted manuscripts, (2) three letters of reference, including one from the doctoral adviser, (3) a research statement summarizing research accomplishments and research that you intend to pursue at Penn State, and (4) the name of one or more potential advisers among the faculty in the seven departments of the Eberly College of Science.