Fellowships

Fellowship workshop

Every fall semester we hold a fellowship workshop with first-years, as many fellowships are only available to first-years or are easier to get as a first-year. The workshop is primarily focused on applying for NSF GRFP. Students who have received fellowships lead the workshop. We’ll help you find fellowships that you qualify for, professors to talk to about recommendations, and edit your essays.

Fellowships

The national fellowship which students most commonly apply to is the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP). It is a good 3-year fellowship and students in our department have a pretty solid history of getting it. If you are eligible for NSF GRFP, putting in a good application should probably be your top priority in your first semester. If anything, faculty know how useful it is for you to get it, so it’ll be a good way to start talking with them about research.

People also apply to:

• National Defense Science and Engineering Fellowship (NDSEG)

• DOE Computational Science Graduate Fellowship (DOE CSGF)

• NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Opportunities (NSTGRO)

• Hertz Fellowship

Fellowships specific to our department.

The department has relationships with private companies to fund fellowships. They are typically a shorter duration (1 year or 1 semester), and you have to apply to them through the department. Currently Two Sigma and Citadel offer fellowships. See more details on the department’s website.

Other fellowships

Many private companies (think tech companies, hedge funds) offer fellowships which you can apply for. Berkeley also has a very long list of fellowships specific to the school. Very rarely you may receive a fellowship you did not apply for.

Postdoctoral Research Fellowships

In your last year, you may want to apply for postdoctoral research fellowships, which provide external funding for a postdoc position. Here is a list of a few fellowships, some academic and some non-academic. Some, such as the NSF MSPRF, may require you to get in contact beforehand with a sponsor and have them write a letter of recommendation for you. Note: A number of these fellowships are due much earlier than most postdoc applications (like October 1!), so make sure you start early!

• NSF Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowship

• Sandia National Laboratories Fellowships

• Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Fellowships

• Harvard Kempner Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship

• Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Fellowship

• Cornell University Klarman Fellowship

A number of postdoctoral fellowships are also listed on MathJobs.org and AcademicJobsOnline.org.