## Friday, December 16, 2011

### Simons Fellowship for theory grad students.

The Simons Foundation has been a great boon for theoretical computer science, supporting postdocs galore, and even running a "sooper-seekrit" search for a new TCS institute.

Their latest initiative is at the grad student level. They're offering a 2-year fellowship to grad students "with an outstanding track record of research accomplishments". I think the idea is to support students who've established a good body of work, and could use this to coast towards their graduation and ramp up their research even more.

The support is considerable:
Each award will provide annual support for the following:
• Fellowship stipend as set by the student’s institution.
• Tuition and fees at the student's institution, to the extent previously covered by other outside funding.
• $3,000 in additional support for the student to use at his/her discretion. •$5,000 per year toward the student’s health insurance and other fringe benefits.
• $5,000 per year for travel, books, a computer and other supplies. •$5,000 in institutional overhead allowance.
Fellowships will start September 2012 and end August 2014.

How do you apply ?
Applicants may apply through proposalCENTRAL (http://proposalcentral.altum.com/default.asp?GMID=50) beginning December 7, 2011. The deadline to apply is May 1, 2012. Please coordinate submission of the proposal with the appropriate officials in accordance with institution/university policies. Please see the Application Instructions for further information.
Application Requirements:
• Research Statement (two page limit): A statement summarizing the applicant’s research contributions, research plans for the immediate future, and career goals. References do not need to be included within the page limit, but should not exceed an additional page.
• A curriculum vitae (two page limit), which includes institution, advisor, and a list of publications.
• A letter of support from the Department Chair.
• A letter of support from the student’s advisor.
• A letter from a reference outside the student’s institution. This letter must be submitted directly via proposalCENTRAL by the reference. Please see the Application Instructions for more information.
• Thesis topic.

(HT Sampath Kannan for pointing this out)