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| Simons Fellowship | |
|---|---|
| Name | Simons Fellowship |
| Awarded by | Simons Foundation |
| Country | United States |
| Established | 1998 |
| Reward | Research leave funding |
Simons Fellowship The Simons Fellowship is a research-leave award administered by the Simons Foundation to support scholars in mathematics, physical sciences, and related fields during sabbatical years. It provides funding for recipients to focus on research away from routine teaching or administrative duties, enabling collaborations with institutions, laboratories, and research centers worldwide. The program has influenced research trajectories at universities, national laboratories, and institutes such as Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University, Harvard University, Columbia University, and University of California, Berkeley.
The Simons Fellowship awards a semester or full-year stipend to faculty in mathematics and the physical sciences, enabling concentrated research at institutions like Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, California Institute of Technology, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, ETH Zurich, and Max Planck Society institutes. It complements supports from organizations such as National Science Foundation, Royal Society, European Research Council, Guggenheim Fellowship, and Sloan Research Fellowship. Recipients often leverage the award to visit centers including CERN, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Perimeter Institute.
The fellowship was established by the Simons Foundation in 1998 to address limits on sabbatical funding at universities and to accelerate advances in fields represented by foundation programs. Its creation intersected with initiatives by institutions such as Institute for Advanced Study and funding patterns from the MacArthur Foundation, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Over time the program expanded its discipline focus through consultations with departments at Princeton University, Yale University, University of Chicago, Columbia University, and international partners like University of Toronto and Australian National University.
Eligibility typically includes faculty with a permanent or tenure-track appointment at accredited institutions such as New York University, University of Michigan, Cornell University, University of Texas at Austin, and University of California, San Diego. Criteria emphasize research accomplishments recognized by awards like the Fields Medal, Abel Prize, Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, Nobel Prize, Wolf Prize, NAS election, and membership in bodies like the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Selection panels have drawn experts from institutions including Princeton University, Harvard University, Stanford University, Caltech, Imperial College London, and École Normale Supérieure to assess proposals, publication records in journals such as Annals of Mathematics, Physical Review Letters, Nature, Science, and demonstrated plans for collaboration with groups at centers like CERN or Perimeter Institute.
The award provides stipends to cover salary replacement, travel to partners including Institute for Advanced Study, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, Simons Center for Geometry and Physics, and temporary relocation to host institutions such as University of California, Santa Barbara and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Fellows often use the support to pursue projects tied to grants from National Institutes of Health, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Simons Collaboration on the Origins of Life, and Simons Collaboration on Algorithms and Geometry. The fellowship can be combined with sabbatical policies at employers like Columbia University and University of Pennsylvania and may enable co-appointments or visiting positions at École Polytechnique, University of Paris (Sorbonne), or Seoul National University.
Recipients have included leaders whose work intersected with prizes and institutions such as Andrew Wiles (work connected to University of Oxford collaborations), Terence Tao (University of California, Los Angeles), Peter Sarnak (Princeton University), Maryam Mirzakhani (Stanford University affiliation history), Jean Bourgain (Institute for Advanced Study visits), and scholars associated with breakthroughs at CERN and LIGO Scientific Collaboration. The fellowship has facilitated collaborations among faculty from University of Cambridge, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Stanford University, University of Tokyo, and researchers at Bell Labs and Microsoft Research, contributing to publications in Annals of Mathematics, Journal of the American Mathematical Society, Communications in Mathematical Physics, Physical Review X, and Nature Physics.
Applications require a curriculum vitae, research proposal, host institution letter often from departments at Princeton University, Harvard University, Columbia University, or University of California, Berkeley, and endorsements from mentors or collaborators at centers like Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics or Perimeter Institute. Selection is competitive, with panels drawing reviewers from institutions such as Caltech, Imperial College London, ETH Zurich, Max Planck Society, and professional societies like the American Mathematical Society and American Physical Society. Award notifications align with academic sabbatical cycles at universities including Yale University and Brown University.
Critiques have focused on perceived concentration of awards among faculty at elite institutions like Harvard University, Stanford University, Princeton University, MIT, and University of California, Berkeley, echoing debates involving funders such as the MacArthur Foundation and issues seen in appointments at Institute for Advanced Study. Other controversies include discussions about equity across regions including Africa, Latin America, and institutions such as University of Buenos Aires or University of Cape Town, and the balance between support for senior scholars versus early-career researchers as debated in contexts like the European Research Council and National Science Foundation policy forums.
Category:Fellowships