Potential Faculty Awards

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences' greatest strength lies in the leadership of its members and the wide range of expertise they bring to its studies and publications. The membership of the Academy encompasses 4,000 Fellows and 600 Foreign Honorary Members and reflects the full range of disciplines: mathematics, the physical and biological sciences, medicine, the social sciences and humanities, business, government, public affairs, and the arts. Among its Fellows are more than 160 Nobel Prize laureates and 50 Pulitzer Prize winners. Over 1,300 nominations are considered each year, and of this number, fewer than 250 are elected.

Nominations: Nomination to the Academy is a privilege restricted to the Fellowship. Annually, Academy members receive a call for nominations. Each candidate for membership must have two nominators who are already members. The nominators must be from different institutions from each other, and at least one must be from the United States.

To meet the government's urgent need for an independent adviser on scientific matters, President Lincoln signed a congressional charter forming the National Academy of Sciences in 1863 to "investigate, examine, experiment, and report upon any subject of science." As science began to play an ever-increasing role in national priorities and public life, the National Academy of Sciences eventually expanded to include the National Research Council in 1916, the National Academy of Engineering in 1964, and the National Academy of Medicine, which was established in 1970 as the Institute of Medicine. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are private, nonprofit institutions that provide expert, objective advice on current challenges in science- , engineering- , and health-related matters.

Nominations: In all three organizations, elections of new members take place annually, and new members are nominated and voted on by existing members. The number of new members elected is established either by the bylaws or the council of each organization. 

Timeline: Nomination deadlines vary depending on the area.  Nominations for National Academy of Sciences and Engineering occur throughout the year.  Nominations for the National Academy of Medicine occur between November 1 and February 1.

The Nobel Prize bestows international recognition for outstanding contributions to the fields of chemistry, physics, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace.

Each year, thousands of members of academies, university professors, scientists, previous Nobel Laureates and members of parliamentary assemblies and others, are asked to submit candidates for the Nobel Prizes for the coming year. These nominators are chosen in such a way that as many countries and universities as possible are represented over time.

After receiving all nominations, the Nobel Committees of the four prize awarding institutions are responsible for the selection of the candidates.

Deadline: Varies by discipline, although most nominations are submitted by invitation only

The American Academy of Nursing's approximately 2,900 Fellows are nursing leaders in education, management, practice and research. Fellows represent association executives; university presidents, chancellors and deans; elected officials; state and federal political appointees; hospital chief executives and vice presidents for nursing; nurse consultants; and researchers and entrepreneurs.

Invitation to Fellowship is more than recognition of one's accomplishments within the nursing profession. Academy Fellows also have a responsibility to contribute their time and energies to the Academy, and to engage with other health leaders outside the Academy in transforming America's health system by

• Enhancing the quality of health and nursing;
• Promoting healthy aging and human development across the life continuum;
• Reducing health disparities and inequalities;
• Shaping healthy behaviors and environments;
• Integrating mental and physical health; and
• Strengthening the nursing and health delivery system, nationally, and internationally.

Deadline: None (2 fellows nominate candidates)

The ACLS Fellowship Program invites research applications in all disciplines of the humanities and humanities-related social sciences. The ultimate goal of the project should be a major piece of scholarly work by the applicant. ACLS does not fund creative work (e.g., novels or films), textbooks, straightforward translation, or pedagogical projects.

Applications: Online submission including two reference letters.

Deadline: September deadline; notifications in February.

The Beckman Young Investigator (BYI) Program is intended to provide research support to the most promising young faculty members in the early stages of academic careers in the chemical and life sciences particularly to foster the invention of methods, instruments and materials that will open up new avenues of research in science.

Applications: First step is Letter of Intent describing project and rationale; candidates invited to apply are then notified and given further information.

Timeline: Letter of intent submission due in September; candidates invited to apply in December; award announcements in July

Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Awards are five-year $700,000 awards for physician-scientists bridge advanced postdoctoral/fellowship training and the early years of faculty service. Proposals must be in the area of basic biomedical, disease-oriented, translational, or molecular, genetic, or pharmacological epidemiology research.

Applications: All applicants are required to complete a web-based questionnaire assessing their eligibility to apply for this award.  If eligibility criteria are met, applicants will be automatically directed to a web-based proposal form. Candidates must hold an M.D., D.D.S., D.V.M., or D.O. degree. n Candidates must not be more than 13 years past their clinical doctorate degree. Candidates may hold a junior faculty appointment (Lecturer, Instructor, etc.). However, candidates with tenure track appointments are not eligible.

Timeline: Applications due by end of September.

The Cottrell Scholar Awards are designed for institutions and faculty members who are committed to excel at both teaching and research. These awards enable recipients to implement their plans to become outstanding scientists and educators as well as tomorrow's academic and scientific leaders. The awards also seek to reinforce faculty mentoring, communication, and a heightened appreciation for instruction in university science departments.

The Cottrell Scholar Award (CSA) is available to early career faculty at US and Canadian research universities and primarily undergraduate institutions. Eligible applicants are tenure-track faculty who hold primary or courtesy appointments in chemistry, physics, or astronomy departments that offer bachelor's and/or graduate degrees in the applicant's discipline.

Application: CSA proposals contain a research plan, an educational plan, and a clear statement on how the applicant will become an outstanding teacher-scholar with strong academic citizenship skills. Proposal plans must be for a period of three years. The ability of applicants to mount a strong and innovative research program, achieve excellence in education, and develop effective academic citizenship skills are key criteria in the selection process.

Timeline: Applications are due midnight on July 1.

Getty Scholar and Visiting Scholar Grants provide a unique research experience. Recipients are in residence at the Getty Research Institute where they pursue their own projects free from academic obligations, make use of Getty collections, join their colleagues in a weekly meeting devoted to an annual theme and participate in the intellectual life of the Getty. These grants are for established scholars, artists, or writers who have attained distinction in their fields. Applications are welcome from researchers of all nationalities who are working in the arts, humanities, or social sciences.  Scholars can be residence for 3- 9 months with varying levels of compensation.

Applications: Online application which includes CV, project proposal, and optional writing sample.

Timeline: Due by beginning of October

Often characterized as "midcareer" awards, Guggenheim Fellowships are intended for men and women who have already demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts. The Foundation offers Fellowships to further the development of scholars and artists by assisting them to engage in research in any field of knowledge and creation in any of the arts, under the freest possible conditions and irrespective of race, color, or creed.

Applications: The Foundation receives between 3,500 and 4,000 applications each year. Although no one who applies is guaranteed success in the competition, there is no prescreening: all applications are reviewed. Approximately 200 Fellowships are awarded each year.

Timeline: Application due in mid-September.

During periodic, open competitions, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators solicits applications from researchers at universities, medical schools, and other research institutions across the United States, with the aim of identifying individuals who have the potential to make significant contributions to science. Once selected, they continue to be based at their institutions—called “host institutions”—typically leading a research group of 10–25 students, postdoctoral associates, and technicians. Because HHMI is classified as a medical research organization under the Internal Revenue Code, HHMI investigators and some of their laboratory personnel are Institute employees, supported by local field offices throughout the country. Appointment is for a five-year term, which may be renewed after an exacting review process.

Applications: Applicants apply directly.  Application includes five highlighted research articles, summary of your major research contributions, and program description focused on your ongoing and planned research program.

Timeline: Applications due in mid March.

The Albert Lasker Award celebrates scientists, physicians, and public servants whose accomplishments have made major advances in the understanding, diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and cure of many crippling and fatal diseases. 

The MacArthur Fellows Program awards unrestricted fellowships to talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction. There are three criteria for selection of Fellows: exceptional creativity, promise for important future advances based on a track record of significant accomplishment, and potential for the fellowship to facilitate subsequent creative work. The MacArthur Fellows Program is intended to encourage people of outstanding talent to pursue their own creative, intellectual, and professional inclinations.

Nominations: Nominees are brought to the Program's attention through a constantly changing pool of invited external nominators chosen from as broad a range of fields and areas of interest as possible. They are encouraged to draw on their expertise, accomplishments, and breadth of experience to nominate the most creative people they know within their field and beyond.  Nominations are evaluated by an independent Selection Committee composed of about a dozen leaders in the arts, sciences, humanities professions, and for-profit and nonprofit communities.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Distinguished Achievement Awards have two objectives: to enable notable scholars in the humanities to pursue their work under especially favorable conditions and to underscore the decisive contributions the humanities make to the nation’s intellectual life. The awards are intended for those who have made major contributions to their own disciplines, whose influence may well have extended more broadly to other fields, and whose current work promises to make significant new advances through both teaching and research. Amounting to as much as $1.5 million each, the awards will provide the recipients and their institutions with enlarged opportunities to deepen and extend humanistic research.

National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Fellowships support individuals pursuing advanced research that is of value to humanities scholars, general audiences, or both. Recipients usually produce articles, monographs, books, digital materials, archaeological site reports, translations, editions, or other scholarly resources. Fellowships support continuous full-time work for a period of six to twelve months.

The National Humanities Center offers 40 residential fellowships for advanced study in the humanities during the academic year.

Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) Awards are offered to a limited number of investigators who have demonstrated superior competence and outstanding productivity during their previous research endeavors and who are likely to continue to perform in an outstanding manner in the future.
The MERIT Award provides long-term, stable support to investigators whose research competence and productivity are distinctly superior and who are likely to continue to perform in an outstanding manner. It is intended to foster their continued creativity and lessen the administrative burdens associated with the preparation and submission of research grant applications.

The National Medal of Science was established by the 86th Congress in 1959 as a Presidential Award to be given to individuals "deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to knowledge in the physical, biological, mathematical, or engineering sciences." In 1980 Congress expanded this recognition to include the social and behavioral sciences.

The National Medal of Technology and Innovation (formerly known as the National Medal of Technology) is the highest honor for technological achievement bestowed by the President of the United States on America's leading innovators. The purpose of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation is to recognize those who have made lasting contributions to America's competitiveness, standard of living, and quality of life through technological innovation, and to recognize those who have made substantial contributions to strengthening the Nation's technological workforce. By highlighting the national importance of technological innovation, the Medal also seeks to inspire future generations of Americans to prepare for and pursue technical careers to keep America at the forefront of global technology and economic leadership.

The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program is a Foundation- wide activity that offers the National Science Foundation's most prestigious awards in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations. Such activities should build a firm foundation for a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research. NSF encourages submission of CAREER proposals from junior faculty members at all CAREER-eligible organizations and especially encourages women, members of underrepresented minority groups, and persons with disabilities to apply.

Newberry Library Long-term Fellowships are available to post-doctoral scholars for periods of six to eleven months. These grants support individual research and promote serious intellectual exchange through active participation in the Library's scholarly activities, including a biweekly fellows' seminar. These residential fellowships are available to scholars who hold a PhD or other terminal degree for 4 to 9 months with a stipend of $4,200 per month. Awardees may combine their Newberry fellowship award with sabbatical funding or other stipendiary support. 

The Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences provides funding to young investigators of outstanding promise in science relevant to the advancement of human health. The program makes grants to selected academic institutions to support the independent research of outstanding individuals who are in their first few years of their appointment at the assistant professor level.

Each year NSF selects nominees for the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) from among the most meritorious new CAREER awardees. Selection for this award is based on two important criteria: 1) innovative research at the frontiers of science and technology that is relevant to the mission of the sponsoring organization or agency, and 2) community service demonstrated through scientific leadership, education or community outreach. These awards foster innovative developments in science and technology, increase awareness of careers in science and engineering, give recognition to the scientific missions of the participating agencies, enhance connections between fundamental research and national goals, and highlight the importance of science and technology for the Nation’s future. Individuals cannot apply for PECASE. These awards are initiated by the participating federal agencies. At NSF, up to twenty nominees for this award are selected each year from among the PECASE-eligible CAREER awardees who are most likely to become the leaders of academic research and education in the twenty-first century. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy makes the final selection and announcement of the awardees.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellows program provides the nation's most comprehensive experience at the nexus of health science, policy and politics in Washington D.C. The fellowship is an outstanding opportunity for exceptional midcareer health professionals and behavioral and social scientists with an interest in health and health care policy. Fellows experience and participate in the policy process at the federal level and use that leadership experience to improve health, health care and health policy.

The Searle Scholars Program makes grants to selected universities and research centers to support the independent research of exceptional young faculty in the biomedical sciences and chemistry who have recently been appointed as assistant professors on a tenure-track appointment. The Program’s Scientific Director appoints an Advisory Board of eminent scientists who choose the Scholars based on rigorous standards aimed at finding the most creative talent interested in pursuing an academic research career. This year, 199 applications were considered from nominations by 139 universities and research institutions.

The purpose of fellowship is to stimulate fundamental research by early-career scientists and scholars of outstanding promise. Selection procedures are designed to identify those who show the most outstanding promise of making fundamental contributions to new knowledge. Sloan Research Fellows, once chosen, are free to pursue whatever lines of inquiry are of the most compelling interest to them. Their Sloan funds can be applied to a wide variety of uses for which other, more restricted funds such as research project grants cannot usually be employed.

The Woodrow Wilson Fellows and Scholars Program supports research in the social sciences and humanities. Men and women from a wide variety of backgrounds, including government, the non-profit sector, the corporate world, and the professions, as well as academia, are eligible for appointment. Through an international competition, it offers 9-month residential fellowships to academics, public officials, journalists, and business professionals. Fellows conduct research and write in their areas of interest, while interacting with policymakers in Washington and Wilson Center staff.