Postdoctoral Grants & Fellowships

A resource list of some grants and fellowships applicable to biomolecular science and engineering.

Programs especially interested in applications from underrepresented groups, such as women, people with disabilities, and people from minority groups, are marked with this logo:

Programs at UCSC

Center for Informal Learning and Schools (CILS)
At UCSC and King’s College London
The CILS program supports research and develops leadership in the study of informal science learning and institutions, and their relationships to K-12 schools. A collaboration between The Exploratorium, UCSC, and King’s College London, the CILS program is funded by the National Science Foundation. The program has two components: PhD sponsorship and a more limited fellows program, which are geared to prepare grad students to understand how science is learned and taught to school aged children.

President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
University of California—system-wide
This program is open to all qualified candidates who are committed to university careers in research, teaching, and service that will enhance the diversity of the academic community at the University of California. For fellowships in the humanities, arts, social sciences, and pofessions, the program will prefer candidates whose research emphasizes issues such as diversity, multi-culturalism and communities underserved by traditional academic research. For fellowships in math, engineering, life science and physical science, the program will prefer candidates with a demonstrated record of mentoring or outreach activities that promote access and opportunity in higher education.

UCSC Training Program in Systems Biology of Stem Cells
This program, funded by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), provides postdoctoral students with a solid understanding of the biology of stem cells, the skills to use stem cells in their own research, and the ability to devise and use computational approaches in their stem cell research. The Postdoctoral CIRM Scholars program offers fellowships for researchers pursuing or planning to pursue laboratory research with a UCSC CIRM mentor in some aspect of stem cell biology. Program trainees receive guidance from UCSC faculty mentors and participate in a variety of learning opportunities. The program offers a stipend of $51,000 per year plus health, dental, and vision insurance and a research allowance of $10,000 per year to cover laboratory supplies, travel, and books. Trainees are not required to be California residents or US citizens. UCSC and the CIRM are particularly interested in training a diverse pool of individuals from many backgrounds, including underrepresented minorities.

Programs offered by other institutions

Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Awards at the Scientific Interface
These awards are for researchers whose doctoral training is in one of the physical, chemical or computational sciences and who intend to pursue academic research doing work that addresses biological questions.

California Science and Technology Policy Fellowships
Offered by the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST), the California Science and Technology Policy Fellowships place professional scientists and engineers in the California State Legislature for one-year appointments. The fellowships are ideal for qualified applicants who are interested in improving the interface between science and legislative decision-making and who want to learn the public policy decision-making process.

Ford Foundation Diversity Fellowships
Through its program of Diversity Fellowships, the Ford Foundation seeks to increase the diversity of the nation’s college and university faculties by increasing their ethnic and racial diversity, to maximize the educational benefits of diversity, and to increase the number of professors who can and will use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students. The postdoctoral fellowships provide one year of support for postdoctoral study. Postdoctoral fellowships will be awarded in a national competition based on demonstrated superior academic achievement, commitment to a career in teaching and research at the college or university level, promise of future achievement as scholars and teachers, and preparation to use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students. Open to citizens or nationals of the United States who have been awarded a Ph.D. or Sc.D. degree in an eligible research-based field from a U.S. educational institution.

Fulbright Scholar Programs for U.S. and Non-U.S. Students
The Fulbright Program supports educational exchanges that strengthen understanding and communication between the United States and over 140 countries. Fulbright offers a variety of programs that support the research and teaching of visiting (Non-U.S.) scholars and the U.S. institutions that host them.

GrantsNet
GrantsNet currently lists about 700 grant programs and is one of the largest U.S. science grant databases for graduate students, medical students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty.

IBM Fellowship Program: Herman Goldstein Memorial Fellowship
The Herman Goldstein Memorial Fellowship is for research in mathematical and computer sciences. It provides scientists of outstanding ability an opportunity to advance their scholarship as resident department members at the Research Center, located in Westchester County, less than an hour north of New York City. The Mathematical Sciences Department provides an atmosphere in which basic research is combined with work on technical problems arising in industry. Areas of research include: algorithms (approximation, randomized, and on-line); coding theory; cryptography; data mining (machine learning, pattern recognition, and computational statistics); dynamical systems and differential equations; high-performance computation (including scientific computing and parallel computing); numerical analysis; optimization (discrete, continuous, and stochastic); probability theory (stochastic models, risk management, queues and queuing networks); statistics (time-series, multivariate analysis, design, and reliability); and supply-chain and operations management (pricing, optimization and performance modeling).

IBM Fellowship Program: Josef Raviv Memorial Postdoctoral Fellowship
The Josef Raviv Memorial Postdoctoral Fellowship in Computer Science and Computer Engineering is awarded each year to one recent Ph.D. who shows exceptional promise for a research career in computer science or computer engineering. The fellowship will be for one year, with an opportunity for IBM to renew for an additional year. Depending on proposed collaborations, the fellow will spend most of the fellowship at one of the IBM research laboratories. The fellow will be free to follow his/her own research interests, but is expected to work closely with other IBM researchers.

Kauffman Foundation Entrepreneur Postdoctoral Fellows
This one-year program program focuses on a subset of postdocs with entrepreneurial aspirations to empower them to take their ideas forward. Fellows learn how to evaluate their research for commercial potential and the process to take promising research forward to commercialization. Each Fellow will have a business mentor, a customized internship experience and intensive entrepreneurship workshops at the Kauffman Foundation, where they will network and learn from each other and from entrepreneurship experts. The program educates and trains scientist-founders who will create the high-growth technology companies of tomorrow.

Lawrence Fellowship, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
This fellowship was established to provide outstanding postdocs an opportunity to pursue cutting-edge science and stimulate cross-fertilization of ideas. The Fellows will interact with scientists having a wide range of expertise, and the LLNL is committed to making the experience positive and rewarding.

L'Oreal USA For Women in Science Fellowship Program
This program for women postdoctoral scientific researchers is designed to support the aspirations of young women interested in pursuing careers in the life and physical sciences as well as math, engineering, and computer science.

National Institutes of Health (NIH)
The NIH offers a variety of postdoctoral fellowship programs in biomedical research.

National Research Council of the National Academies
The National Research Council offers a number of awards for postdoctoral researchers at federal laboratories. These awards provide generous stipends and the opportunity to do independent research in some of the best-equipped and staffed laboratories in the country.

National Human Genome Research Institute(NHGRI)
This website lists a number of grants and awards available to postdoctoral researchers involved in genomics research and in related ELSI topics. Check the web page for links to other programs.

NIGMS Postdoctoral National Research Service
The NIGMS welcomes applications from eligible individuals who seek postdoctoral biomedical research training in areas related to scientific programs of the Institute. Applicants must have received the doctoral degree by the beginning of the proposed award.

NSF-CISE Postdoctoral Research Associates in Experimental Computer Science
This program provides opportunities for new doctoral degree recipients to broaden their knowledge through a change in institution or advisor.

NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biological Informatics
Recent recipients of the doctoral degree may receive this fellowship for research and training to address important scientific questions in contemporary biology. Projects and training must have a strong linkage between biology and computer, information, and computational science and must develop or apply state-of-the-art informatics tools or approaches to the stated problem.

PhRMA Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Informatics
These fellowships are designed to encourage graduates from Ph.D. programs in informatics to continue to refine their research skills through formal postdoctoral training. Informatics awards will support career development of scientists engaged in research that significantly integrates cutting-edge information technology with advanced biological, chemical, and pharmacological sciences in genetics, genomics, proteomics, systems biology, and molecular epidemiology. Applicants must be US citizens or permanent residents who have a firm commitment from an accredited US university. Use the online wizard to access grants.

PhRMA Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Pharmacology/Toxicology
These fellowships are designed to support for individuals engaged in a multidisciplinary research training program that will create or extend their credentials in pharmacology or toxicology. They support post doctoral career development activities of individuals prepared (or preparing) to engage in research that integrates information on molecular or cellular mechanisms of action with information on the effect of an agent in the intact organism. Applicants must be US citizens or permanent residents who have a firm commitment from an accredited US university. Use the online wizard to access grants.