Sloan Research Fellowships
The two-year $75,000 fellowships are awarded annually to early-career researchers whose creativity, innovation, and research accomplishments make them stand out as the next generation of leaders.
Eligibility Requirements
- Candidates must hold a Ph.D. or equivalent degree in chemistry, computer science, Earth system science, economics, mathematics, neuroscience, physics, or a related field.
- Candidates must be members of the faculty of a college, university, or other degree-granting institution in the U.S. or Canada.
- Candidates must be tenure-track, though untenured, as of September 15 of the nomination year.
- Candidate’s faculty position must carry a regular teaching obligation.
The Sloan Research Fellowship Program recognizes and rewards outstanding early-career faculty who have the potential to revolutionize their fields of study.
Questions about how these eligibility requirements apply to you? See our FAQ page or email us at [email protected].
In order to be considered for a Sloan Research Fellowship, a candidate must have a letter of nomination from a department head or other senior researcher. Submissions unaccompanied by a nomination letter from a senior researcher are not accepted. More than one candidate from a department may be nominated per fellowship field, but no more than three. Nomination Letters and Letters of Support are important elements of the selection process and are read carefully by Selection Committees. The letters allow nominators and support writers to give Committee members insight about nominees that is not present in their other application materials (CV, publication list, etc.). Selection Committees recommend that letters of support be submitted by someone who can speak objectively and knowledgeably about the quality and significance of a nominee’s work. Letters submitted by co-authors, personal associates, or professional mentors are, in this sense, less useful to Selection Committees than letters submitted by those with more professional distance from a nominee’s work.
The Sloan Research Fellowship Program recognizes and rewards outstanding early-career faculty who have the potential to revolutionize their fields of study. Successful candidates for a Fellowship generally have a strong record of significant independent research accomplishments that demonstrate creativity and the potential to become future leaders in the scientific community. Nominated candidates are normally several years past the completion of their Ph.D. in order to accumulate a competitive record of independent, significant research. The Foundation strongly encourages the nomination of qualified candidates from all backgrounds.
Required application materials:
- A letter from a department head or other senior researcher officially nominating the candidate and describing his or her qualifications, initiative, and research;
- The candidate's curriculum vitae (including a list of the candidate's scientific publications);
- Two representative articles by the candidate that highlight his or her independent research;
- A brief (one-page) statement by the candidate describing his or her significant scientific work and immediate research plans;
- Three letters from other researchers (preferably not all from the same institution) written in support of the candidate’s nomination.
How to Submit Nomination Materials All materials must be uploaded and submitted through the Foundation’s online application portal. See the Apply page for more information.
Nominations are reviewed and candidates selected by an independent selection committee of distinguished scientists in each eligible field. Fellows are selected on the basis of their independent research accomplishments, creativity, and potential to become leaders in the scientific community through their contributions to their field.
The nomination period for the 2027 Sloan Research Fellowships opened on July 15, 2026 and closes on September 15, 2026. The online nomination portal can be accessed at https://apsloan.smapply.io/prog/2027_sloan_research_fellowships/
See a list of all past members of the Selection Committees.
CHEMISTRY Héctor D. Abruña, Cornell University Cathleen M. Crudden, Queen's University David R. Reichman, Columbia University Wilfred A. van der Donk, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
COMPUTER SCIENCE Moses Charikar, Stanford University Sylvia Ratnasamy, University of California, Berkeley Kilian Weinberger, Cornell University
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE E. Virginia Armbrust, University of Washington Inez Fung, University of California, Berkeley David Halpern, University of California, San Diego
ECONOMICS Veronica Guerrieri, The University of Chicago Parag Pathak, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Alessandra Voena, Stanford University
MATHEMATICS Larry Guth, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Amit Singer, Princeton University Karen E. Smith, University of Michigan
NEUROSCIENCE Rui Costa, Columbia University Marla Feller, University of California, Berkeley Yishi Jin, University of California, San Diego
PHYSICS Lars Bildsten, University of California, Santa Barbara Sally Dawson, Stony Brook University Subir Sachdev, Harvard University Jun Ye, University of Colorado, Boulder
Fellowships are for a two-year term, beginning on September 15th of the award year. Fellowships are paid in a single lump sum. The Fellowship amount is $75,000. Fellowship funds may be used by the fellow for any expense judged supportive of the fellow’s research including staffing, professional travel, lab expenses, equipment, or summer salary support. Fellowship funds may not be used for indirect costs or overhead charges. Fellows are obligated to notify the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation if they are changing institutions. Once per year, Fellows (or their institution) are obligated to submit both a substantive report (detailing what is being done) and a financial report (detailing how much money has been spent and on what).
The above terms and conditions are spelled out in more detail in the formal fellowship agreement. Please see the For Current Fellows tab for more information.