IBM PhD Fellowship Program

THIS APPLICATION IS FOR CS STUDENTS ONLY.

The IBM Ph.D. Fellowship Awards Program is an intensely competitive worldwide program, which honors exceptional Ph.D. students who have an interest in solving problems that are important to IBM and fundamental to innovation in many academic disciplines and areas of study. Strong collaboration with faculty, students and universities is vital to IBM. The IBM PhD Fellowship Program advances this collaboration by recognizing and supporting exceptional PhD students who want to make their mark in promising and disruptive technologies. Focus areas include the following topics of particular interest:

Hybrid Cloud
Quantum Computing / Quantum Systems
Artificial Intelligence
Cloud / Open Source Technologies
Security / Cyber Security
Data Science
Systems
Since the creation of the IBM PhD Fellowship Program in 1951, we have supported thousands of PhD students — with more than 700 students supported over the past 10 years alone.

Preference will be given to students who have had an IBM internship or have closely collaborated with technical or services people from IBM.

The 2023 two-year IBM PhD Fellowships are awarded worldwide.

U.S. country awards are $60,000 in award year one and $35,000 in award year two.
Other country awards vary between $6,000-$25,000 each award year depending on the country.
All IBM PhD Fellowship awardees will be mentored by an IBMer in order to collaborate on a research or technology project for the duration of the award period and are strongly encouraged to do an internship during the first or second year of their award.

Eligibility

All nominees
- must be nominated by a doctoral faculty member; students cannot nominate themselves.
- must be enrolled full-time in a PhD program over the two consecutive academic years of the award or forfeit the fellowship.
- must have three years remaining in their program at the time of nomination so the fellowship can be applied to the last two years of study.
- from U.S. embargoed countries are not eligible for the program.
- receiving a comparable fellowship, internship, or support from another company or institution (exception for academic scholarships) during the IBM PhD Fellowship funding period are ineligible for this award.
- must stay in the same program for the duration of the award —no transferring of departments or schools.

Awardees will be selected based upon
- their potential for research excellence. All awardees will have an IBM mentor for the duration of the award period and are strongly encouraged to intern during the first or second year of their award. If All student visas must align with terms of the internship.
- the degree to which the nominees’ research aligns with IBM focus areas. See the FAQ covering focus areas.
- academic standing, publications, and endorsements from faculty advisors and department heads. receiving a comparable fellowship, internship, or support from another company or institution (excepting in the case of academic scholarships).
Nominating faculty must submit thoroughly developed proposals, remain engaged during the vetting and due diligence process, and use the university domain email address for all correspondence.

Note: Over the last few years, previous winners from this department have all been 1-2 years away from graduation, and all had internships/co-ops with IBM prior to applying for the fellowship.

A maximum of three nominations per department may be submitted.

For more details, see: https://www.research.ibm.com/university/awards/fellowships-faq.html

https://www.research.ibm.com/university/awards/fellowships.html

Award
$60,000.00
Deadline
Supplemental Questions
  1. Are you already supported by a comparable industry award?
  2. Do you have three years remaining in your graduate program at this time?
  3. Which of the following areas most closely reflects your research field?
  4. Which of the following closely reflects your secondary research area (optional):
  5. Please provide your Google Scholar publications and citations, latest completed degree, and career goal (professional researcher, professor, etc.)
  6. Please list of all your IBM activities (communities, sponsored collaborations, activities, conferences, courses, internships, presentations, events, promotions, products, services, etc. with which you have engaged).
  7. Please request a nomination from your thesis advisor - they will be sent instructions for the nomination. PLEASE NOTIFY THEM THAT YOU ARE REQUESTING A LETTER NOW - they are sent the request from Blackbaud when you submit your application. We want to give them as much time as possible to write their letters.
  8. Strongly encouraged: request a letter of recommendation from a scientist at IBM. PLEASE NOTIFY THEM THAT YOU ARE REQUESTING A LETTER NOW - they are sent the request from Blackbaud when you submit your application. We want to give them as much time as possible to write their letters
  9. Please provide a SINGLE .pdf titled "Last name_First name_IBM PhD Fellow Fall 22" (example: Gorrie_Hannah_IBM PhD Fellow Fall 22") with the following: 1) your CV (3 page limit) containing your current contact information - email, phone, and mailing address - personal/professional website, education, publications, awards, and service. 2) Your PhD Project or Dissertation Title, and then a 2,000 chars limit description that should be organized into sections: Research Question or Hypothesis, Methodology Summary, and Analysis. Include an answer to, “What would be the impact if this was work was not conducted? Why did the student select this field of study and line of inquiry?
  10. Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and broadening participation in computing (BPC) are an important part of the UIUC CS mission. Please write a brief paragraph telling us how DEI figures into your past and present teaching, research, community engagement, and your lived experience? How do you imagine incorporating attention to DEI into your future work?
  11. To the best of my knowledge, I have not committed any action that violates the UIUC Student Code or the CS Department Values and Code of Conduct.
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