Greetings,
The Office of the Vice Provost for Research has launched the 2024 Aramont Fellowship Fund for Emerging Science Research. The award supports junior faculty and postdoctoral fellows conducting high-risk, high-reward science and engineering research. Each eligible school (FAS, SEAS, HMS, and HSPH) will select nominees to be considered in the University-wide competition. Information on the selection process in FAS and SEAS is below:
Aramont Fellowship Fund for Emerging Science Research
Deadline for Expression of Interest: October 25, 2023
Deadline for Application, if nominated: November 13, 2023
Award Amount: $100,000 for faculty awards; $50,000 for postdoctoral awards
The Aramont Fellowship Fund for Emerging Science Research is made possible by a generous gift from the Aramont Charitable Foundation and will provide critical funding to advance early-career high-risk, high-reward science and engineering conducted at Harvard Medical School, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Applications should propose research in basic and applied science and engineering, specifically for work that may be considered high-risk, high-reward. Proposals will be evaluated on the basis of intellectual merit, innovation, and likely impact on the field.
Funds will be awarded in two categories:
- Junior Faculty ($100,000 per award): Three awards will be made to junior faculty members. Each of the four eligible schools is invited to submit up to three nominations in the junior faculty category. This program aims to support career growth and capacity building specifically; therefore, special consideration will be given to applicants proposing to hire and mentor postdoctoral fellows or graduate students, to those who show particular promise (as evidenced by a decanal nomination) but have little to no research funding beyond school-based support, and to those wishing to expand their research portfolio to a new area. For the purposes of this competition, “Junior Faculty” is defined as those with the title of Assistant or Associate Professor, whose primary employer is, and whose sponsored administration is run through, Harvard University.
- Postdoctoral Fellow ($50,000 per award): Each of the four eligible schools is invited to submit one nomination in the postdoctoral fellows category. For the purposes of this competition, the affiliation (and therefore eligibility) of postdoctoral fellows is determined by the school in which they hold their appointment. Rowland Fellows, John Harvard Distinguished Fellows, Harvard Junior Fellows, NIH Early Independence Award winners, and others holding similar positions may apply to this Fund in the postdoctoral fellow category. Nominated postdoctoral fellows are expected to be those who have a strong, independent research project to propose in the Fund’s priority area (high-risk, high-reward science) and must have an identified faculty mentor who will provide a letter of recommendation in support of their independent research.
Eligible faculty members and postdoctoral scholars in FAS and SEAS who would like to be considered for a school-level nomination should submit an expression of interest (EOI) to research_development@fas.harvard.edu by October 25, 2023. Your EOI should consist of a two-page CV and a one- to two-paragraph summary describing the project you would propose if nominated, highlighting what makes the work high-risk and high-reward. Postdoctoral scholars should also list the faculty member who is their mentor (though a letter of recommendation from the faculty mentor is not needed at the EOI stage). Projects will be evaluated on the basis of intellectual merit, innovation, and likely impact on the field.
Questions from FAS and SEAS affiliates about this opportunity may be directed to research_development@fas.harvard.edu.