Graduate Fellows in High Energy Theory

DOE High Energy Physics Graduate Fellowship in Theory

The DOE high energy theory graduate fellowship program is a competitive program open to graduate students in theoretical high energy physics whose advisors are currently supported by a research grant (excluding Outstanding Junior Investigator and Early Career awards) from the DOE Office of High Energy Physics. This program, limited to high energy theory students, is completely distinct from the broader Office of Science graduate fellowship program.

The high energy theory graduate fellowship program was initiated in 2009. Past and current awardees are listed below. The number of fellowships awarded each year depends on the applicant pool and available funds; 4-6 new fellowship awards per year is typical.

Annual solicitation:

An annual call for nominations is sent via email to current grant PIs at institutions with high energy theorists supported by DOE. Each such institution is invited to nominate one student to compete for these fellowships. An institution nominating more than one student will be disqualified from the competition.

FY12 solicitation: Closed

FY13 solicitation: Not yet open. See timetable below.

Eligibility:

Any student nominated must have passed all Ph.D. candidacy requirements and be conducting research toward a Ph.D. thesis. A student who is, or will be, supported by other fellowship(s) through all or part of the fellowship period (see below) is not eligible. US citizenship is not a requirement.

Each fellowship will be awarded for up to two years, or when the Fellow obtains her/his Ph.D. degree, whichever comes first. Awards are generally handled as supplements to the grants. Should OHEP research support for the student's thesis advisor be discontinued, an associated fellowship award would also terminate.

Nominations:

To minimize administrative burdens, nominations are treated as 'pre-proposals'. The required documents in a nomination packet are:

1. A brief CV of the nominee including, if applicable, a publication list.

2. A statement of up to two pages from the nominee describing her/his proposed research plan.

3. Nomination letter from the nominee's thesis advisor.

4. Two additional letters of support.

5. A (scanned) copy of the nominee's graduate school transcript(s).

6. A budget, with explanation, for the standard 12-month RA support at the nominee's institution plus $2,500.00 (before overhead) annual travel support for attending summer schools and/or conferences. Please put the budget on the DOE Budget Form (DOE F 4620.1).

These documents should be combined in a single pdf file and sent, prior to the current annual solicitation deadline, directly to the OHEP theory program manager, and copied to Ms. Christie Ashton (christie.ashton@science.doe.gov). Late submissions will not be considered.

Selection:

A review panel is convened, annually, to examine all applications and make selection recommendations. Grant PIs for the selected nominees are then asked to submit a supplemental proposal, through grants.gov, containing the same application material as in the pre-proposal.

Approximate Timetable:

October: Solicitation notices sent to grant PIs

Early December: Solicitation deadline

Mid January: Review panel meets

Late January: PIs of selected nominees notified

September 1: Start of fellowship support for new awardees

Past and current fellows:
HET fellow InstitutionAdvisor
2012:
Gustavo Tavares Boston Univ Martin Schmaltz
Jakub Scholtz Univ. of Washington Ann Nelson
Scott Davies UCLA Zvi Bern
Achilleas Porfyriadis Harvard Univ. Andrew Strominger
Jianglei Yu Columbia Univ. Norman Christ
2011:
Tristan Dennen UCLA Zvi Bern
James Halverson Univ. of Pennsylvania Mirjam Cvetic
Duff Neill Carnegie Mellon Univ. Ira Rothstein
Brian Willett Caltech Anton Kapustin
2010:
Thomas Dumitrescu Princeton Univ. Nathan Seiberg
Ian Lewis Univ. of Wisconsin Tao Han
Qi Liu Columbia Univ. Norman Christ
Yue Zhao Rutgers Univ. Scott Thomas