Schmidt Science Fellows

Schmidt Science Fellows is a post-doctoral fellowship launched in the Fall of 2017 with an inaugural set of recipients named in 2018.[1] Former Google chairman Eric Schmidt and his wife Wendy Schmidt fund the program and run it in partnership with the Rhodes Trust: a non-profit organization who administer the Rhodes Scholarship.[2] The program is intended to foster interdisciplinary research and teach leadership skills in a select group of post-doctoral scientists.[3][4]

Structure

The fellowship is supported by Schmidt Futures, the philanthropic initiative of Eric Schmidt and Wendy Schmidt,[4] who pledged $25 million for the first three years as part of a broader $100 million drive to fund scientific research.[5] The Rhodes Trust acts as a central partner and coordinates the selection process, mediates with partner universities, and assists in the post-doctoral placements of fellows.[3]

The program consists of an 11-month lab-based postdoctoral research study at a leading scientific research university, followed by four global meetings.[3]

Selection, allocation, and stipend

In its inaugural year fellows were selected from a pool of 220 international applicants from natural sciences, engineering, mathematics, and computer sciences backgrounds; then whittled down to 31 finalists.[6] Successful applicants are given $100,000 to study in a field outside of their usual area of research and undertake a series of advanced courses and networking programs.[3] In its first year 14 fellows were selected (eight men and six women) from twelve different universities.[4]

Motivation

The fellowship came about due to a necessity to fund interdisciplinary research,[2] which is often lacking grant money. Spending 11 or more months outside of their core areas of research is believed to give future scientific leaders more interdisciplinary skills.[4]

At least half of the first 14 Schmidt Science Fellows will be pursuing projects which rely on computation, data, AI or machine learning: technologies in which Schmidt has shown an interest.[6]

References
  1. Staff (April 25, 2018). "Schmidt Science Fellows Names Inaugural Cohort". PND. Retrieved May 23, 2020. Note: this is most likely a churnalism post and should be replaced by a better source if one becomes available.
  2. Schmidt, Eric; Schmidt, Wendy (October 12, 2017). "Eric and Wendy Schmidt seek to build the next generation of scientific leaders". San Francisco Chronicle (Opinion). Hearst Newspapers. Retrieved May 23, 2020.
  3. Muslimin, Anis Shakirah Mohd (April 24, 2018). "Former Google Chairman Eric Schmidt Announces New Science Fellows". Forbes. Retrieved May 23, 2020.
  4. Wheeler, Megan (December 14, 2018). "Stepping over boundary lines". Laboratory News. United Kingdom. Retrieved May 23, 2020. Note that the author is the Executive Director of Schmidt Science Fellows.
  5. "The Schmidts Stretch Out as Science Funders With New Fellowship". Inside Philanthropy. Retrieved February 8, 2019.
  6. Staff (April 24, 2018). "Johns Hopkins PhD student wins $100,000 fellowship endowed by former Google CEO". The Hub. Johns Hopkins University. Retrieved May 23, 2020. Wesley Fuhrman recognized by the Schmidt Science Fellows Program for his outstanding research into topological insulators (subtitle)
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