Newswise — The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation, an organization dedicated to empowering the nation’s most promising innovators in science and technology, announced today that it is accepting applications for the 2024 Hertz Fellowship awards.
The Hertz Foundation has been granting fellowships to empower the nation’s most promising young minds in science and technology since 1963. Hertz Fellows receive five years of funding, which offers flexibility and freedom from the traditional constraints of graduate training and the independence needed to pursue research to advance our nation’s security and economic vitality.
In addition to financial support, Hertz Fellows join a community of peers, including some of the nation’s most noted science and technology leaders, offering a unique opportunity for professional development and collaboration. Hertz Fellows gain access to lifelong programming, such as mentoring, events and networking, which has led them to form research collaborations, commercialize technology and create and invest in early-stage companies together, among other opportunities.
“If you are an independent thinker and creative problem-solver passionate about tackling big scientific problems both in your field and across disciplines, we strongly encourage you to apply,” said Derek Haseltine, director of the Hertz Fellowship Program. “We are interested in those that display the greatest promise for future innovation and recognize these individuals come from all points across the nation’s diverse scientific landscape.”
The Hertz Foundation is dedicated to expanding and accelerating the U.S. pipeline of scientific and technical leadership. The rigorous and merit-based selection process, led by Hertz Fellow and board member Philip Welkhoff, director of the malaria program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, includes evaluation of written responses to application questions, letters of recommendation and two rounds of in-person interviews with current leaders in a variety of scientific and technical disciplines. In addition to academic excellence, the selection committee focuses on the exceptional and unique aspects of each candidate that are essential for future success: deep, interconnecting knowledge and the extraordinary creativity necessary to tackle problems that others can’t solve.
The application closes on Friday, October 27, 2023. Fellowship finalists will be named in February 2024, and fellowship awards will be officially announced in May 2024.
Fellowship recipients will join a community of fellows whose transformative research and innovation impact our nation every day. Applicants can access a full directory of Hertz Fellows to learn more about individuals from their graduate programs and fields of interest.
Among the past recipients of the Hertz Fellowship are Nobel laureate John Mather, a NASA astrophysicist and project scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope; Kim Budil, director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; Nathan Myhrvold, founder and CEO of Intellectual Ventures, founding director of Microsoft Research and former chief technology officer at Microsoft; Ellen Pawlikowski, retired four-star general, former commander, Air Force Materiel Command; and Dario Amodei, co-founder and chief executive officer at Anthropic, an artificial intelligence safety and research company.
Over the foundation’s 60-year history of awarding fellowships, more than 1,240 Hertz Fellows have established a remarkable track record of accomplishments. Hertz Fellows are building tools to defend the nation’s digital infrastructure against cyberthreats, overseeing the advancement of nuclear fusion as clean energy, and creating software systems to predict how diseases will respond to medical interventions, among a number of other exciting breakthroughs. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many Hertz Fellows pivoted their research to join the fight, inspired by the moral commitment each new fellow makes to take action in times of national emergency.
Learn more and apply for the Hertz Fellowship at https://www.hertzfoundation.org/apply.
About the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation
The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation identifies the nation’s most promising innovators in science and technology and empowers them to pursue solutions to our toughest challenges. Launched in 1963, the Hertz Fellowship is the most prestigious fellowship program in the U.S., fueling more than 1,240 leaders, disruptors and creators who apply their remarkable talents where they’re needed most — from our national security to the future of health care. Hertz Fellows hold over 3,000 patents, have founded more than 375 companies, and have received more than 200 major national and international awards, including two Nobel Prizes, 10 Breakthrough Prizes, the National Medal of Technology, the Fields Medal and the Turing Award. Additionally, 52 are members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, and 37 are fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Learn more at HertzFoundation.org.
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