Applications for Pivot Fellowships
The Simons Foundation invites applications for its Pivot Fellowship program, which will support researchers who have a strong track record of success and achievement in their current field, and a deep interest, curiosity, and drive to make contributions to a new discipline.
The fellowship will enable today’s brightest minds to apply their talent and expertise to a new field and will consist of one training year in which the fellow will be embedded in the lab of a mentor to learn the new discipline and its culture. In addition to the qualifications and potential of the applicant, the suitability of the mentor and the environment for mentorship will be strongly considered in the application process.
The fellowship program provides one year of salary support of the fellow’s academic-year salary, (whether normally paid over nine or 12 months) and a $10,000 research, travel, and professional development allowance during the fellowship training year. Mentors will receive a $50,000 research fund during the fellowship year. The mentor’s research funds may be used for salary support for the mentor and lab personnel, small and large equipment (including major research instrumentation), supplies, travel, publication, tuition, and other research expenses. Indirect costs are limited to 20 percent of the modified total direct costs. At the end of the fellowship year, fellows will be invited to submit an application for a three-year research award in the new field for up to $1.5 million, including indirect costs, over five years.
To be eligible, fellows and mentors must hold a PhD, MD, or equivalent degree in the natural sciences (astronomy, biology, chemistry, earth sciences, neuroscience, and physics), engineering, mathematics, data science, or computer science—and all sub-disciplines therein—and be faculty at an academic institution or hold an equivalent position. Fellows must demonstrate that the fellowship will take place in a new discipline, distinct from their current field of study, within astronomy, biology, chemistry, earth sciences, neuroscience, physics, or mathematics—and all sub-disciplines therein.
For complete program guidelines and application instructions, see the Simons Foundation website.
Submissions to this sponsor/donor are managed by the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations. Please contact your unit-assigned ASUF Director of Development or Research Advancement Specialist at your earliest convenience to ensure ASU's strategic coordination and management of funding applications.