HHMI 2021 Gilliam Fellowships for Advanced Study

HHMI’s Gilliam Fellowships for Advanced Study are open to eligible pairs comprising thesis advisers and PhD students (“adviser-student pairs”). Application for the Gilliam Fellowships for Advanced Study is by invitation only.

• Adviser-student pairs from eligible disciplines must be nominated by the HHMI-designated institutional representative. In the case of UW, this is Carrie Harwood, Associate Vice-Provost for Research
• Prospective fellows must be U.S. citizens, permanent residents, or other immigrants to the U.S., and be from racial, ethnic, or other groups recognized in the U.S. as underrepresented in the sciences, or Alumni of the HHMI EXROP, and be at the appropriate program stage of their PhD training. 

The adviser-student pairs must be studying scientific problems in biomedical and life science disciplines including plant biology, evolutionary biology, biophysics, chemical biology, biomedical engineering, and computational biology.

Nominations must be made for students in their second or third year of a PhD program who will have advanced to candidacy by September 1, 2021.  Students who are enrolled in an MD/PhD or other dual-degree program are not eligible.

Please note, these nominations will be driven by the advisor and not by the student.

Fellows are supported for up to three years of PhD dissertation research, typically in years three, four, and five of PhD study. Compensation for the 2021-22 fellowship year is $50,000. This includes an annual fellow stipend of $33,000, an institution allowance (in lieu of tuition and fees) of $10,000, a fellow educational allowance of $4,000, and an adviser allowance of $3,000 to support diversity and inclusion efforts at the graduate level.

Application Instructions

Please submit:

1. Names and e-mail addresses for advisor-student pairs
2. Statement of underrepresented group to which the student belongs.
3. CVs of advisor and advisee
4. A brief statement from the advisor indicating: the candidate’s promise as a scientific investigator, and potential for leadership in the scientific community, including as college and university faculty

to research@uw.edu by 5:00 PM Tuesday, September 8, 2020.  The institutional representative that is serving as the nominator, will submit the names and e-mails of the selected adviser-student pairs via an online survey. The deadline for nominations for the 2021 competition is September 14, 2020.

In mid-September, log-in information to HHMI’s online competition system (Pathway) will be provided to the adviser. The adviser will: (1) serve as the primary applicant; and (2) provide information to confirm how the student fits the eligibility criteria by September 30, 2020. If eligibility is met, HHMI will open the application in mid-October and inform the adviser. The adviser is responsible for adding the student and will add the institutional representative that served as the nominator, to the application. Once the student gains access to the system, they will be responsible for adding a previous research adviser who will provide a letter of support (third-party reference). All the materials submitted by the institutional representative, adviser, student, and previous research adviser (third-party reference) will be critical elements in the evaluation of the application. The deadline for all application materials is December 10, 2020, 2pm ET.