The Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering supports unusually creative researchers in the natural and physical sciences or engineering, who are within the first three years of their faculty careers. Eligible disciplines include physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology, astronomy, computer science, earth science, ocean science, and all branches of engineering. Candidates engaged in social science research will not be considered.
Sixteen recipients will receive individual grants of $875,000 distributed over five years. Of the $175,000 paid each year, $17,500 is available to the university as compensation for administrative costs.
Candidates must be faculty members who are eligible to serve as principal investigators and are in the first three years of their faculty careers: that is, whose initial faculty appointments began no earlier than May 31, 2012, and no later than May 31, 2015. The Foundation emphasizes innovative individual research that involves the Fellows, their students, and junior colleagues, rather than extensions or components of large-scale, ongoing research programs.
Recognizing that certain areas of contemporary science and engineering already have access to relatively generous funding (for example, clinical research, research associated with the design and construction of large national facilities such as accelerators and space stations, and applied research of direct relevance to national security), the Packard Fellowships are directed to other, less generously supported fields.
The campus may submit only two nominations; therefore, please provide me the following (via email to or@research.uci.edu) by February 16, 2015:
- Nomination letter either authored or endorsed by the Dean (or equivalent in units without a dean),
- Brief curriculum vita (up to 3 pages) including a list of publications in which independent contributions are identified,
- Names of individuals who will be asked to submit letters of recommendation to Packard,
- Two Page Research Statement consistent with Packard Guidelines referenced below, and
- One-page budget proposal describing how the funds would be used for the advancement of the nominee’s research.
If necessary an ad hoc committee will convene to review the internal applications. The campus must submit nominations by March 16, 2015 and the selected campus nominees will be notified prior to this deadline. The complete application packet is due to Packard on April 20, 2015.
The complete guidelines are available online at: http://www.packard.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/2015-Packard-Fellows-Guidelines.pdf. Questions about our internal campus review process may be directed to Greg Ruth at greg.ruth@uci.edu or x4-0372.
John C. Hemminger
Vice Chancellor for Research