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Microsoft is inviting applications for two-year fellowships from outstanding PhD students. Fellowships will be granted by Microsoft Research at the discretion of Microsoft.

Please review the call from Microsoft for full details at: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/academic-program/phd-fellowship/

Award amount:

• • Tuition and fees will be covered for two academic years (2022–23 and 2023–24).
  • A $42,000 USD stipend will be provided to help with living expenses while in school for two academic years (2022-23 and 2023-24). The stipend is not expected to cover all living expenses; it can be used for expenses including, but not limited to, childcare, conference fees and travel, research equipment, meals, rent, etc.
  • Opportunities will be provided to build relationships with research teams at Microsoft and receive mentorship.
  • NOTE: A recipient of the Microsoft Fellowship may not receive another fellowship from another company or institution during the same academic period. Microsoft will, at its sole discretion, consider a joint fellowship with a government or nonprofit organization.

Eligibility:
Applicants must:

• Be nominated by their departments.
• Attend university in the US or Canada.
• Be in their third year of an eligible PhD program in the fall semester or quarter of 2021.
• Be conducting doctoral research in one of the following areas: 
  • Algorithms, Artificial intelligence, Audio & acoustics, Computer vision, Data platforms and analytics, Ecology & environment, Economics, Graphics & multimedia, Hardware & devices, Human-computer interaction, Human language technologies, Mathematics, Medical, health & genomics, Programming languages & software engineering, Quantum computing, Search & information retrieval, Security, privacy & cryptography, Social sciences, Systems & networking, Technology for emerging markets

Nomination Process (Managed by the Department of Computer Science Coordinator for Constituent Awards, Hannah Gorrie; selections determined by the Computer Science Graduate Student Awards Committee):

Students must be nominated by their department chairs, and departments may submit up to four nominations (see details on the nomination process here). NOTE: A maximum of four nominations per department will be accepted; if two or three students are nominated, then at least one nominee should help us increase the opportunities for students who identify as part of a community that is underrepresented in the field of computing, and if four are nominated, then at least two nominees should help us increase the opportunities for students who identify as part of a community that is underrepresented in the field of computing. This includes those who self-identify as a woman, African American, Black, Hispanic, Latinx, Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, Indigenous Peoples, LGBTQI+, active or veteran service member, and/or person with a disability.

Grad College Fellowship Finder post: https://apps.grad.illinois.edu/fellowship-finder/index.cfm?action=main.fellowship&fid=3883

To APPLY:

Required Materials:

1. Application Cover Page, provided as the first page in our application, which includes the information required by Microsoft's submission form if selected, such as:
   1. Primary and secondary research areas, chosen from the list specified by Microsoft (see above).
   2. Month and year you entered your PhD program and expected graduation date.
   3. Whether or not the you self-identify with an underrepresented group in computing (woman, African American, Black, Hispanic, Latinx, Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, Indigenous Peoples, LGBTQI+, active or veteran service member, and/or person with a disability).
2. CV/resume - a link to your professional website is optional, but strongly recommended
3. Thesis proposal or research statement, not to exceed five pages (plus references) and font no smaller than 10-point. According to the new format, it looks like selected students will have until August 6, 2021 to make revisions to their proposals (this is after they are reviewed by the department's Student Awards Committee, so you'll still want to make sure you have a solid proposal for the first round of competition).
4. One (1) page summary of the thesis proposal or research statement.
5. Letters of Reference (3). One must be from your primary advisor and only one can be from a current Microsoft employee. Letters should be from established researchers who are familiar your research. The department will need these letters for our internal review and they should be sent to Hannah Gorrie at hpgorrie@illinois.edu. They will have time to make additional revisions, if they wish, as the final deadline to Microsoft is August 6, 2021. It is recommend that students submit their CVs and statement(s) to their letter writers at least a week prior to the deadline.

Submission Details:

• Applications must be submitted as ONE PDF that includes items 1-5 above, named as: "Last Name, First Name – MSR PhD Fellowship Application 21-22"
• Letters of recommendation should be sent from the letter writer directly to Hannah Gorrie at hpgorrie@cs.illinois.edu. 
• ALL Materials should be submitted by 11:59PM on Thursday, June 24, 2021 to Hannah Gorrie at hpgorrie@cs.illinois.edu.

A maximum of 3-4 candidates per department may be nominated. A maximum of four nominations per department will be accepted; if two or three students are nominated, then at least one nominee should help us increase the opportunities for students who identify as part of a community that is underrepresented in the field of computing, and if four are nominated, then at least two nominees should help us increase the opportunities for students who identify as part of a community that is underrepresented in the field of computing.