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The IBM Ph.D. Fellowship Awards Program is an intensely competitive worldwide program, which honors exceptional Ph.D. students who have an interest in solving problems that are important to IBM and fundamental to innovation in many academic disciplines and areas of study. Strong collaboration with faculty, students and universities is vital to IBM. The IBM PhD Fellowship Program advances this collaboration by recognizing and supporting exceptional PhD students who want to make their mark in promising and disruptive technologies. Focus areas include the following topics of particular interest:

• Artificial Intelligence
• Cloud / Open Source Technologies
• Data Science
• Hybrid Cloud
• Quantum Computing / Quantum Systems
• Security / Cyber Security
• Systems

Since the creation of the IBM PhD Fellowship Program in 1951, we have supported thousands of PhD students -- with more than 700 students supported over the past 10 years alone.

Preference will be given to students who have had an IBM internship or have closely collaborated with technical or services people from IBM.

The 2021 two-year IBM PhD Fellowships are awarded worldwide.

• U.S. country awards are $60,000 in award year one and $35,000 in award year two.
• Other country awards vary between $6,000-$25,000 each award year depending on the country.

All IBM PhD Fellowship awardees will be mentored by an IBMer in order to collaborate on a research or technology project for the duration of the award period and are strongly encouraged to do an internship during the first or second year of their award.

Eligibility

Nominations are welcome for students of all nationalities. Students must be nominated by a doctoral faculty member. Students should have three years remaining in their graduate program at the time of nomination. For example, nominees that are enrolled in a four-year graduate program should have completed two years of their graduate program as of summer 2021 in order to benefit the most. Non-US Citizens who wish to participate in an internship in the US must obtain work authorization under the specifics of their visa. Students from US embargoed countries are not eligible for the program.

Award recipients will be selected based on their overall potential for research excellence, the degree to which their technical interests align with those of IBM, and their academic progress to-date, as evidenced by publications and endorsements from their faculty advisor and department head. Students receiving a comparable fellowship from another company or institution during the same academic period may not be eligible for an IBM PhD Fellowship.

Note: Over the last few years, previous winners from this department have all been 1-2 years away from graduation, and all had internships/co-ops with IBM prior to applying for the fellowship.

Applications

1. Application Cover Page & Eligibility Verification–download form and include as the first page in your application. (Student provides)
2. CV/Resume (3 page limit) - include current contact information (email, phone, and mailing address), education, publications, awards, and service. (Student provides)
3. PhD Dissertation Description -IBM has set a 2000 character limit.  For Internal Review, please submit both a one-page statement and a 2000 character statement. (Student provides)
4. Special Considerations (1000 character limit) - Itemize any special considerations such as personal attributes, other accomplishments, etc.  (Student provides)
5. Faculty Advisor’s Evaluation - IBM has set a 2000 character limit.  For Internal Review, please submit both a standard-length letter and a 2000 character evaluation. “Include comparisons with peers and recent graduates, and detail what the impact of this student's thesis is likely to be. Also include evidence of outstanding achievement in both academic and research activities (other fellowships, awards, grants, and/or recognition of academic achievement).” (Advisor can send directly to Hannah at hpgorrie@illinois.edu)
6. *Strongly Encouraged* A reference letter from a scientist at IBM. For internal review. (If you do not know someone from IBM well enough to request a letter, you may want to reconsider whether or not you should apply.) (Reference provides letter directly to Hannah hpgorrie@illinois.edu)

Note: Electronic documents are required and should be submitted as PDFs. Faculty Advisor's Evaluation and IBM Letter of Recommendation should be sent from the letter writer directly to Hannah at hpgorrie@illinois. Students, submit ONE PDF named "Last Name, First Name - IBM PhD 21-22". Note that the final submission will need to be made as plain-text (online text-box submission).

Materials should be submitted by __________to Hannah Gorrie.

A maximum of three nominations per department may be submitted.

See: https://www.research.ibm.com/university/awards/fellowships-faq.html

         https://www.research.ibm.com/university/awards/fellowships.html