Two Institutions Selected to Manage New NIST Fellowship Programs

March 2, 2010 - The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has announced that it is awarding a total of $19.5 million to the University of Maryland and the University of Colorado to develop and implement NIST measurement science and engineering fellowship programs. The new fellowship programs were funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009.

Each fellowship program will last three years. The University of Maryland program, to be funded at $15 million, will bring approximately 50 fellows per year to work at NIST laboratories in Gaithersburg, Md., and Charleston, S.C. The University of Colorado program, funded at $4.5 million, will supply the NIST Boulder laboratories with approximately 20 fellows per year. Although the new fellowship programs will be administered by the University of Maryland and the University of Colorado, undergraduate and graduate students from other universities are eligible and encouraged to apply. These universities will also recruit nationally for the senior scientist and postdoctoral research fellowships.

The two programs will bring fellows from the entire range of experience levels—undergraduate, graduate, postdoctoral and senior scientists. The awards will last for three years and begin in February 2010.

The fellowship program will provide new research collaborations for NIST scientists and further develop a future scientific talent pool with extensive training in measurement science. NIST funding of the two programs will ensure that the recruited fellows are closely tied to the research needs and interests of each NIST laboratory.