Eligibility
Sloan Research Fellowships support fundamental research conducted by early-career scientists.
The two-year $75,000 fellowships are awarded annually to early-career researchers whose creativity, innovation, and research accomplishments make them stand out as the next generation of leaders.
Eligibility Requirements
- Candidates must hold a Ph.D. or equivalent degree in chemistry, computer science, Earth system science, economics, mathematics, neuroscience, physics, or a related field.
- Candidates must be members of the faculty of a college, university, or other degree-granting institution in the U.S. or Canada.
- Candidates must be tenure-track, though untenured, as of September 15 of the nomination year.
- Candidate’s faculty position must carry a regular teaching obligation.
The Sloan Research Fellowship Program recognizes and rewards outstanding early-career faculty who have the potential to revolutionize their fields of study.
Nomination
- In order to be considered for a Sloan Research Fellowship, a candidate must have a letter of nomination from a department head or other senior researcher. Submissions unaccompanied by a nomination letter from a senior researcher are not accepted.
- More than one candidate from a department may be nominated per fellowship field, but no more than three.
Nomination Letters and Letters of Support are important elements of the selection process and are read carefully by Selection Committees. The letters allow nominators and support writers to give Committee members insight about nominees that is not present in their other application materials (CV, publication list, etc.). Selection Committees recommend that letters of support be submitted by someone who can speak objectively and knowledgeably about the quality and significance of a nominee’s work. Letters submitted by co-authors, personal associates, or professional mentors are, in this sense, less useful to Selection Committees than letters submitted by those with more professional distance from a nominee’s work.
Who Should Be Nominated?
The Sloan Research Fellowship Program recognizes and rewards outstanding early-career faculty who have the potential to revolutionize their fields of study. Successful candidates for a Fellowship generally have a strong record of significant independent research accomplishments that demonstrate creativity and the potential to become future leaders in the scientific community. Nominated candidates are normally several years past the completion of their Ph.D. in order to accumulate a competitive record of independent, significant research.
In keeping with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation's longstanding support of underrepresented scholars in the sciences, the Foundation strongly encourages the nomination of qualified Black, Latinx, Native American, Alaska Native and women candidates.
Deadlines
The nomination period for the 2026 Sloan Research Fellowships opened on July 15, 2025 and closes on September 15, 2025.
The online nomination portal can be accessed at https://apsloan.smapply.io/prog/2026_sloan_research_fellowships/