Call for applications: Simons-Berkeley Research Fellowship 2021-2022
Deadline for applications: December 15, 2020
The Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing is a major international venue for collaborative research in theoretical computer science and related fields. The Institute is housed in Calvin Lab, a dedicated building on the UC Berkeley campus, and provides a vibrant and welcoming environment for visiting researchers. In each academic semester, the activities of the Institute are largely focused on specific research programs, each of which attracts around sixty long-term participants ranging from senior scientists to graduate students. The Institute, created in 2012 through a grant from the Simons Foundation, opened its doors in Fall 2013.
Research Programs
In 2021-22, the Institute will host four research programs on the following topics: in Fall 2021, “Computational Complexity of Statistical Inference,” and “Geometric Methods in Optimization and Sampling” and in Spring 2022, “Causality” and “Learning and Games.” Descriptions of these programs and other information about the Institute can be found at simons.berkeley.edu.
Requirements
The Institute invites applications for Simons-Berkeley Research Fellowships for the Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 semesters. Simons-Berkeley Research Fellowships are intended for exceptional young scientists (within at most six years of the award of their PhD at the start of academic year 2021-22). Applicants who already hold junior faculty or postdoctoral positions are welcome to apply. In particular, applicants who hold, or expect to hold, postdoctoral appointments at other institutions are encouraged to apply to spend one semester as a Simons-Berkeley Fellow, subject to the approval of the postdoctoral institution.
The Institute expects to award about 30 Fellowships in 2021-22; the majority of these are for one semester, but several appointments for a full academic year are expected to be made. In each semester of residence, each Fellow will normally participate in at least one of the ongoing programs at the Institute.In addition, the Institute co-hosts joint fellowships, in which a Fellow spends a period (typically one semester) as a Simons-Berkeley Fellow and is also appointed to a research position at a partner institution.
Positions at partner institutions include:
- postdoctoral positions at the Center for Mathematical Modeling in Santiago, Chile;
- the Collaboration on the Theoretical Foundations of Deep Learning (Berkeley, Stanford, MIT, UCI, UCSD, TTIC, EPFL, Hebrew);
- the Foundations of Data Science Institute (Berkeley, MIT, Boston, Bryn Mawr, Harvard, Howard, Northeastern); the Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute at UC San Diego;
- the Institute for Foundations of Machine Learning (UT Austin, University of Washington, WSU);
- the Max Planck Institute for Informatics in Saarbrücken, Germany;
- the Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago, and
- the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel.
Applicants interested in such a joint fellowship should submit both a Simons-Berkeley Fellow application and an application at the partner institution. For questions about positions at a partner institution, please contact that institution directly.
Salaries and benefits are competitive, and assistance with visas and housing will be provided.
The Institute particularly encourages applications from women and minority candidates.
Application Instructions
Each applicant should prepare the following documents in a single PDF file:
- Cover letter, briefly describing your interest in the Institute and its programs
- Curriculum vitae, including a full list of publications
- Research statement
In addition, applicants must submit the names and email addresses of three recommenders. When an applicant submits this form, each recommender will receive an automatically generated request for a letter. Applicants may wish to check with their recommenders before the deadline that they have submitted their letters; it is ultimately the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that the letters are submitted.
The call for 2021/22 Fellowships is open. To apply, please complete the application form before December 15.
The deadline for receipt of complete application materials (except letters) is December 15; late applications will not be considered. The deadline for receipt of recommendation letters is December 31.
Source / More information: Official Website.