Google PhD Fellowship

Deadline: 03/10/2025 (Tentative)

Google PhD Fellowships directly support graduate students as they pursue their PhD, as well as connect them to a Google Research Mentor.

Penn has been invited to submit 2-4 nominees for the Google PhD Fellowship Program. Nurturing and maintaining strong relations with the academic community is a top priority at Google. The Google PhD Fellowship Program was created to recognize outstanding graduate students doing exceptional and innovative research in areas relevant to computer science and related fields. Fellowships support promising PhD candidates of all backgrounds who seek to influence the future of technology. Google’s mission is to foster inclusive research communities and encourages people of diverse backgrounds to apply. Fellowships are currently offered in Africa, Australia and New Zealand, East Asia, Europe, India, the United States and Canada.

  • Full-time graduate students pursuing a PhD in Computer Science or related field (see research areas below)
  • Completed graduate coursework by Fall 2024, when the Fellowship begins.
  • The recipient must remain an active, full-time student in a PhD program for the duration of the Fellowship (up to 3 years) or forfeit the award.
  • Google employees, and their spouses, children, and members of their household are not eligible.
  • Students that are already supported by a comparable industry award are not eligible.

Approximately fifteen fellows will be named in the following areas this year:

  • Algorithms, Optimizations and Markets 
  • Computational Neural and Cognitive Sciences 
  • Health Research
  • Human Computer Interaction 
  • Machine Learning 
  • Machine Perception, Speech Technology and Computer Vision 
  • Mobile Computing 
  • Natural Language Processing (including Information Retrieval and Extraction) 
  • Privacy and Security 
  • Programming Languages and Software Engineering 
  • Quantum Computing 
  • Recommender Systems
  • Structured Data and Database Management 
  • Systems and Networking

For Fellowship details please see the FAQ here.

This application requires 2-3 letters of recommendation, at least one of which should be from your thesis advisor. You will be able to request letters of recommendation through the Interfolio application process; please start the application soon to give your recommenders ample time to submit letters of recommendation before the March 10 Penn Deadline.

Applicants will be required to submit the following:

  1. Student CV with links to website and publications (if available)
  2. 1-page CV of student’s primary advisor
  3. Unofficial PDF copies of undergraduate and graduate transcripts
  4. Research/dissertation abstract (no more than 1,000 characters)
  5. Research/dissertation proposal (no longer than 3 pages)
  6. Student essay response (350-word limit) to: Describe the desired impact your research will make on the field and society, and why this is important to you. Include any personal, educational and/or professional experiences that have motivated your research interests.
  7. Student essay response (350-word limit) to: Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes or contributed to group efforts over time. (A leadership role can mean more than just a title. It can mean being a mentor to others, acting as the person in charge of a specific task, or taking the lead role in organizing an event or project. Think about what you accomplished and what you learned from the experience. What were your responsibilities? Did you lead a team? How did your experience change your perspective on leading others? Did you help to resolve an important dispute at your school, church, in your community or an organization? And your leadership role doesn’t necessarily have to be limited to school activities. For example, do you help out or take care of your family?).

Once that is prepared, visit the application form in Interfolio to submit your application. You will be able to request letters of recommendation through the application process.

Deadlines:

Internal Competition Deadline: March 10, 2024, at 11:59 PM ET

Internal Competition Winners notified: April 15, 2024

Provost’s Office submits 2-4 nominees: April 26, 2024

Contact Information

Dr. Anita Mastroieni, Ed.D., Associate Vice Provost for Graduate Education

Details:

Location

USA

Type

Graduate Study

Eligibility

Graduate Student