The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation enables highly qualified, early-stage researchers from abroad, who hold doctorates, to carry out research projects of their own choice in Germany. Applications may be submitted for long-term research stays of at least 6 and at most 12 months; an extension of up to 24 months is possible. Researchers of all nationalities and disciplines may apply to the AvH directly at any time. There are no quotas for individual countries and disciplines.

Funding is not available for short-term study visits, participation in conferences, or training courses.

Research fellowships are offered world-wide on a competitive basis. The most important criteria for selection are the applicant's (international) publications to date and the quality and feasibility of the research proposal. Applicants choose their own research projects and their own German hosts. Details of the research project and the time-schedule must be agreed upon with the prospective host in advance. Applications to continue a research stay which has already begun may be considered in exceptional cases.

Consideration of applications takes several months. It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure that he or she has submitted all the necessary documents. Information and applications can be downloaded from the foundation's web site.

The traditional Fulbright Scholar Program sends 800 U.S. faculty and professionals abroad each year. Grantees lecture and conduct research in a wide variety of academic and professional fields. The Fulbright Program is sponsored by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Under a cooperative agreement with the Bureau, the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES) assists in the administration of the Fulbright Scholar Program for faculty and professionals

For more information, visit http://www.cies.org/us_scholars/us_awards/

The purpose of the Society is to give men and women at an early stage of their scholarly careers an opportunity to pursue their studies in any department of the University, free from formal requirements. They must be persons of exceptional ability, originality, and resourcefulness.

To be eligible for a Junior Fellowship, a candidate must be at an early stage of his or her career. Men and women interested in any field of study are accepted. They are ordinarily college graduates. Although prospective Junior Fellows need not be working towards advanced degrees, most have recently received or are candidates for the Ph.D. Those who are still pursuing the Ph.D. should have completed their routine training for advanced work and should be well along in the writing of their theses before becoming Fellows.

Candidates are nominated for Junior Fellowships, generally by those under whom they have studied. Applications are not accepted from the candidates themselves. A letter of nomination should include an assessment of the candidates's work and promise, the address of the candidate, and the names and addresses of three people who agree to write additional letters of recommendation by the end of September at the latest.

For further information and details about the fellowship, please visit http://www.socfell.fas.harvard.edu/

The Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science invites department chairs and faculty advisors to assist the faculty scientists at the University of California at Berkeley in nominating candidates for Miller Research Fellowships in the basic sciences. The Miller Institute seeks to discover and encourage individuals of outstanding talent, and to provide them with the opportunity to pursue their research on the Berkeley campus. Fellows are selected on the basis of their academic achievement and the promise of their scientific research. Each Miller Fellow is sponsored by a department of the Berkeley campus and performs his or her research in the facilities provided by the host department.

The Nomination form is available here or can be in the form of a letter which must include the following:

• Nominee's full legal name
• Nominee's complete e-mail address, current mailing address and telephone & fax numbers
• Nominee's (expected) date of Ph.D. and Ph.D. institution
• Recommendation and judgement of candidate's promise by the nominator.

This letter of nomination need not be lengthy, but must include all of the information requested above in order to ensure that nominees receive notification of the nomination and advice of subsequent procedures for completion of the fellowship application process. In addition to the above items, the Executive Committee also finds it helpful in the nomination letter to have the candidate compared with others at a similar stage in their development. Suitable nominees will be invited to submit documentation supporting their nomination. Such materials will be accepted only following an invitation from the Institute. Direct applications are not accepted.

Please note that persons already in positions on the Berkeley campus are not eligible for nomination or receipt of an award. Also, nominees who are non-US citizens are contingent upon eligibility for obtaining J-1 Scholar visa status for the duration of the Miller Fellowship. The Miller Institute does not support H1B visa status.

The Institute will provide an annual stipend of $50,000 and a research fund of $12,000 per annum. There is provision for travel to Berkeley for Miller Fellows and their immediate families and a maximum allowance of $3,000 for removal of personal belongings. The Miller Institute also provides benefits including medical, dental, vision and life insurance. Fellowships are awarded for three years, generally beginning August 1, 2007 and ending July 31, 2010. Approximately eight to ten Fellowships are awarded each year. Candidates will be notified of the results of the competition in January 2007, and a general announcement of the awards will be made in the spring.

The full announcement is available on the Miller Institute's website, http://millerinstitute.berkeley.edu/page.php?nav=11.

Its purpose is to stimulate fundamental research by early-career scientists and scholars of outstanding promise.

Candidates for Sloan Research Fellowships are required to hold the Ph.D. (or equivalent) in chemistry, physics, mathematics, computer science, economics, neuroscience, computational and evolutionary molecular biology, or in a related interdisciplinary field, and must be members of the regular faculty (i.e., tenure track) of a college or university in the United States or Canada. They may be no more than six years from completion of the most recent Ph.D. or equivalent as of the year of their nomination, unless special circumstances such as military service, a change of field, or child rearing are involved or unless they have held a faculty appointment for less than two years.

While Fellows are expected to be at an early stage of their research careers, there should be strong evidence of independent research accomplishments. Candidates in all fields are normally below the rank of associate professor and do not hold tenure, but these are not strict requirements.

More than one candidate from a department may be nominated, but we recommend no more than three. Application materials include:

• Nomination form
• Letter from nominator describing the candidate's qualifications
• 3 supporting letters directly from other researchers, preferably not at the same institution (missing support letters are generally detrimental to a nominee's prospects).
• CV
• List of scientific publications plus one copy of no more than two representative publications (no books).
• Brief (one-page) statement by the nominee describing his/her significant scientific work and immediate research plans should accompany the nomination form and letter.

Please visit http://www.sloan.org/programs/fellowship_brochure.shtm for more information.

IGNITION GRANTS
“What if...?” -These words characterize the earliest stage of invention-the very phase that The Deshpande Center seeks to benefit with its Ignition Grants.

Ignition Grants can help turn incipient ideas into viable inventions. They enable faculty of MIT together with students, post-docs, and staff to take risks and explore uncharted concepts, before they've developed proof of concept or gathered any data.

This funding up to $50,000 per grant targets projects focusing on novel, enabling, and potentially useful ideas in all areas of technology. Though it might enable only exploratory experiments and proof of concept, an Ignition Grant also might position projects to receive further funding, such as an Innovation Grant, to take a concept to full development.

INNOVATION GRANTS
Even once an idea has advanced to the “invention” stage, a number of scenarios can keep it from advancing further. Perhaps some intellectual property has been developed, but additional demonstration of success is required. Maybe one or more innovative companies have been identified as targets for the use of the technology, but help is needed to establish collaboration. Or maybe faculty needs to further solidify the intellectual property, to reduce the uncertainty associated with applying the technology to commercial needs.

Innovation Grants for as much as $250,000 can remove obstacles like these and keep the innovation process on track and moving forward. They're meant to benefit projects that have progressed beyond their earliest stages projects that have established proof of concept and identified an R&D path and IP strategy. Ultimately, each grant will help a project build a package to bring to venture capitalists or companies that might invest in its technology.

• October 16, 2006 - Pre-proposals due 5:00 p.m.
• December 11, 2006 - Full proposals due 5:00 p.m.
• December 18-19 - Proposal presentation sessions, 4:00-9:00 p.m.
• March - Awards announced to the public

For detailed information about the grant program, funded projects, and instructions on submitting a proposal, please visit http://web.mit.edu/deshpandecenter.

The Clay Research Fellowship provides a young mathematician employment under ideal conditions for a period of two to five years. A Fellow may work at the location that best suits his or her research; support for travel and research expenses, as well as provisions for collaboration, are available in addition to a generous salary.

The primary selection criteria for the Fellowship are the exceptional quality of the candidate's research and the candidate's promise to become a mathematical leader. Most recent appointees were finishing graduate students at the time of their selection, though other mathematicians under age thirty occasionally have been appointed. Selection decisions are made by the Scientific Advisory Board based on the nominating materials described below.

To nominate a candidate, please send the following items by October 30, 2006:

• Letter of nomination
• Names and contact information for two other references
• Curriculum Vitae
• Publication list for the nominee

For more information, please visit http://www.claymath.org/fas/research_fellows/

The American Institute of Mathematics Research Conference Center (ARCC) holds focused workshops in all areas of the mathematical sciences. Workshops generally last 4 or 5 days and can support up to 32 participants.

External funding is not necessary. ARCC provides full funding of all invited workshop participants. This includes travel, accommodation, and a per diem for meals.

Proposals for ARCC workshops should include:

• a plan for the workshop, including a description of the workshop focus and goals;
• a list of organizers (at least 2, at most 4);
• a list of potential participants;
• the mathematics subject classification and a list of references.

Please visit http://www.aimath.org/ARCC/workshopproposals.html for more information.

The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters hereby calls for nominations of candidates for the Abel Prize 2007.

The Abel Prize, which was awarded for the first time in 2003, amounts to NOK 6 million (approximately 750,000€). It is an international prize for outstanding scientific work in the field of mathematics, including mathematical aspects of computer science, mathematical physics, probability, numerical analysis and scientific computing, statistics, and also applications of mathematics in the sciences.

The prize is to recognize contributions to mathematics and its applications of extraordinary depth and influence. Such work may have resolved fundamental problems, created powerful new techniques, introduced unifying principles or opened up major new areas. The intent is to award prizes over the course of time in a wide range of areas of mathematics and its applications.

The Abel Committee will submit a recommendation of a candidate for the Abel Prize to The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, which will select the Abel laureate on the basis of this recommendation. The name of the Abel laureate will be announced March 2007.

The nomination letter should contain a CV and a description of the candidate's works, together with names of distinguished specialists in the field of the nominee who can be contacted for independent opinion. The letter should be sent no later than November 15th 2006, to:

It is also possible to nominate candidates using the online submission form. For further information, please consult: http://www.abelprisen.no/no

The Shaw Prize Foundation, established in 2002 in Hong Kong, awards Prizes in Astronomy, Life Science & Medicine, and in Mathematical Sciences, www.shawprize.org.

The Shaw Prize is an international award to honor individuals who are currently active in their respective fields and who have achieved distinguished and significant advances, who have made outstanding contributions in culture and the arts, or who in other domains have achieved excellence. The award is dedicated to furthering societal progress, enhancing quality of life, and enriching humanity's spiritual civilization. Preference will be given to individuals whose significant work was recently achieved.

Each prize carries a monetary award of $1 million. The nomination process begins in September 2006, the winners to be announced and the prizes presented next year in the summer and early autumn respectively.

• Need to use original nomination form and mail-in envelope which we have (please see Dennis for original). Nominations are confidential.
• More than one may be nominated to jointly share one award under one proposed citation.
• Proposed citation should be a concise statement about the outstanding contribution of the nominated candidate(s) in fewer than 100 words.
• Justification should cite the nominator's reasons for considering each nominated candidate to be deserving of the award and provide confirmation with correct references the relevant publications, together with an explanation of the scientific and practical influences of these publications. Attachments to nomination form shouldn't exceed 10 pages.
• Outside letters of references are not part of this nomination process.

The 2007 Career Enhancement Fellowships for Junior Faculty, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and administered by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundaton, seeks to increase the presence of minority junior faculty and other junior faculty members committed to eradicating racial disparities in core fields in the arts and sciences.

Career Enhancement fellowships advance these faculty memebers' scholarly research and intellectual growth, thereby enhancing their chances for success as tenured university scholars.

The Fellowship award provides a maximum $30,000 sabbatical stipend, a $1,500 stipend for research, travel or publication, and participation in a two and one-half day Fall Retreat in October, 2007. Funding begins in June, 2007.

Eligible Junior Faculty must; (1) be in the third year of the tenure track teaching appointment, (2) teach in one of the designated fields (3) be able to accept the fellowship in the 2007-2008 academic year, and (4) be a U.S. Citizen.

Application deadline is November 30, 2006. Please see the posting on the Fellowships Bulletin Board (outside 2-265) for further details.

To obtain more information or application forms, please email careerenhance@woodrow.org

Applications are now being accepted for the American Mathematical Society's Centennial Fellowships for 2007-2008. Through these Fellowships, the AMS makes awards annually to outstanding mathematicians to help further their careers in research.

The primary selection criterion for the Centennial Fellowship is the excellence of the candidate's research. Preference will be given to candidates who have not had extensive fellowship support in the past. A recipient of the fellowship shall have held his or her doctoral degree for at least three years and not more than twelve years at the inception of the award (that is, received between September 1, 1995 and September 1, 2004). Applications will be accepted from those currently holding a tenured, tenure track, postdoctoral or comparable (at the discretion of the selection committee) position at an institution in North America.

Further details and application forms are available at http://www.ams.org/employment/centflyer.html

The Radcliffe Institute Fellowship Program is a scholarly community where individuals pursue advanced work across a wide range of academic disciplines, professions, and creative arts. Radcliffe Institute fellowships are designed to support scholars, scientists, artists, and writers of exceptional promise and demonstrated accomplishment who wish to pursue work in academic and professional fields and in the creative arts. In recognition of Radcliffe's historic contributions to the education of women and to the study of issues related to women, the Radcliffe Institute sustains a continuing commitment to the study of women, gender, and society. Applicants' projects need not focus on gender, however. Women and men from across the United States and throughout the world, including developing countries, are encouraged to apply. We seek to build a community of fellows that is diverse in every way.

There are three ways to submit an application for a Radcliffe Institute Fellowship:

1. You may apply on-line using our electronic application system. If you choose to apply on-line, please be advised that you will be directed to a Web site where you must create a user account using your e-mail address to create a login ID. You will find the link to the on-line application form below.
2. You may download a PDF of the application
3. You may call (617) 496-3048 or e-mail science@radcliffe.edu.

   For further information, please visit: http://www.radcliffe.edu/fellowships/apply/index.php

The National Science Foundation is now accepting nominations for the National Medal of Science. Please see the Nomination Information page for detailed nomination criteria. The deadline for nominations is December 29, 2006 at 11:59 p.m.

The National Medal of Science was established by the 86th Congress in 1959 as a Presidential Award to be given to individuals “deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to knowledge in the physical, biological, mathematical, or engineering sciences.” In 1980 Congress expanded this recognition to include the social and behavioral sciences.

A Committee of 12 scientists and engineers is appointed by the President to evaluate the nominees for the Award. Since its establishment, the National Medal of Science has been awarded to 425 distinguished scientists and engineers whose careers spanned decades of research and development. The recipients database from 1962 to the present can be searched at http://www.nsf.gov/od/nms/recipients.cfm.

For more information, visit http://www.nsf.gov/od/nms/medal.jsp.

AIM Five-Year Fellowship. AIM gives a fellowship each year to an individual with the potential to make a lasting impact on mathematics. The Fellowship will support one outstanding new PhD pursuing research in an area of pure mathematics. It will cover 60 months full-time research as well as funds for travel and equipment. The compensation is $4,000 per month. The travel and equipment portion is limited to $4,000 per year.

An application consists of a cover letter, a vita, 3 letters of reference, and a research plan. Mail applications and nominations to:

AIM Five-Year Fellowship
American Institute of Mathematics
360 Portage Ave.
Palo Alto, CA 94306

See www.aimath.org/fellows/ for more details.

The National Science Foundation is seeking nominations for its Alan T. Waterman Award, which honors an outstanding young researcher in any field of science or engineering funded by the National Science Foundation. The Award consists of a medal and a grant of $500,000 over a three-year period for scientific research or advanced study in the biological, mathematical, medical, engineering, physical, social or other sciences at the institution of the recipient's choice.

Candidates must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents and must be 35 years old or younger, or not more than seven years beyond receipt of the Ph.D. by December 31 of the year in which they are nominated. Candidates should have demonstrated exceptional individual achievements in scientific or engineering research of sufficient quality to place them at the forefront of their peers. Criteria include originality, innovation, and significant impact on the field.

All nominations, renominations, and letters of reference must be submitted no later than 11:59 PM Sunday, December 31, 2006.

For detailed nomination information, go to https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/honawards

For further information concerning the Award program or nomination process, contact:

Anna-Greta and Holger Crafoord’s Fund was established in 1980 and the first prize was awarded in 1982. The prize is intended to promote international basic research in the disciplines:

• Astronomy and Mathematics,
• Geosciences,
• Biosciences, with particular emphasis on ecology and
• Polyarthritis (rheumatoid arthritis).

These disciplines are chosen so as to complement those for which the Nobel Prizes are awarded. The recipients are worthy scientists who receive the prize in accordance with a set scheme:

• Year 1 Astronomy and Mathematics
• Year 2 Geosciences
• Year 3 Biosciences
• Year 4 Astronomy and Mathematics

The Academy invites scientists from all over the world to nominate candidates for the prize. Nominations are submitted to the Academy during the spring prior to the year in which the decision is to be made. The nominations received are then reviewed and assessed by a Prize Committee consisting of members from the appropriate Academy classes. The prize should be awarded to one recipient, but may, if necessary, be divided among up to three recipients.

For more information, visit http://www.kva.se/KVA_Root/eng/awards/international/crafoord/index.asp

The award, resulting from contributions by faculty during the Leadership Campaign, was established in the fall of 1982 as a permanent tribute to Institute Professor Emeritus Harold E. Edgerton for his great and enduring support for younger faculty members over the years. The purpose of the award is to recognize exceptional distinction in teaching, in research, and in scholarship. The Selection Committee consists of four faculty members elected by vote of the Faculty from a slate prepared by the Faculty Nominations Committee.

The National Research Council of the National Academies announces the 2007 Postdoctoral and Senior Research Associateship Programs to be conducted on behalf of over 120 research laboratories throughout the United States representing nearly all U.S. government agencies with research facilities. The programs provide opportunities for Ph.D, Sc.D. or M.D. scientists and engineers of unusual promise and ability to perform research on problems largely of their own choosing, yet compatible with the research interests of the sponsoring laboratory. Initiated in 1954,the Associateship Programs have contributed to the career development of more than $11,000 scientists and engineers ranging from recent Ph.D. recipients to distinguished senior scientists.

Full-time Associateships will be awarded on a competitive basis in 2007 for research in the fields of chemistry, earth and atmospheric sciences, engineering, applied sciences and computer science, life and medical sciences, mathematics, space and planetary sciences, and physics. Many of the laboratories are open to both U.S. citizens and foreign nationals, and to both recent doctoral recipients and senior investigators.

Postdoctoral awards are made for one or two years, renewable for a maximum of three years; senior applicants who have held the doctorate at least five years may receive awards for shorter periods. Annual stipends for recent Ph.D. recipients for the 2007 program year range from $38,000 to $65,000 depending upon the sponsoring laboratory, and are appropriately higher for senior award recipients.

For more information, visit http://www7.nationalacademies.org/rap

The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics awarded its first Dirac Medal in 1985. The Medal is given in honour of P.A.M. Dirac, one of the greatest physicists of the 20th century and a staunch friend of the Centre. It is awarded annually on Dirac's birthday, 8 August, to scientists who have made significant contributions to physics. The Medallists also receive a prize of US $5,000.

An international committee of distinguished scientists selects the winners from a list of nominated candidates. The deadline for receipt of nominations is 15 April of the relevant year. The Dirac Medal is not awarded to Nobel Laureates, Fields Medallists, or Wolf Foundation Prize winners.

For more information, visit http://www.ictp.trieste.it/~sci_info/awards/Dirac/DiracMedal.html

The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program is a Foundation-wide activity that offers the National Science Foundation's most prestigious awards in support of the early career-development activities of those teacher-scholars who most effectively integrate research and education within the context of the mission of their organization. Such activities should build a firm foundation for a lifetime of integrated contributions to research and education. NSF encourages submission of CAREER proposals from junior faculty members at all CAREER-eligible organizations and especially encourages women, members of underrepresented minority groups, and persons with disabilities to apply.

For more information, visit http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5262