Announcements

Penn has been invited to submit up to 4 nominees for the Google PhD Fellowship Program. Self-nominations are made to the Provost’s office, which decides which to nominate to Google. The internal competition deadline is September 11, 2020, 11:59 PM EDT. Please see the full announcement, including eligibility information, below:

• Full-time graduate students pursuing a PhD in Computer Science or related field (see research areas below)
• Completed graduate coursework by the Fall of the award year, when the Fellowship begins.
• The recipient must remain an active, full-time student in a PhD program for the duration of the Fellowship 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 Neuroscience 
• 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 
• Structured Data and Database Management 
• Systems and Networking

For Fellowship details please see the FAQ: https://research.google/outreach/faq/?category=phd

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 September 11 Penn Deadline.

Please combine the following into one PDF:

1. Most current CV
2. 1-page CV of your advisor
3. All undergraduate and graduate transcripts
4. Research/dissertation proposal (no longer than 8 pages)
5. 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.
6. 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 our Interfolio instance (http://apply.interfolio.com/78129 ) to submit your application. You will be able to request letters of recommendation through the application process.

Deadlines:

Internal Competition Deadline: September 11, 2020, 11:59 PM EDT
Internal Competition Winners notified: September 20, 2020
Provost’s Office submits 4 nominees: September 30, 2020