Postdoctoral Training & Education

National Cancer Institute fellowships and awards

• Name: F32- Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) for Individual Postdoctoral Fellows

  Career Stage: Postdoctoral

  Program Description: This award supports promising postdoctoral applicants who have the potential to become productive and successful independent cancer research investigators.

  NCI requires a clear cancer focus in research training and gives funding priority to applications whose primary sponsor has cancer-related R01, or R01-like, peer-reviewed research grants at the time of application and the time of the award. For the NCI F32 Award, R01-like research funding includes peer-reviewed research grants from other federal sources and private foundations with a duration of at least 3 years with a minimum of $150,000 direct costs per year. The primary sponsor is expected to maintain such grant support during the project period. Grants under a no-cost extension do not qualify.

• Name: K22- Transition Career Development Award

  Career Stage: Postdoctoral

  Program Description: This award supports mentored, non-independent investigators ready to transition to independent academic faculty positions.

• Name: K99/R00- The Pathway to Independence Award in Cancer Research

  Career Stage: Postdoctoral

  Program Description: This award helps outstanding postdoctoral researchers complete needed mentored training and transition in a timely manner to independent, tenure-track or equivalent faculty positions.

National Science Foundation fellowships and awards in biological sciences

• Name: Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology  (PRFB)

  Career Stage: Postdoctoral

  Program Description: The Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO) awards Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology to recent recipients of the doctoral degree for research and training in selected areas supported by BIO and with special goals for human resource development in biology.  The fellowships encourage independence at an early stage of the research career to permit Fellows to pursue their research and training goals in the most appropriate research locations regardless of the availability of funding for the Fellows at that site.  For FY 2015 and beyond, these BIO programs are (1) Broadening Participation of Groups Under-represented in Biology, (2) Research Using Biological Collections, and  (3) National Plant Genome Initiative (NPGI) Postdoctoral Research Fellowships.  These areas change periodically as new scientific and infrastructure opportunities present themselves. For this reason, this solicitation will be changed as necessary to reflect the areas being funded.

  The fellowships are also designed to provide active mentoring of the Fellows by the sponsoring scientists who will benefit from having these talented young scientists in their research groups. The research and training plan of each fellowship must address important scientific questions within the scope of the BIO Directorate and the specific guidelines in this fellowship program solicitation.  Because the fellowships are offered to postdoctoral scientists only early in their careers, NSF encourages doctoral advisors to discuss the availability of these postdoctoral fellowships in biology with their graduate students early in their doctoral programs to ensure potential applicants may take advantage of this funding opportunity. Fellowships are awards to individuals, not institutions, and are administered by the Fellows.

• The Graduate School is offering a series of workshops on academic jobs. The topics include interviews, teaching skills, teaching statements and more. Check out the Academic Career Track workshops.