Josephine de Karman Fellowship Grant

The Josephine de Karman Fellowship, managed by the Pasadena Community Foundation, supports final-year PhD students from select California universities with a $28,000 award for the 2025-2026 academic year. This prestigious fellowship, established in memory of Josephine de Karman, aims to honor academic excellence and encourages applicants from diverse disciplines, particularly within the Humanities. Eligible candidates must defend their dissertations around June 2026 and demonstrate exceptional academic achievements.

The Josephine de Karman Fellowship Trust was established in 1954 by the late Dr. Theodore von Karman in memory of his sister, Josephine, who died in 1951 in Pasadena. The purpose of this Fellowship program is to recognize and assist students whose scholastic achievements reflect Dr. von Karman’s high standards.
Dr. von Karman is considered one of the greatest minds of the twentieth century. While his list of achievements and awards spans pages, he is best known as a world-renowned aeronautics theoretician, the first director of the Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology (GALCIT), and one of the founders and the first director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Read more about Theodore, Josephine, and the history of the de Karman Fellowship here.
APPLICATION & QUALIFICATIONS
In 2023, the Pasadena Community Foundation became the steward of the de Karman legacy and will oversee the Fellowship awards in partnership with a selection committee of qualified PhD application reviewers.
Four Fellowships will be awarded for the 2025-2026 cycle at $28,000 each. Funding will support the regular academic year (fall and spring semesters or the equivalent where the quarterly system prevails), paid through the fellowship office of the university in which the recipient is enrolled for study in the United States.
Please review additional and important information for de Karman Fellowship Applicants here.

Eligibility

Only applications from final year PhD students enrolled at one of the following universities will be accepted.
University of Southern California
Stanford UniversityStudy must be carried out only in the United States and all funds must be expended only within this country.The fellowship is for one academic year and may not be renewed or postponed.The de Karman Fellowships are open to PhD students in any discipline, including international students, who are currently enrolled in one of the California universities listed above. To be competitive, applicants should have outstanding letters of recommendation, significant early scholarly contributions, and have completed a significant portion of the dissertation at the time of application.Eligible 2025-2026 Fellowship candidates can apply online on PCF’s Scholarship Portal

Ineligibility

Undergraduate students, master’s degree students, and postdoctoral scholars are not eligible for consideration.