Open Call for 51 Pegasi b Fellowship Host Institutions

Overview

Open Call for 51 Pegasi b Fellowship Host Institutions

The 51 Pegasi b fellowship was established in 2017 to support early-career researchers in planetary astronomy with four host institutions participating. Since then, the program has supported fifty-eight fellows and expanded to twenty-four host institutions across the United States. With this open call, the Foundation would like to add approximately 4 more host institutions to the program in 2026.

The Foundation has been deliberate in our slow expansion of fellowship host institutions because we want to make sure that there are sufficient astronomical resources and planetary astronomers at all host institutions to ensure the success of our fellows at this critical stage of their careers. We also want to establish personal relationships with the faculty, staff, and administrators at our host institutions through in-person site visits. The goal of these site visits (required before any institution joins the program) is for us to understand the culture of research, equity, and inclusion at each host institution. In addition, unlike many other prize fellowships where host institutions are not involved in the selection process until the fellowships are awarded, we rely on host institutions to perform an initial review of candidates and select their top candidates for further review by the Foundation.

Eligibility

_You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website._

* To be eligible to apply, an organization must meet all five of the following criteria:
* Have at least eight faculty/permanent staff members who:
* have published research in planetary astronomy (defined as exoplanets, solar system planetary science, astrobiology, or closely related fields using observations, modeling, or laboratory work), and
* must not be purely Earth scientists who could theoretically apply their techniques to the study of other planets but who have not yet done so.
* Be a US-based college, university, observatory or research institution
* Eligible applicants must be one of the following: 
* An organization described in Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) Section 509(a)(1) or 509(a)(2), which includes:
* an organization with an un-revoked determination letter from the IRS that the organization is exempt from income tax under IRC Section 501(c)(3) and is not a private foundation under IRC Section 170(b)(1)(A) or 509(a)(2)
* a U.S. or state government, government possession, or political subdivision of a government, under IRC Section 170(c)(1)
* an instrumentality of an IRC Section 170(c)(1) governmental unit (regardless of whether such instrumentality’s income is tax-exempt under IRC Section 115)
* An organization with an un-revoked determination letter from the IRS that the organization is exempt from income tax under IRC Section 501(c)(3) and is an exempt operating foundation under IRC Section 4940(d)(2).
* Agree to no more than 15% indirect costs.

Ineligibility

* Cannot be a government lab or NASA center.