Rowland Fellowship Program Grant

Rowland Fellowship Program Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Harvard University
Amount: More than US $89,999
Last Updated: December 16, 2025

Summary

The Rowland Fellowship Program at Harvard University invites outstanding early-career experimentalists in all scientific and engineering fields to establish an independent research program in Cambridge. With a focus on high-risk, innovative research, the fellowship offers substantial start-up funding, dedicated lab space, and mentoring. It lasts up to five years, allowing flexibility in start dates. Ideal candidates will bridge traditional disciplines and contribute to a vibrant intellectual community.

Overview

Note: Letters of recommendation are due July 31, 2026 The Rowland Institute at Harvard seeks outstanding early-career experimentalists in all fields of science and engineering. The Rowland Fellowship provides an opportunity to establish an independent program in the rich intellectual environment of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Edwin Land founded the Rowland Institute of Science in 1980 to foster high-risk, creative research. In 2002, we became the Rowland Institute at Harvard when we joined the University with the mission of advancing the early careers of experimental scientists and engineers. In 2024 we moved from our original building to main campus to be closer to collaborators and university resources. In our founder’s tradition, we are particularly interested in supporting scholars who have the potential to establish a ground-breaking research program in a field that bridges traditional disciplinary boundaries. Previous Rowland Fellows have gone on to extremely successful careers, mostly in academia, but also in industry and as founders of startup companies. The benefits of a Rowland Fellowship include: Fellows will have full principal investigator rights and will establish their labs in an interdisciplinary and interactive environment, in the rich intellectual environment of Cambridge, Massachusetts.Fellows will be provided with dedicated laboratory space, and ancillary spaces as needed (e.g. cell culture, magnet rooms etc); generous start-up funding for capital equipment, depending on the Fellow’s research program; a yearly budget starting at $225,000 for general operations (lab supplies, travel, etc.) and the hiring of personnel (postdoctoral fellows, postbacs, undergraduates); and, a salary that begins at $89,999 per year with full Harvard benefits.Fellows will have the opportunity to teach undergraduates for at least one semester during their Fellowship, to enable contact with students (ideally in an active research setting, rather than in a classroom), both to help Fellows recruit talented students to their labs and to provide teaching experience that will help them in any career they choose.Staff scientists and engineers are available to work directly with Rowland Fellows to design and fabricate new experimental set-ups. Shared research equipment is available at facilities within the Institute and also throughout Harvard University (e.g. the Center for Nanoscale Systems, and the Bauer Life Science Core Facility). Fellows will receive mentoring to develop a productive lab culture, support for scientific writing and budgeting, alongside ongoing support for career development throughout the Fellowship period, including leadership training and access to Harvard’s Core for Mentorship Excellence. The Fellowship lasts up to five years, with a flexible start date; incoming 2027 Rowland Fellows will have start dates July – December 2027.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. Applicants should currently be in the process of either completing their PhDs, and/or have received their PhD after May 1, 2025. Fellows must have completed their doctoral degree prior to starting their Fellowship term.A Ph.D. is required by the time you start your fellowship at the Rowland, but it is very common that applicants do not yet have their Ph.D. at the time of the selection process.Your proposed research must be experimentally focused in any field of science or engineering – including physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, neuroscience, etc.The program accepts applications from such a broad range of fields that the research conducted by current and past Fellows can be used as a guide, but should not be considered restrictive! We choose Fellows based on the best proposed science at the time of submission. Candidates can apply from any accredited academic institution whether in the United States or internationally.US Citizens and non-citizens are eligible for appointment as Rowland Fellows. The staff at the Rowland Institute and Harvard University can assist you in the visa process if needed.

Ineligibility

We cannot support human subjects research or clinical research of any type, as our fellowship is designed to enable Fellows from multiple disciplines to share overlapping laboratory spaces.