ALS Doctoral Fellowships in Residence

The application period for the next round of fellowships, which start September 1, 2025, will be in March 2025.

Program Overview

ALS Doctoral Fellowships allow student researchers to work at the frontier of synchrotron radiation research and to help advance state-of-the-art techniques and applications. Students who have passed their Ph.D. qualifying or comprehensive exams, and advanced to candidacy, can apply to spend a year in residence at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) working closely with an ALS staff member. Fellows acquire hands-on scientific training and develop professional maturity to complement their doctoral research. Applicants must be full-time students currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program in the science or engineering disciplines, and pursuing research that will benefit from ALS capabilities.

ALS Doctoral Fellowships provide an annual stipend of $23,700 (effective for the Fall 2024 cohort), which does not include benefits. Fellows from non-US home institutions are also provided a one-time $3,000 stipend payment (included in the first monthly payment) to support additional expenses incurred to temporarily relocate to and reside in the US from abroad. Please note that the fellowship stipend does not constitute a salary, as the fellowship is not an employee position. It is awarded to support independent research or studies and can be used to help cover the following non-qualified fellowship expenses: room and board, travel, research, clerical help, or equipment.

Prospective applicants should contact one or more ALS staff members to discuss areas of common research interest and to agree on a potential research project and scope (staff are listed in beamline directory entries and on the ALS staff page). ALS Doctoral Fellowships applications are accepted annually in March for a one-year program beginning September 1.

Eligibility

Applicants must:

• Be full-time students who have passed their Ph.D. qualifying or comprehensive exams and advanced to candidacy by the fellowship start date;
• Pursue research that will benefit from ALS capabilities;
• Remain enrolled in the graduate program at their home institution for the duration of the program; and
• Have external support that provides benefits.

Note that LBNL-employed students and postdocs are not eligible to participate in the ALS Fellowship Program.

Awards are for one year with the possibility of renewal.

Successful applicants will benefit from a series of professional development activities, including an orientation program, seminars throughout the year, and an opportunity to present results at the end of the fellowship.

Doctoral fellow Shambhavi Pratap summarizes her work on hybrid (organic–inorganic) perovskite solar-cell materials. (Credit: Marilyn Sargent/Berkeley Lab)

Expectations

Fellows are required to:

• Commit to the fellowship cohort cycle dates;
• Live in or near Berkeley, and be on-site at Berkeley Lab at least 70% of the time during the fellowship year;
• Sign and abide by the appointment letter, the terms of appointment, and other required ALS/LBNL policies;
• Submit a final report of research accomplishments to the ALS; and
• Acknowledge the support of ALS/DOE/BES in publications and presentations related to research conducted during the fellowship, and submit these publications to the ALS publication database. The specific acknowledgement language about ALS use and fellowship support you must use is listed on this page.

Application Process Timeline for the Fall 2025 Fellowship Cycle

How to Apply

The next round of applications will open in March 2025 for a September 1, 2025 start date.

The doctoral fellowship application form asks for:

• Current C.V. and publication list
• Statement of research to be performed (up to 2 pages)
• Inclusion, diversity, equity, and accountability (IDEA) statement – please see instructions here

In addition, applicants should ask letter writers to separately submit through the same application portal:

• Recommendation letter from PhD advisor
• Letter of institutional support from the PhD advisor. Example letter of institutional support.
• Letter of support from the ALS host that describes how the project would benefit from ALS capabilities and advance ALS programs and strategic directions

Application Form

Selection Procedure

Fellowship applications will be reviewed by a panel of ALS scientists and leadership. Applications will be evaluated based on the qualifications of the applicant, the merits of the proposed collaborative research, and the alignment of the project with ALS programs and strategic priorities.

For more information: Please contact Ashley White, ALS Division Deputy for Strategy.

Doctoral fellow Ziheng Yao describes how he uses infrared light at the ALS to study a range of samples, including battery and biological materials, meteors, and more. (Credit: Marilyn Sargent/Berkeley Lab)

Current Fellows

Fall 2024 Cohort

• Harlan Heilman, Washington State University (ALS host: Cheng Wang)
• Nadja Maldonado Luna, University of California – San Francisco (ALS host: Eric Schaible)
• Seo Young Ahn, University of Utah (ALS host: Dula Parkinson)
• Tyler Cadena, University of California Berkeley (ALS host: Nobumichi Tamura)
• Omolara Bakare, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (ALS host: Christoph Klewe)
• Nushrat Naushin, University of California, Davis (ALS host: Barat Achinuq)
• Nicole Taylor, Harvard University (ALS host: Alpha N’Diaye)
• Miller Shatsala, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Kenya (ALS host: Chenhui Zhu)
• Tianying Liu, Boston College (ALS host: Jinghua Guo)
• Wei He, University of California San Diego (ALS host: Antoine Wojdyla)
• Olivia Gough, University of Oxford (ALS host: Greg Su) – renewal
• Darren Kahan, University of California Berkeley (ALS hosts: Corie Ralston and Mike Martin) – renewal

Spring 2024 Cohort

• Evan Carlson, Stanford University (ALS host: Hendrik Ohldag) – renewal
• Ka Hung Chan, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (ALS host: Nobu Tamura) – renewal

About the ALS

The ALS is a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science national scientific user facility whose excellent scientific reputation, expert staff, and capabilities in the soft x-ray, hard x-ray, and infrared regimes attract approximately 1,600 academic and industrial users each year in disciplines spanning physical, chemical, materials, biological, energy, and Earth sciences. It is one of five Berkeley Lab user facilities that serve a combined 14,000 users annually. The co-location of these user facilities – including the Molecular Foundry Nanoscale Science Research Center and the NERSC scientific computing center, as well as Berkeley Lab’s outstanding programs in materials and chemical sciences among others – offers a prime environment for collaborative science. The ALS has been a global leader in soft x-ray science for more than two decades and is currently undergoing a major upgrade (ALS-U) that will endow the facility with state-of-the-art x-ray capabilities. It’s an exciting time to be at our facility!

The core values of the ALS reflect a strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. We seek candidates who will support a culture in which the entire ALS community feels welcomed and valued. An ongoing commitment to recruiting a vibrant, diverse and talented workforce is paramount to promoting a diverse lab community.