ALS Doctoral Fellowships in Residence

Program Objective

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 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 $23,000, 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. Applicants must 1) remain enrolled in the graduate program at their home institution and have external support which provides benefits; 2) contact one or more ALS beamline staff members to discuss areas of common research interest and to agree on a potential research project and scope; and 3) apply when the application window is open.

Eligibility

Applicants must be:

• Students who have passed their Ph.D. qualifying or comprehensive exams and advanced to candidacy;
• Full-time students currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program in the science or engineering disciplines;
• Pursuing research that will benefit from ALS capabilities; and
• Enrolled in the graduate program at their home institution for the duration of the program.

Note that LBNL-employed students and postdocs are not eligible to apply to 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 expected to remain enrolled in the graduate program at their home institution, to live in or near Berkeley, and to work primarily at the ALS for the entire year.

Fellows are required to:

• 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, 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.
• Commit to the fellowship cohort cycle dates.

Application Process Timeline for the Fall 2024 Fellowship Cycle

Application Procedure

The doctoral fellowship application form will ask for:

• Current C.V.
• Statement of research to be performed (up to 2 pages)
• Recommendation letter from PhD advisor
• Collaborative Statement of Support from ALS host that describes how the project would advance ALS strategic directions and/or benefit the science or capabilities of ALS programs – ALS host to submit through this link
• Inclusion, diversity, equity, and accountability (IDEA) statement – please see instructions here
• Letter of institutional support from the thesis advisor for the duration of the fellowship appointment. Example letter of institutional support.

Selection Procedure

All fellowship applications will be reviewed by the ALS Science Council. 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 strategic priorities.

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

How to Apply

The next round of applications for ALS doctoral fellowships is anticipated to open in March 2024, with a start date of September 1, 2024.

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

Spring 2023 Cohort

• Evan Carlson, Stanford University (ALS host: Hendrik Ohldag)
• Sudheer Anand Sreedhar, UC Davis (ALS hosts: Slavo Nemsak and Chris Jozwiak)
• Matthew Staab, UC Davis (ALS host: Eli Rotenberg)
• Michelle Devoe, UC Berkeley (ALS hosts: Martin Kunz and Nobu Tamura)
• Dong Hyun Kim, Chungnam National University (ALS host: David Shapiro)
• Yunfei Wang, University of Southern Mississippi (ALS hosts: Alex Hexemer and Chenhui Zhu)
• Cory Flavin, University of Colorado Boulder (ALS hosts: Hans Bechtel and Jinghua Guo)
• Ka Hung Chan, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (ALS host: Nobu Tamura)

Fall 2023 Cohort

• Shanece Esdaille, Florida International University (ALS host: Martin Kunz)
• Olivia Gough, Oxford University (ALS host: Greg Su)
• Devin Grabner, Washington State University (ALS host: Cheng Wang)
• Yucheng Guo, Rice University (ALS host: Eli Rotenberg)
• Darren Kahan, UC Berkeley (ALS hosts: Corie Ralston, Mike Martin)
• Hasitha Sithadara Wijesuriya, UC Berkeley (ALS host: Dula Parkinson)
• Isaac Zakaria, UC Berkeley (ALS hosts: Moni Blum and Wanli Yang)

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 2,000 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 11,000 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.