ALS Doctoral Fellowships in Residence

Special Notice

The last application cycle closed on June 6, 2022, for fellowships starting on October 1, 2022.

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 $20,000, which does not include benefits. 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 Photon Science 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
• Remain enrolled in the graduate program at their home institution.
• 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.
• Commit to the fellowship cohort cycle dates.

Application Process Timeline for the Spring 2022 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 Andreas Scholl, ALS Division Deputy for Science.

How to Apply

The last application cycle closed on June 6, 2022, for fellowships starting on October 1, 2022.

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 (April 2022–March 2023)

• Christopher Perez, Stanford University (ALS host: Hendrik Ohldag)
• Chamini Shammi Pathiraja, University of Houston (ALS host: Yi-De Chuang)
• Kun Qian, University of Akron (ALS host: Jinghua Guo)
• Abraham Levitan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (ALS hosts: David Shapiro and Sujoy Roy)
• Cissy Suen, Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, University of British Columbia (ALS hosts: Aaron Bostwick, Chris Jozwiak, and Eli Rotenberg)
• Michelle Devoe, UC Berkeley (ALS host: Nobumichi Tamura)

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.