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ALS Doctoral Fellowships in Residence

SPECIAL NOTICE:

New applications are currently suspended. The ALS is following Department of Energy and local guidelines to gradually and safely bring staff back on site as part of Berkeley Lab pilots. ALS COVID-19 status updates can be reviewed HERE.

The Advanced Light Source (ALS), a division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, is a national user facility that generates intense x-ray radiation for scientific and technological research. As the United States’ first third-generation synchrotron radiation source, the ALS offers outstanding performance in the vacuum ultraviolet to soft x-ray energy range and excellent performance in the infrared and hard x-ray regions. The facility welcomes researchers from universities, industry, and government laboratories around the world. The ALS is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences program.

Join Us to Shape the Future of Synchrotron Radiation Science

Shambhavi Pratap at Beamline 12.3.2
Doctoral Fellow Shambhavi Pratap, a Ph.D. student from the Technical University of Munich, works on hybrid perovskites at ALS Beamline 12.3.2.

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.

“The fellowship provided me with an incredible opportunity to develop complex experiments on Beamline 8.3.2 for my graduate research, engage in ALS outreach and internal initiatives, and develop collaborations with beamline scientists, other ALS users and other divisions at Berkeley Lab. As a member of the ALS community, I also had the privilege of learning from people from all around the world coming to perform research on a diverse array of scientific challenges. The mentoring and support I received, especially from Dula, Alastair, and Harold, have helped me grow as a scientist, and I am very thankful to have been a part of the creative, inspiring and welcoming community that makes up the ALS.” –Natalie Larson, 2015–2017 Fellow, currently Postdoctoral Researcher in the Lewis group at Harvard University

The fellowships are offered as one-year appointments with the possibility of renewal. Both new and renewal appointments require submitting an application, as discussed below. Successful applicants will be compensated with a $20,000 annual stipend, which will generally be augmented by funding from their home institution or thesis advisor.

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. They will also 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. In addition to acknowledging the ALS, Fellows are asked to acknowledge partial support from the ALS Doctoral Fellowship in Residence Program in any publications resulting from work done while stationed at Berkeley Lab.

Please contact ALS Science Council Chair Eli Rotenberg for more information.

Application Process Timeline for the 2019–20 Fellowship Cycle

June 1, 2019 Applications open
June 30, 2019 Applications close
August 1, 2019 Notification of successful applicants
October 1, 2019 Fellowship start date
September 30, 2020 Fellowship end date

The application period for the 2019-20 fellowship cycle has now closed.

 

Ziheng Yao at Beamline 2.4
Doctoral Fellow Ziheng Yao, a Ph.D. student at Stony Brook University, analyzes meteorite samples at ALS Beamline 2.4.
“The ALS doctoral fellowship provided me the opportunity to be on the cutting edge of soft x-ray spectroscopy and to assist in the development of a new measurement paradigm. This has ultimately provided me with a much deeper understanding and appreciation of the power and capabilities of soft x-ray spectroscopy in general and at the ALS specifically. My experiences as a doctoral fellow convinced me to pursue a postdoctoral fellowship at the ALS, which I hope to eventually turn into a career as a beamline scientist either at the ALS or another facility.” –Shawn Sallis, 2015–2017 Fellow, currently Postdoctoral Fellow at the ALS

2019–2020 Fellowship Recipients

The selection committee selected the following award recipients for the 2018–2019 academic year:

    • Emma Anquillare, Boston University
    • Mikayla Barry, University of California Santa Barbara
    • Chenrun Feng, Kent State University
    • Guanhua Tibbers Hao, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
    • Wencheng Huang, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
    • Gihyeok Lee, Dongguk University
    • Jianheng Li, University of California Davis
    • Dominik Stemer, University of California Los Angeles
    • Ziheng Yao, Stony Brook University
    • Wasif Zaheer, Texas A&M University

These exceptional Ph.D. students have been selected to perform a major part of their thesis work at the ALS during a one-year appointment covering the 2019–2020 academic year.

2019 Fellows take a tour of the ALS
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