FUNDING MEMO

Title: Google PhD Fellowships 2025– Limited Opportunity – 4 Nominations

Funding Agency: Google

Internal Deadline: 05/13/2025 12:00 PM PDT

External Deadline(s):

05/15/2025 12:00 PM PDT (Nomination)

Cognizant Office: Graduate Studies Office

Description:

Google PhD Fellowships directly support graduate students as they pursue their PhD, as well as connect them to a Google Research Mentor.

Nurturing and maintaining strong relations with the academic community is a top priority at Google. The Google PhD Fellowship Program was created to recognize outstanding graduate students doing exceptional and innovative research in areas relevant to computer science and related fields. Fellowships support promising PhD candidates of all backgrounds who seek to influence the future of technology. Google research teams impact technology used by people all over the world and Google encourages people of a wide range of backgrounds to apply.

Frequency: Typically annual

Total Award: $85,000 to $85,000

• Up to 2 year fellowship:  $70K Cost of Education allowance towards tuition and fees and $15K stipend to be used for living expenses, travel and personal equipment (effective from 2025 for new recipients)
• Awardees are matched with a Google Research Mentor.
• Please forward all nominations to the Graduate Studies Office to Natalie Gilmore [email protected] no later than May 13 for review; all nominations must be approved by the Graduate Studies Office before submission to Google.  No more than four nominations may be submitted to Google.

Indirect Costs: Not Allowed

The Google PhD Fellowships are considered pass through fellowships and are managed by Natalie Gilmore in the Dean of Graduate Students Office Natalie Gilmore [email protected] ; submit the following no later than May 13:

1. Cover letter signed by the Division Chair that certifies the student has met the eligibility requirements (please see the FAQ for details)
2. Student CV with links to publications and website
3. 1-page CV for the student's advisor
4. 2-3 letters of recommendation, including at least one from the advisor
5. A research/dissertation proposal (maximum 3 pages)
6. Student essay #1 (350-words maximum): Describe the desired impact your research will make on the field and society, and why this is important to you. Include any personal, educational and/or professional experiences that have motivated your research interests.
7. Student essay #2 (350-words maximum): Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes or contributed to group efforts over time. (A leadership role can mean more than just a title. It can mean being a mentor to others, acting as the person in charge of a specific task, or taking the lead role in organizing an event or project. Think about what you accomplished and what you learned from the experience. What were your responsibilities? Did you lead a team? How did your experience change your perspective on leading others? Did you help to resolve an important dispute at your school, church, in your community or an organization? And your leadership role doesn’t necessarily have to be limited to school activities. For example, do you help out or take care of your family?)
8. Transcripts of current and previous academic records

If the nomination packet is missing any of these materials, the packet will be returned for resubmission.  Please note that the maximum word limits on the essays and page limits are strictly enforced by Google and we cannot be responsible for editing to fit the requirements.  The final nomination packet should be submitted in the order above as a flat file PDF.

Duration: Up to 2 years

Discipline(s): Biology and Biological Engineering; Chemistry and Chemical Engineering; Engineering and Applied Science; Humanities and Social Sciences; Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy

Eligibility: Grad Student

• _{Students must remain enrolled full-time in the PhD program for the duration of the Fellowship or forfeit the award.}
• _{Google employees, and their spouses, children, and members of their household are not eligible.}
• _{Students that are already supported by a comparable industry award are not eligible. Government or non-profit organization funding is exempt.}
• _{Past awardees from the PhD Fellowship program are not eligible to apply again.}
• _{Students who have completed graduate coursework in their PhD by the academic award year when the Fellowship begins.}
• _{Universities may nominate up to four eligible students.}

Research Areas of Interest:

The Fellowships are awarded to students who represent the future of research in the following fields:

Post-Award Obligations:

TBD

Recent Caltech Recipients:

• Erica Ye (Minnich and Chan labs)
• Hsin-Yuan Huang

Guidelines & Other Information:

• More information: Google PhD fellowship program
• FAQs: https://research.google/outrea Google PhD fellowship program ch/faq/?category=phd

Pre-Proposal Requirements:

This is a limited opportunity – Caltech may nominate up to four candidates. The student’s PhD advisor should send a ½ page nomination letter to Natalie Gilmore in the Dean of Graduate Students Office by May 13, 2025.

The full list of application materials required for a nomination to Google is quite extensive (see the FAQs link above). We encourage interested students and advisors to review the requirements and to be ready to collect these materials if given the opportunity to be nominated.

Opportunity ID: 2318