COVID-19 Postdoctoral Fellowship Program

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This support to the Research Corporation for Science Advancement (RCSA) helps to stabilize a portion of the scientific workforce by providing approximately four fellowships for highly trained postdoctoral associates in chemistry, materials research, physics, and astronomical sciences. This project is supported by the Divisions of Chemistry, Materials Research, Physics, and Astronomical Sciences in the Mathematical and Physical Science Directorate. COVID-19 has caused unprecedented disruption in many sectors of society. University budgets have been reduced, hiring freezes put in place, and work stoppages enacted. Newer science, technology, engineering, and mathematical (STEM) professionals hoping to enter the professoriate at this time face significant challenges that could force many of them to leave the professions. This activity extends existing RSCA programs to help these highly trained members of the STEM workforce bridge the gap between training and the start of their independent careers, by helping to retain them in STEM while also augmenting the breadth of their experience. Applicants apply through RSCA mechanisms. This activity provides approximately four fellowships for individuals caught in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis that has impacted their prospects on the scientific job market. Rather than have these individuals leave the STEM fields, these fellowships provide them with at least one year of support. In addition to furthering their scientific expertise in areas which they are already familiar, this support provides these postdocs with opportunities to gain pedagogical training in active learning and its implementation in hybrid and online classrooms. This will make these fellows more competitive for academic positions when they return to the academic scientific job market. The mentors of these fellows also benefit since they are able to maintain some stability in their research endeavors. Research funding is stressed due to COVID-19 impacts and during these disruptions, when individuals leave a lab, it is not always possible to hire replacements. These fellowships help mentors retain highly trained and productive researchers at time when training new project members is difficult, if not impossible. Colleges and Universities benefit from these fellowships in that the fellows will become resource people for courses, both now during the fellowships, but also after, when the fellows continue to benefit from the pedagogical insights they gain as they move into their faculty careers.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.