College of the Holy Cross | Graduate Studies

HERTZ FOUNDATION GRADUATE FELLOWSHIPS IN APPLIED SCIENCE

Eligibility:		College seniors or graduate students pursuing Ph.D. degrees in the applied physical sciences who are citizens or permanent residents of the U.S. and who will commit to making their skills available to the U.S. in time of national emergency.
Duration:		Renewable for up to 5 years.
Award:		A cost-of-education allowance to cover tuition and a stipend for personal expenses each year ($28,000 in 2005)
Holy Cross procedure:		The Graduate Studies Office can help you collect forms and prepare the application, but you submit it independently.
Essay(s):
Then what:		Applications are due in late October. Winners are notified by April 1st.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Hertz Foundation fellowships are available at 36 of the elite universities for students seeking Ph.D. degrees in applied physical sciences. About 24 new fellows are named each year, only 10% of those deemed reasonable applicants. The goal is to nurture people who will have influence on the application of science to human problems in the next 50 years. The awards are of unusual size and duration, and have become among the most prestigious for this sort of work.

Intellectual criteria include exceptional intelligence and creativity; an excellent education (judged by transcripts, letters of reference and a personal interview); commitment to the application of the physical sciences; extraordinary accomplishment in technical studies; character supporting high achievement as a technical professional; strong moral and ethical values; and a sense that awarding a person the fellowship will leverage the Foundations influence on the future of technical progress. No support is available for M.D., LLD or MBA degrees, except for the Ph.D. portion of an M.D./Ph.D. program.

Applied physical sciences is interpreted broadly, but it is up to the applicant to make the case for his or her study fitting the criterion. Examples include aeronautics, applied physics, astronomy, areas of modern biology like biostatistics, computational neuroscience, and structure analysis, chemistry, various engineering fields, materials science, earth science, and computer science.

The schools where the fellowship may be held range from Caltech and MIT through Princeton, Harvard, Cornell, and Yale to the best of the private and state universities nationwide. If you want to attend a program and its university is not listed, you can argue for it unique study and research opportunities; that may become the basis for its addition to the list. One of the schools on the list must be your first choice, however; otherwise your application cannot be considered.

Application materials are filled out and submitted electronically in late October from the foundation website. Further information is available from the Hertz Foundation web site: www.hertzfndn.org. I would predict that the GRE would be required, along with letters of recommendation and transcripts. For advice on essays, you might find helpful material in Proposal Writing: the Art of Persuasion.

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