OVPR has created an abbreviated list of some of the most prestigious and competitive external awards for eligible faculty members.
Please note that this list is neither exclusive nor exhaustive. Every effort will be made to maintain current and accurate information; however, the awarding agency’s posted information remains the final authority.
The Association for Computing Machinery’s most prestigious technical award (sometimes referred to as the “Nobel Prize of Computing”) is given for major contributions of lasting importance to computing. The award is presented each June at the ACM Awards Banquet and is accompanied by a prize of $1,000,000 plus travel expenses to the banquet. Financial support for the award is provided by Google Inc.
The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center’s mission is to promote innovation and identify impact-oriented solutions to critical global problems. The Bellagio Creative Arts Fellows is a high profile program, recognizing visual artists whose work is inspired by global or social issues and demonstrates exceptional originality. The Fellows receive a cash award and undertake a residency of two months at the Center. They also benefit from interactions with a stimulating community of scholars, writers, policymakers, and other artists who share dinners and occasional presentations. The combination of an extended stay, a generous stipend, private work space, and a unique group of fellow residents makes a Creative Arts Fellowship at the Bellagio Center a remarkable opportunity.
The core Fulbright Scholar Program sends 800 U.S. faculty and professionals abroad each year. Grantees lecture and conduct research in a wide variety of academic and professional fields.
The Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences is awarded to an individual in a selected area of chemistry to recognize exceptional and original research that has advanced the field in a major way. The prize is awarded biennially and consists of a monetary award of $250,000, a medal, and a citation.
The Fermi Award is a Presidential award and is one of the oldest and most prestigious science and technology honors bestowed by the U.S. Government. The Enrico Fermi Award is given to encourage excellence in research in energy science and technology benefiting mankind; to recognize scientists, engineers, and science policymakers who have given unstintingly over their careers to advance energy science and technology.
A Fermi Award winner receives a citation signed by the President of the United States and the Secretary of Energy, a gold medal bearing the likeness of Enrico Fermi, and an honorarium of $50,000. In the event the Award is given to more than one individual in the same year, the recipients share the honorarium equally. The Fermi Award is administered on behalf of the White House by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.
The Fields Medal is awarded every four years on the occasion of the International Congress of Mathematicians to recognize outstanding mathematical achievement for existing work and for the promise of future achievement.
Ford Foundation Fellowship awards are offered at the Predoctoral, Dissertation and Postdoctoral levels. Fellowships are awarded in a national competition. Awards are made to individuals who, in the judgment of the review panels, have demonstrated superior academic achievement, are committed to a career in teaching and research at the college or university level, show promise of future achievement as scholars and teachers, and are well prepared to use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students.
The Fulbright Distinguished Chairs Program comprises approximately forty distinguished lecturing, distinguished research and distinguished lecturing/research awards ranging from three to 12 months. Awards in the Fulbright Distinguished Chairs Program are viewed as among the most prestigious appointments in the Fulbright Scholar Program.
Often characterized as “midcareer” awards, Guggenheim Fellowships are intended for men and women who have already demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts. Guggenheim Fellowships are grants to selected individuals made for a minimum of six months and a maximum of twelve months.
The award is granted in recognition of a researcher’s entire achievements to date to academics whose fundamental discoveries, new theories, or insights have had a significant impact on their own discipline and who are expected to continue producing cutting-edge achievements in the future. The award is valued at 60,000 EUR.
The Japan Prize is awarded annually to scientists and engineers from around the world who have made significant contributions to the advancement of science and technology, thereby furthering the cause of peace and the prosperity of mankind. Each year, two fields of scientific endeavors are honored. The Japan Prize laureates receive a certificate of merit and a prize medal. A cash prize of 50 million yen (approx. US$650,000) is also awarded for each prize field.
The MacArthur Fellows Program awards unrestricted fellowships to talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction. Although nominees are reviewed for their achievements, the fellowship is not a reward for past accomplishment, but rather an investment in a person’s originality, insight, and potential. Indeed, the purpose of the MacArthur Fellows Program is to enable recipients to exercise their own creative instincts for the benefit of human society.
The National Medal of Science is the Nation’s highest honor for American scientists and engineers. It is presented annually by the President of the United States. The Medal is awarded to individuals deserving of special recognition by reason of their understanding cumulative contributions to knowledge in the chemical, physical, biological, mathematical, engineering, or behavioral or social sciences, in combination with exemplary service to the Nation.
The National Medal of Technology and Innovation is the highest honor for technological achievement and innovation in the Nation. It is presented annually by the President of the United States. The Medal is awarded to individuals, teams (up to four individuals), companies or divisions of companies for their outstanding contributions to the Nation’s economic, environmental and social well-being through the development and commercialization of technological products, processes and concepts; technological innovation; and strengthening the Nation’s technological workforce.
National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships support individuals pursuing advanced research that is of value to humanities scholars, general audiences, or both. Recipients usually produce articles, monographs, books, digital materials, archaeological site reports, translations, editions, or other scholarly resources in the humanities. Projects may be at any stage of development. Successful applicants receive a stipend of $4,200 per month. The maximum stipend is $50,400 for a twelve-month period.
The Nobel Prize is an international award administered by the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden. It is awarded each year for achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and for peace.
The PECASE Awards are intended to recognize some of the finest scientists and engineers who, while early in their research careers, show exceptional potential for leadership at the frontiers of scientific knowledge during the twenty-first century. The PECASE Award is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers.
The Pulitzer Prizes are annual national awards administered by Columbia University, awarded for achievements in journalism, books, drama and music.
Each year, the Rome Prize is awarded to thirty emerging artists and scholars in the early or middle stages of their careers who represent the highest standard of excellence in the arts and humanities. Fellows are chosen from the following prize fields: Architecture, Design, Historic Preservation and Conservation, Landscape Architecture, Literature (awarded only by nomination through the American Academy of Arts and Letters), Musical Composition, Visual Arts, Ancient Studies, Medieval Studies, Renaissance and Early Modern Studies, Modern Italian Studies.
The Sloan Research Fellowships seek to stimulate fundamental research by early-career scientists and scholars of outstanding promise. These two-year fellowships are awarded yearly to 126 researchers in recognition of distinguished performance and a unique potential to make substantial contributions to their field.
Five or six prizes are awarded annually in the Sciences. Prize fields comprise: Agriculture, Chemistry, Mathematics, Medicine and Physics. In the Arts, the prize rotates annually among Architecture, Music, Painting and Sculpture.
