Rowland Fellowship

The Rowland Institute at Harvard seeks outstanding early-career experimentalists in all fields of science and engineering. The Rowland Fellowship provides an opportunity to establish an independent program in the rich intellectual environment of Cambridge, Massachusetts.

To qualify, applicants should currently be in the process of either completing their PhDs and/or have received their PhD after May 1, 2025. Fellows must have completed their doctoral degree prior to starting their Fellowship term.

Edwin Land founded the Rowland Institute of Science in 1980 to foster high-risk, creative research. In 2002, we became the Rowland Institute at Harvard when we joined the University with the mission of advancing the early careers of experimental scientists and engineers. In 2024 we moved from our original building to main campus to be closer to collaborators and university resources. In our founder’s tradition, we are particularly interested in supporting scholars who have the potential to establish a ground-breaking research program in a field that bridges traditional disciplinary boundaries. Previous Rowland Fellows have gone on to extremely successful careers, mostly in academia, but also in industry and as founders of startup companies.

The benefits of a Rowland Fellowship include:

• Fellows will have full principal investigator rights and will establish their labs in an interdisciplinary and interactive environment, in the rich intellectual environment of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
• Fellows will be provided with dedicated laboratory space, and ancillary spaces as needed (ex. tissue culture); generous start-up funding for capital equipment, depending on the Fellow’s research program; a yearly budget starting at $225,000 for general operations (lab supplies, travel, etc.) and the hiring of personnel (postdoctoral fellows, postbacs, undergraduates); and, a salary that begins at $89,999 per year with full Harvard benefits.
• Fellows may have the opportunity to teach undergraduates during their Fellowship, to enable contact with students (ideally in an active research setting, rather than in a classroom), both to help Fellows recruit talented students to their labs and to provide teaching experience that will help them in any career they choose.
• Staff scientists and engineers are available to work directly with Rowland Fellows to design and fabricate new experimental set-ups. Shared research equipment is available at facilities within the Institute and also throughout Harvard University ( e.g. the Center for Nanoscale Systems, and the Bauer Life Science Core Facility).
• Fellows will receive mentoring to develop a productive lab culture, support for scientific writing and budgeting, alongside ongoing support for career development throughout the Fellowship period, including leadership training and access to Harvard’s Core for Mentorship Excellence. The Fellowship lasts up to five years, with a flexible start date; incoming 2027 Rowland Fellows will have start dates July – December 2027.

How to Apply

Only applications submitted through the Harvard Careers website will be considered for the position.

Application Information

Applicants should upload the following materials:

1. a 250 word “elevator pitch” to describe your research goals to a general audience,
2. a Statement of Research (three page limit including references), describing your research proposal and, if relevant, a summary of any recent work that supports the planned experiments,
3. a curriculum vitae (CV),
4. a Vision Statement (one page limit) to describe how your personal values and experiences in academia inform your plan for a productive and supportive culture within your group,
5. and, contact information for three or four references (automated emails will be sent requesting letters of recommendation direct to your references that includes their submission deadline.) 

Deadline

2027 Rowland Fellowships : The deadline for applications is Saturday, August 1, 2026 at 11:59PM EDT.

Timeline for the Rowland Fellowship application process:

• Applications are due August 1, 2026
  • Letters of recommendation are due August 15, 2026
• September 2026: applicants who do not meet the eligibility criteria will be notified by email.
• October 2026: Candidates are contacted for a first-round Zoom interview, and unsuccessful candidates will be notified by email.  
• November 2026: Finalists come to the Institute for a two day interview.
  • Day 1: Candidates participate in a symposium, and give a brief presentation on both past and proposed research.
  • Day 2: Candidates will interview with current Rowland Fellows, Rowland staff, and the admissions committee.
• December 2026: Selection decisions are made and finalists are informed

Some notes about applications:

• Your application need not be completed and submitted in one sitting; you can log back in at a later time to make additions and changes.
• When your application is completed and submitted, instructions will automatically be sent to these referees about submitting their letter of recommendation, with a deadline of two weeks. (You might want to alert your referees earlier via email that the automated letter request is coming, so that they have more time to complete it.)
• Once completed and submitted, you cannot revise your materials. If you do need to submit a revised version after submittal but before the deadline, please email [email protected] and we will reactivate your account so you can submit the revised version.
• Please declare use of AI tools in your application and describe their use. Importantly, their use should not replace your original thinking. The required materials seek to elicit responses that reflect your personal experience and unique motivations and should be written in your own voice. Hence, caution is advised against using AI-generated materials as-is: admissions committees can often sense AI-written materials because they lack personal nuance and can be rather vague in the details.

Eligibility

• To qualify for the 2027 cycle, applicants should currently be in the process of either completing their PhDs and/or have received their PhD after May 1, 2025. Fellows must have completed their doctoral degree prior to starting their Fellowship term.
• Your proposed research must be experimentally focused in any field of science or engineering – including physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, neuroscience, etc.
• The program accepts applications from such a broad range of fields that the research conducted by current and past Fellows can be used as a guide, but should not be considered restrictive! We choose Fellows based on the best proposed science at the time of submission. That said, we cannot support human subjects research or clinical research of any type , as our fellowship is designed to enable Fellows from multiple disciplines to share overlapping laboratory spaces.
• We encourage applicants from the broader scientific community; candidates can apply from any accredited academic institution whether in the United States or internationally.
• US Citizens and non-citizens are eligible for appointment as Rowland Fellows. The staff at the Rowland Institute and Harvard University can assist you in the visa process if needed.
• Please email [email protected] if you have questions regarding eligibility or the application.

EEO/Non-Discrimination Commitment Statement

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