Packard Fellows are inquisitive, passionate scientists and engineers who take a creative approach to their research, dare to think big, and follow new ideas wherever they lead.

Eligibility Criteria

Candidates must be faculty members at one of the 50 Invited Institutions. Candidates must be eligible to serve as principal investigators engaged in research in the natural and physical sciences or engineering and must be within the first three years of their faculty careers. Disciplines that will be considered include physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology, astronomy, computer science, earth science, ocean science, and all branches of engineering. Candidates engaged in research in the social sciences will not be considered.

What We Don’t Fund

Recognizing that certain areas of contemporary science and engineering already have access to relatively generous funding (for example, clinical research, research associated with the design and construction of large national facilities such as accelerators and space stations, and applied research of direct relevance to national security), the Packard Fellowships are directed to other, less supported fields.

The Fellowship Program provides support for highly creative researchers early in their careers; faculty members who are well-established and well‐funded are less likely to receive the award.

Please see the Fellowship Guidelines for detailed information about the award.

Invited Insitututions

Brown University
California Institute of Technology
Carnegie Mellon University
Columbia University
Cornell University
Duke University
Georgia Institute of Technology
Harvard University
Johns Hopkins University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
New York University
Northwestern University
Ohio State University
Pennsylvania State University
Princeton University
Purdue University
Rice University
Stanford University
SUNY at Stony Brook
Texas A&M University
The State University of New Jersey – Rutgers
University of Arizona
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Davis
University of California, Irvine
University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, San Diego
University of California, San Francisco
University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Cruz
University of Chicago
University of Colorado, Boulder
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
University of Maryland, College Park
University of Michigan
University of Minnesota – Twin Cities
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
University of Pennsylvania
University of Pittsburgh
University of Rochester
University of Southern California
University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center
University of Utah
University of Virginia
University of Washington
University of Wisconsin – Madison
Vanderbilt University
Washington University in St. Louis
Yale University