Description
Carnegie Bosch Fellowships are two-year awards supporting outstanding postdoctoral researchers conducting high-potential research within the excellence driven environment of CMU. Offering benefits beyond ‘traditional’ postdoc roles, fellows are provided with the resources, flexibility, and environment to address “grand challenge” style problems in line with their research vision together with their faculty host. Postdoctoral positions supported by CBI provide remarkable opportunities to conduct groundbreaking research while also offering fellows the chance to develop the additional skills necessary to advance their academic careers in exceptional directions. Fellowship recipients are expected to broadly engage with the international research community in their respective fields and will be provided resources to aid with these efforts, e.g. conference registration + travel, workshop/conference organization support, etc.
Carnegie Bosch fellows are hosted within colleges at CMU and provided with mentorship and direction from world-class faculty as well as access to industry-grade resources from Bosch. Specifically, fellows are paired with a faculty host working closely to inspire and guide their overall research efforts, and an additional distinguished member of the senior faculty offering unique mentorship support. In addition, fellows will have the opportunity to be introduced to experts from the global Bosch Corporate Research organization, providing additional insight and counsel from an industrial perspective and sharing access to real world challenges from domains such as future mobility, advanced manufacturing, and IoT systems.
Research areas
Carnegie Bosch fellowships are intended to support researchers seeking to have a positive impact on society resulting from their research in the fields of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity/privacy. An intentionally broad range of research interests within these two areas will be considered from theory to application, with preference being given to applicants demonstrating: strong research track record, compelling future vision (including potential follow-on opportunities), collaborative approach (connection to/building on efforts already underway), broader positive societal impact (e.g., sustainability).
Faculty collaboration hosts
Carnegie Bosch fellows are matched with world-class faculty at CMU that will serve as their primary hosts during the fellowship. Fellowship applicants are invited to discuss potential collaboration opportunities/interests in advance of application submission. Candidates should include a brief letter of support from the prospective faculty host as indicated in the application requirements below. Applicants should reach out to cbi@andrew.cmu.edu as soon as possible if they would like to propose a CMU faculty host not included in the list.
See the list of potential faculty hosts across research areas.
Distinguished faculty mentors
Carnegie Bosch fellows will benefit from the unique opportunity to be mentored by pioneering leaders in their respective fields. Tom Mitchell (Founders University Professor in the School of Computer Science) will contribute his expertise in artificial intelligence, while Lorrie Cranor (Director and Bosch Distinguished Professor in Security and Privacy Technologies of the CyLab Security and Privacy Institute) will serve as a mentor in cybersecurity/privacy. Fellows will have the chance to meet regularly with these distinguished faculty, benefitting both from their deep technical knowledge as well as the experiences of their own exceptional academic careers.
Application requirements
The application period for 2024 is now closed. When applications open for 2025, prospective candidates are required to submit the following material:
- Cover letter
- Curriculum vitae
- Research statement (maximum three pages) outlining a compelling long-term vision for a research program whose development would be supported by participation in the CBI Fellowship Program:
- How will you use the time and resources provided by your fellowship to advance this vision?
- How will you take advantage of collaboration opportunities at CMU (and beyond)?
- What makes you the right candidate to pursue this vision?
- What will be the eventual impact of this research beyond the core technical results?
- How will your work positively impact society in a transformative way (e.g. sustainability)?
- Professional references (maximum three)
- Letter of support (maximum one page) from prospective faculty collaboration host at CMU
2024 frequently asked questions
Can I do the CBI fellowship remotely?
Not at this time. We want to host this group of postdocs on campus to help get them connected to the CMU community as well as each other. As part of that, we’re planning to put together a good amount of programming that will be challenging to take advantage of remotely, so in this case spending the bulk of the time in an international location will not be a good fit.
We do plan to host a larger cohort of fellows in the years to come. Once we achieve a bit more critical mass, we’ll be in a much better situation to consider exceptional remote candidates.
Are non-residents eligible to apply?
Yes, non-residents are definitely eligible to apply–we just need to work with CMU's regulations.
Can I choose a faculty member who is not on the Faculty Host list to sponsor me?
How many fellowships will you offer this year?
We expect to host three CBI fellows in 2024, and we expect the number of fellows to grow in the coming years as the program becomes more established.
When will you make your decision?
We should announce the CBI fellows in mid to late March, following our January 26, 2024 application deadline.
What is the pay?
The pay for the fellowship will fall in the range of $70,000 - $90,000 per year and standard CMU benefits for post doctoral positions at CMU will be offered. Additionally, fellowship recipients will be expected to broadly disseminate their research results via active engagement with the international research community in their respective fields and will be provided resources to aid with these efforts, e.g. conference registration and travel.
Who will lead the selection of candidates?
We have a committee comprised of CMU faculty and members of the Bosch Pittsburgh research staff, also including input from our Distinguished Faculty Advisors, Lorrie Cranor and Tom Mitchell.
Is CBI placing an emphasis on DEI and what candidates can bring in this direction?
CBI works in service to the broader university and their goals. We are 100% aligned to university efforts on DEI. In general, we would also like to use CBI to support DEI efforts for postdocs within the campus community.
Can Faculty Hosts support more than one applicant?
Faculty hosts can write letters of support for more than one applicant, but in the end will only be able to host one applicant.
What should go in the letter of support?
Please include a couple paragraphs/sentences to indicate why you think the person is a great candidate and why you would want to work with that candidate.
Can I work with two faculty hosts?
You can work with two faculty hosts as long as they both agree to that.
Can the faculty host be one of the references?
Yes, as long as you've had a working relationship with them in the past, but the broadest set of support will be beneficial to your application.
Questions?
Contact the CBI team at cbi@andrew.cmu.edu.
