Central Intelligence Agency Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program

This Research Solicitation by the Central Intelligence Agency announces a Fiscal Year 2011 solicitation for the Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program.  The Program was created in response to the Intelligence Community (IC) requirement to address long-term IC research and technology needs.  The Program serves the IC and research communities by engaging experts in the solution of problems critical to IC goals and missions.  Science and technology are fundamental drivers of global developments, and the IC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program facilitates the necessary research in leading-edge technologies to support broad IC technology needs.  The Program awards multi-year postdoctoral research fellowship grants to address these needs.  In addition to facilitating research for the long-term needs of the IC, the mission of the IC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program is to establish long-term mentoring relationships with its Postdoctoral Fellows and provide research institutions with an understanding of the IC’s research requirements.  The Program fosters partnerships with these Fellows as they move into career positions and provide innovative solutions to address critical IC problems.

Through this solicitation, the Program expects to make twelve or more grant awards in the specific research topics described herein.  If additional funding becomes available, the Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program may choose to make additional awards under the terms of this Research Solicitation from the remaining selectable proposals.  The grant will be awarded for two years and funded up to $120,000 per year ($240,000 total), with a potential for a one-year option in the third year for up to $120,000.

Applicants may submit a proposal under this Research Solicitation without having a Postdoctoral Fellow identified. The applicants must be associated with a U.S. domestic accredited college, university, or other degree granting institution or a U.S. Government Laboratory.  Although all research in this program is unclassified, each Postdoctoral Fellow MUST be a U.S. citizen.  Fellows must have completed and have been awarded their doctorate degree before starting the IC Fellowship, and the degree must have been conferred within the last five years prior to the submission of this proposal.  The Principal Investigator (PI)/mentor is NOT required to be a U.S. citizen.  If a grant is awarded as a result of the proposal submitted, the PI has one year from the award date of the grant to recommend a postdoctoral research candidate, who must be approved by both the Program Manager and Government IC Advisor prior to starting the IC Postdoctoral Fellowship. Funding is limited until a Postdoctoral Fellow is identified and approved (see Section 8, paragraph B).

As required by the terms and conditions of the award, Fellows must participate at the annual IC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Colloquium (both as an attendee and as a presenter), and publish yearly in a peer-reviewed journal, with the full article submitted to the Journal of Intelligence Community Research and Development (JICRD), or an original publication in JICRD.  Yearly publications submitted to a journal other than JICRD must include permission, following copyright law, for the CIA to reprint the article.

Please contact Jodi Lehman (jglehman@mtu.edu) if you are interested in applying.