The IBM Ph.D. Fellowship Awards Program is an intensely competitive worldwide program, which honors exceptional Ph.D. students who have an interest in solving problems that are important to IBM and fundamental to innovation in many academic disciplines and areas of study. These include: computer science and engineering, electrical and mechanical engineering, physical sciences (including chemistry, material sciences, and physics), mathematical sciences (including analytics, statistics, operations research, and optimization), public sector and business sciences (including urban policy and analytics, financial services, risk management, marketing, communications, and learning/knowledge management), and service science, management, and engineering (SSME). Additionally, IBM pays special attention to an array of focus areas. For details on the focus areas, see frequently asked questions.
Preference will be given to students who have had an IBM internship or have closely collaborated with technical or services people from IBM.
Students must be nominated by a faculty member. The faculty member is encouraged to contact an IBM colleague prior to submitting the nomination to assure mutual interest. They must be enrolled full-time in a college or university Ph.D. program, and they must have completed at least one year of study in their doctoral program at the time of their nomination. (Eligibility in Europe and Russia is described below.) Students from U.S. embargoed countries are not eligible for the program. Award Recipients will be selected based on their overall potential for research excellence, the degree to which their technical interests align with those of IBM, and their academic progress to-date, as evidenced by publications and endorsements from their faculty advisor and department head. While students may accept other supplemental fellowships, to be eligible for the IBM Ph.D. Fellowship Award they may not accept a major fellowship in addition to the IBM Ph.D. Fellowship.