Blewett Fellowship Eligibility & Selection Criteria

Eligibility

Applicants must:

• Currently be a citizen, legal resident, or resident alien of the United States or Canada.
• Have completed work toward a PhD.
• Provide written proof from a U.S. or Canadian institution that the applicant will have institutional affiliation during the tenure of the grant.  Institutional affiliation at the time of application is not necessary.
  

If applicants have questions regarding their eligibility, or special circumstances they would like to discuss, they should contact APS at (301) 209-3231 or blewett@aps.org.  

Selection

In selecting fellowship recipients, the following criteria will be considered:

• Qualifications of applicant,
• Status of career before break,
• Steps the applicant has taken to return to physics research,
• Relationship of the applicant to the research community,
• Relationship of project and award to future plans,
• Scholarly significance of the project,
• Quality and feasibility of the project design and timeline.

Priority will be given to candidates in the following order:

1. A woman who has had to give up doing research for a time but would like to resume her career, and who is, or would like to be affiliated with a research institution;
   
   
2. If a woman is not available in category 1, the fellowship can be awarded to a woman with some years of research experience who wishes to change her area of research;
   
   
3. If a woman is not available for either 1 or 2, the award can go to a recent post-graduate or early-career academic who would benefit from support at the beginning of her career.

The criteria "relationship of the applicant to the research community" may be fulfilled in different ways depending on the applicant's situation.  The aim of Dr. Blewett's bequest is to aid women in returning to or remaining in research.  APS/CSWP feels that an important part of achieving that goal is having, or building, a strong relationship to the research community.  There are different ways this relationship might evidence itself in a candidate's application.  Examples:

• For women who are returning from a break or moving into a new field, having strong ties within that new field, such as a mentor or collaborator, is often appropriate.  This person(s) will likely write the applicant's letter of recommendation, and both applicant and mentor should highlight evidence of a mentoring relationship.
  
  
• For women who are more established in their area of research, it can be enough to highlight evidence of their existing ties to the research community.  Those who write letters of recommendation should address the applicant's ties to the community.