Funder: NRC Research Associateship Programs
Due Dates: May 1, 2025 (Next deadline)
Funding Amounts: Base stipend approximately $95,000 plus $5,000 travel allowance; supplements based on experience; typical tenure 2-3 years.
Summary: Supports postdoctoral and senior researchers to develop design tools and adaptive materials mimicking natural movement and shape-change for sensing, actuation, and computation in robotics and related fields.
Key Information: Open to U.S. citizens; requires contacting a Research Adviser prior to application; relocation and health insurance benefits included.
Description
This fellowship opportunity supports research at the intersection of soft matter responsive and adaptive materials, computational design, and information theory/machine learning. The focus is on developing design tools and adaptive materials that replicate natural movement and shape changes used by living systems for sensing, actuation, and physical computation. Examples from nature include limbs for locomotion, skin wrinkling for camouflage, and multistable snapping mechanisms for prey capture.
The research aims to translate these biological mechanisms into synthetic systems for applications such as morphing aircraft, agile robotics, and in materio computing. Key challenges include:
- Navigating complex, non-convex design spaces with limited function evaluations.
- Leveraging physics-based understanding and search history in computational methods.
- Developing novel sampling techniques to manage computational cost disparities.
- Creating adaptive material model systems that respond to diverse environmental stimuli.
- Embedding and reading out physical states for computation and sensing.
This program offers a unique opportunity to work on cutting-edge problems involving topology optimization, multifunctional materials, multistability, neural networks, and additive manufacturing.
Due Dates
- Next application deadline: May 1, 2025, 5 PM ET
- Review finalized: Early June 2025
- Subsequent deadlines occur quarterly (August 1, November 1, February 1, etc.)
Funding Amount
- Base stipend: Approximately $95,000 per year
- Travel allowance: $5,000 annually
- Experience-based stipend supplements available for postdoctoral and senior researchers
- Typical award duration: 2-3 years
- Additional benefits include relocation assistance and group health insurance for awardees and dependents
Eligibility
- Citizenship: Open to U.S. citizens only
- Applicant level: Postdoctoral researchers (within 5 years of PhD) and senior researchers (5+ years post-PhD or established investigators)
- Must have earned a doctoral degree (Ph.D., Sc.D., M.D., D.V.M., or equivalent) before starting tenure
- Applicants with current or recent prior affiliation/employment at the sponsoring agency or contractor may be ineligible
- Letter writers must not be employed by the sponsoring agency unless they have served as mentors or collaborators during the applicant’s prior academic or research career
Application Process
- Identify the Research Opportunity and contact the designated Research Adviser (e.g., Philip Buskohl at philip.buskohl.1@us.af.mil) to discuss research plans and funding availability before applying
- Prepare a research proposal (max 10 pages) including:
- Statement of the problem
- Background and relevance
- Methodology and timeline
- New or unusual methods
- Expected results and significance
- Submit a complete application including:
- Profile information and education history (transcripts required for postdocs)
- Previous and current research description
- List of publications and presentations
- Letters of recommendation (minimum 3, including dissertation adviser for postdocs)
- Letters must be uploaded by letter writers via the online system by the deadline
- Applications are reviewed by expert panels; scoring is on a 100-point scale with 70+ recommended for award
- Applicants receive reviewer feedback approximately one week after review finalization
Additional Information
- Awardees who relocate more than 50 miles to the host laboratory and remain for at least six months are eligible for paid relocation
- Health insurance coverage is available for awardees and qualifying dependents in the U.S.
- The program is administered by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Fellowships Office
- Research is conducted onsite at federal laboratories (e.g., Wright-Patterson AFB, OH)
- Applicants may apply to up to three different Research Opportunities but only one per sponsoring federal agency per cycle
- Prior NRC Research Associateship holders may apply again after a two-year gap from previous award termination
External Links
Contact Information
For questions about eligibility, application process, or technical issues, contact the NRC Research Associateship Programs office at rap@nas.edu or call 202-334-2760.