SIAM Establishes Postdoctoral Support Fund

The Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) is excited to announce that it has established the SIAM Postdoctoral Support Fund and is accepting applications. This new fund is made possible with the backing of longtime members and respected advocates of SIAM and the applied mathematics community, Dr. Martin (Marty) Golubitsky and Dr. Barbara L. Keyfitz. SIAM is incredibly grateful for their generous gift, which will be used to directly support postdocs by providing them with much-needed mentorship and direct research experience opportunities.

The SIAM Postdoctoral Support Fund will establish a unique and important program that will give postdoctoral scholars resources, mentorship, and career advancement opportunities that are often difficult to obtain. The fund will support up to four (4) postdocs and their mentors per year and each mentor/mentee pair will be awarded up to $15,000 in support. The first group of postdocs will be selected in the summer of 2023 from multiple disciplines within academia, business, and industry. 

To apply, interested mentor/mentee pairs should submit:

• A joint statement and research plan prepared by the mentee and mentor
• A letter of intent from the proposed mentor indicating their interest in working with the proposed mentee, and 
• A detailed budget and budget justification requesting no more than $15,000 in financial support. Budgets may not include university overhead. 

Eligibility requirements:

• Proposed areas of research should be relevant to SIAM 
• The length of the mentorship collaboration must be a minimum of one month (may be non-consecutive weeks)
• Mentee cannot be more than three years beyond receipt of their PhD at the time of application 
• Post-doc and their mentor may not be employed at the same institution or company at the time of their application
• U.S.-based mentor/mentee pairs will receive priority at this time 
• Applicants may work in academia, business, or industry

At the conclusion of the mentorship experience, selected mentor/mentee pairs will be required to submit a short summary of their time working together, an explanation of their accomplishments during the mentorship period, and a statement detailing what they gained from the experience and any relevant next steps. Participants must agree to inform SIAM of any publications that result from the mentorship experience and thank and acknowledge the SIAM Postdoctoral Support Fund in the publications as appropriate. 

Apply here

Marty and Barbara have been proud, dedicated members of SIAM for 40 years. Throughout the decades, they have engaged deeply with SIAM programs, publications, and events as members, volunteers, and ultimately serving in leadership positions. Marty served as SIAM President from 2005–2006 and was named a SIAM Fellow in 2009. He also was a Founding Editor of the SIAM Journal on Applied Dynamical Systems (SIADS). Barbara was President of the International Council for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (ICIAM) from 2011–2015 and was named a SIAM Fellow in 2010. She also received the SIAM Prize for Distinguished Service to the Profession in 2012. 

Marty and Barbara were inspired to establish the fund based on their personal experience as directors of the Mathematical Biosciences Institute at Ohio State University and the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences, respectively. Providing this crucial support gives postdocs opportunities to develop independence, hone technical skills, and focus their research interests. Marty and Barbara have been essential in generating support for the next generation of applied mathematicians and computational and data scientists and SIAM is deeply grateful for their philanthropy. 

“We are fortunate that in our careers we have frequently had the opportunity to mentor postdoctoral researchers," said Dr. Golubitsky and Dr. Keyfitz. "Our own research programs have benefitted greatly from these interactions. We believe that the new SIAM Postdoctoral Support Fund will help expand unusual postdoctoral research and networking opportunities for new Ph.D.s during a pivotal time in their careers.”

Many thanks to Dr. Golubitsky and Dr. Keyfitz for helping to fund this new program!