The Environmental Fellows program at Harvard University.

The University Center for the Environment has created the Environmental Fellows program to enable recent doctorate recipients to use and expand Harvard's extraordinary resources to tackle complex environmental problems. The Environmental Fellows will work for two years with Harvard faculty members in any school or department to create new knowledge while also strengthening connections across the university's academic disciplines.

The fellowships will be awarded on a competitive basis. Candidates will propose a research program and secure a commitment from one or more Harvard faculty members to host the candidate's work. Candidates should have received their terminal degree between May 2001 and September 2006. (Fellows must have completed all requirements of their degree before starting work in September 2006.) Candidates with a doctorate or equivalent in any field are eligible, and they may propose research projects in any discipline. Candidates who received terminal degrees from Harvard and postdocs currently working at Harvard are eligible for the fellowship, provided their research and host arrangements take them in new directions and forge new connections within the University.

The fellowship will provide an annual stipend of $50,000 plus health insurance, other benefits, and a $5,000 allowance for travel and professional expenses.

The Harvard University Center for the Environment expects to award up to eight fellowships in 2006 and an average of six per year thereafter. The center will organize a co-curricular program to ensure that the fellows get to know each other and each other's work. All fellows are required to attend biweekly dinners with other fellows, faculty members, and guests.

The center encourages research and education about the environment and its many interactions with human society. The center draws its strength from faculty members and students across the university who make up a remarkable intellectual community of scholars, researchers, teachers, and practitioners of diverse fields. The center's mission is to strengthen and expand that community by supporting research, encouraging faculty and students to apply their particular expertise to environmental topics, and providing a convivial space for collaboration. The center is located in the University's Geological Museum at 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge.

Selection criteria: 1) Applicant's prior success and potential contribution to scholarship or practice. 2) Project significance: the potential impact of the research project on scholarship at Harvard and on environmental problems. 3) Diversity: The committee will select a group of fellows from a range of academic disciplines whose work will focus on a variety of topics. Recipients and hosts may include people with degrees in the sciences, economics, law, government, public policy, public health, medicine, design, and the full array of humanities. Their research topics will be equally varied. Interdisciplinary research projects are encouraged, although this is not a requirement for the fellowship. Candidates with interests in a single discipline are encouraged to apply. 4) Host's commitment: the host faculty member's enthusiasm for the proposed project, his or her ability to mentor the fellow, and his or her ability to provide office space and a productive work environment.

Potential candidates should start early to identify and establish a relationship with a Harvard faculty member to host his or her research. The host will be a mentor to the fellow and will provide office space and basic administrative support. The host may not be the candidate's thesis adviser. The host must, however, submit a letter of support (maximum of two pages) to the selection committee describing in detail the level of commitment to the research and the candidate.

Applicants unfamiliar with Harvard faculty members will find many of them listed on the center's web pages organized both by academic areas (economics, engineering) and by research topics (climate, human health). Most faculty members have their own web pages which will provide much more detailed information about publications and interests. Applicants are encouraged to use the center's faculty lists as a starting point. Any faculty member from any discipline can serve as a host, regardless of whether the host has had prior experience with environmental research.

Applicants, referees, and hosts may e-mail all portions of the application to the center, attaching all documents to the e-mail as PDFs or Word files. Referees and hosts should e-mail or mail their letters directly to the center.

A complete application includes 1) a cover sheet (see below); 2) a detailed research proposal (a maximum of 5 pages, including illustrations; 12-point type); 3) a letter of support from the applicant's host committing to serve as a mentor and explaining his or her commitment to the proposed research, including the provision of office space and any financial commitments; 4) curriculum vitae including list of publications; 5) letters of reference from at least three professional colleagues, including the applicant's dissertation adviser.

Submit applications and letters of reference by e-mail to the Harvard University Center for the Environment by January 15, 2006. The center will announce its selections by March 1, 2006. Fellows must start work the following September. For information about application requirements contact Richard A. Minard, Jr., Harvard University Center for the Environment, 24 Oxford Street, 3rd Floor, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA, 617-495-0368, e-mail: [e-mail].