In 2023, the Pasadena Community Foundation became the steward of the de Karman legacy and will oversee the Fellowship awards in partnership with a selection committee of qualified PhD application reviewers.
Eligible 2025-2026 Fellowship candidates can apply online on PCF’s Scholarship Portal
The 2025/2026 application will open on the Scholarship Portal on August 1, 2024.
Applications are due 11:59 PM Pacific Time, January 30, 2025. Late applications will not be considered. Announcement of 2025-2026 award recipients will be made in May, 2025.
Only applications from final year PhD students enrolled at one of the following universities will be accepted.
California Institute of Technology
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Davis
University of California, Irvine
University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Riverside
University of California, San Diego
University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Cruz
University of Southern California
Stanford University
Four Fellowships will be awarded for the 2025-2026 cycle at $28,000 each. Funding will support the regular academic year (fall and spring semesters or the equivalent where the quarterly system prevails), paid through the fellowship office of the university in which the recipient is enrolled for study in the United States. Study must be carried out only in the United States and all funds must be expended only within this country.
The fellowship is for one academic year and may not be renewed or postponed.
The de Karman Fellowships are open to PhD students in any discipline, including international students, who are currently enrolled in one of the California universities listed above. Only PhD candidates who will defend their dissertation in or about June 2026 are eligible for consideration for a 2024-2025 Fellowship.
Undergraduate students, master’s degree students, and postdoctoral scholars are not eligible for consideration. Special consideration will be given to applicants in the Humanities.
Potential applicants should note that the competition for de Karman Fellowships is extreme. To be competitive, applicants should have outstanding letters of recommendation, significant early scholarly contributions, and have completed a significant portion of the dissertation at the time of application.
See list of past fellowship recipients.
Please review additional and important information for de Karman Fellowship Applicants here.
