McWilliams Center Postdoctoral Fellowship

A gift from Bruce McWilliams helped establish the McWilliams Center for Cosmology. It is largely devoted to supporting about two or three McWilliams Postdoctoral fellows at any given time. This is one of highest profile programs for the Center; it supports promising postdoctoral scientists to pursue independent research which contributes to the synergistic science of the Center using theory, observation, simulation, experimentation, or instrument development. Having such postdoctoral fellowships is crucial for raising the research activity level of the Center and creating innovative ideas.

The McWillaims postdoctoral fellowship program has similar features to those at many other institutes for Cosmology and Astrophysics as well as by national fellowships (in terms of salary and research funds). The Center provides a vibrant environment and a number of opportunities for their career development. Postdoctoral fellows have been regularly awarded McWilliams Center Seed Funds to start new collaborations and projects and obtain support for graduate or undergraduate students to work with them. At their choice, the Physics Department, has been able to arrange teaching assignments for those interested in gaining some teaching experience. Finally, postdoctoral fellows at CMU are allowed to be PIs on grants.

The McWilliams Fellowship program has been successful from the start, allowing the Center to grow thanks to the extremely talented postdocs we have hired in this program.