USA Scholarships
Cornell Atkinson Postdoctoral Fellowship 2027 - $65,000/yr
The Cornell Atkinson Postdoctoral Fellowship 2027 pays $65,000 a year across a three-year appointment, adds full Cornell University employee benefits, and hands you a further $12,000 a year for research and travel costs. Up to four fellows are chosen each cycle to work on sustainability projects at Cornell. Applications close on 20 October 2026 at 5pm Eastern, notifications land in January 2027, and appointments begin somewhere between 1 June and 1 September 2027. What sets this apart from a standard postdoc competition is that you cannot write it alone. Every application rests on two people you have to recruit before the deadline. The first is a Cornell faculty mentor who must be PI-eligible and a current Cornell Atkinson Faculty Fellow, and who may support only one applicant in a given cycle, which means the good mentors are effectively claimed on a first-come basis. The second is an advisor at an external partner organisation, drawn from the governmental, non-governmental or private sector, and specifically not another university or higher education institution. Eligibility is otherwise about timing and distance. Your doctorate must have been received no earlier than two years before the start date, which for this cycle means no earlier than 1 May 2025, and the programme is no longer open to Cornell PhD graduates or Cornell postdocs. Fellows must also keep primary residency in Ithaca, New York, for the whole appointment, so this is not a remote posting.
What is the Cornell Atkinson Postdoctoral Fellowship?
The Cornell Atkinson Postdoctoral Fellowship pays a recent PhD $65,000 a year for three years to run a sustainability project at Cornell, with full university employee benefits and another $12,000 a year for research and travel on top. Up to four fellows are selected each cycle by the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability. For the 2027 cohort, applications close on 20 October 2026 at 5pm Eastern, decisions arrive in January 2027, and appointments start somewhere between 1 June and 1 September 2027.
The structure is what makes this different from most postdoc competitions, and it is also the reason people miss the deadline. You cannot write this application alone. Two mentors have to be committed before you submit. The first is a Cornell faculty host who must be PI-eligible and a current Cornell Atkinson Faculty Fellow, which is a specific and much shorter list than Cornell faculty generally. The second is an advisor at an external partner organisation from the governmental, non-governmental or private sector, and the Center is explicit that this partner cannot be another university or higher education institution. Both write letters, and both shape the project. A solo research plan with two names attached at the end reads exactly like what it is.
One rule turns mentor recruitment into a genuine race. A Cornell faculty mentor may support only one fellowship applicant per cycle. That means the natural match for your work may already be spoken for by August, and a polite no in October leaves you with no application at all. If you are serious about this, the summer is when the work happens: identify Atkinson Faculty Fellows whose research actually overlaps yours, approach several, and be ready to move on quickly. The same logic applies to the partner organisation, where you want someone with a real stake in your results rather than a contact willing to sign a letter.
The remaining eligibility rules are about timing and geography. Your doctorate must have been received no earlier than two years before the start date, which the Center pins to 1 May 2025 for this cycle. The programme is no longer open to Cornell PhD graduates or Cornell postdocs, a change that catches out people already on campus who assume the door is open to them. And fellows must maintain primary residency in Ithaca, New York, for the whole appointment, so treat the move as a condition rather than a detail. What you submit is compact but demanding: a 250-word abstract, a 250-word background statement, a 1,000-word project description, a 300-word impact statement where optional figures are allowed, a CV with publications, and four letters from your Cornell mentor, your external partner, your doctoral advisor and one more professional reference. If you are lining up funded research years this autumn, the 51 Pegasi b Fellowship guide closes on 1 October and the Harvard Academy Scholars Program guide on 18 September. Full criteria sit on the Cornell Atkinson request for proposals.
Eligibility
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✓A doctorate awarded no earlier than 1 May 2025The rule is that your PhD must have been received no earlier than two years before the start date, which the Center translates into 1 May 2025 for this application cycle. Finish earlier than that and you are outside the window regardless of the strength of the proposal.
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✓Not a Cornell PhD graduate or Cornell postdocThe programme is no longer open to people who took their doctorate at Cornell or who currently hold a Cornell postdoc. That is a deliberate shift toward bringing external scholars in, and it rules out a group who would otherwise be the most obvious applicants.
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✓A Cornell faculty mentor who is an Atkinson Faculty FellowYour host must be PI-eligible Cornell faculty and a current Cornell Atkinson Faculty Fellow, which is a narrower list than Cornell faculty in general. Check that a prospective mentor holds that status before you invest weeks in a joint proposal.
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✓One applicant per mentor, per cycleCornell faculty mentors may support only one fellowship applicant in a cycle. In practice that turns mentor recruitment into a race: approach people in the summer rather than in October, because a yes to someone else closes that door entirely.
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✓An external partner that is not a universityYou also need an advisor at a partner organisation from the governmental, non-governmental or private sector. The Center is explicit that the partner cannot be another university or higher education institution, so a collaborator at a peer department does not count.
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✓Primary residency in Ithaca for the appointmentFellows must maintain primary residency in Ithaca, New York, for the duration of the fellowship. Plan the move rather than treating the posting as something you can run from elsewhere with occasional visits.
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✓Available to start between June and September 2027Appointments begin between 1 June and 1 September 2027 and run as three-year, 12-month positions. If your current contract or visa timing cannot land inside that window, sort it out before applying rather than after an offer.
Benefits
- Annual salary $65,000 per year
- Research and travel funds $12,000 per year
- Employee benefits Full Cornell University benefits
- Appointment length Three years, as 12-month positions
- Cornell faculty mentorship From an Atkinson Faculty Fellow
- External partner advisor Government, NGO or private sector
- Relocation costs Not stated in the RFP, ask the Center
- Remote or hybrid working Not available, Ithaca residency is required
- Fellows selected each cycle Up to four
- Start window 1 June to 1 September 2027
- Notification January 2027
- Open to non-Cornell scholars Yes, that is the point of the programme
- Cornell PhD graduates and postdocs Not eligible to apply
- A university as your external partner Not permitted, it must be outside higher education
- Two applicants sharing one mentor Not allowed, one applicant per mentor per cycle
Document checklist
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✓Project abstract, 250 wordsA tight summary of the project. At this length every sentence has to earn its place, and it is often the first thing a reviewer reads, so write it last once the full description has settled.
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✓Applicant background statement, 250 wordsYour own case, separate from the project. Use it to show why you specifically are the person to do this work, connecting your training to the sustainability problem you are proposing to take on.
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✓Proposed project description, 1,000 wordsThe core of the application. It has to work as science and as a collaboration, since the Cornell mentor and the external partner are both part of the design rather than names attached at the end.
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✓Impact statement, 300 wordsWhat changes if the project succeeds. Optional figures are allowed here, which is worth using: a clear diagram of the pathway from research to real-world outcome does more than another paragraph would.
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✓Curriculum vitae with publicationsYour full academic record including publications. Foreground first-author work and anything that shows you can run a project across an academic and non-academic boundary, which is what this fellowship is built around.
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✓Four letters of recommendationOne from your Cornell faculty mentor, one from the external partner, one from your doctoral advisor, and one further professional reference. Two of those four come from people you have to recruit first, which is the real reason to start early.
How to apply
Deadline and timeline
FAQ
How much does the Cornell Atkinson Postdoctoral Fellowship pay?
$65,000 per year, plus full Cornell University employee benefits and $12,000 per year for research and travel expenses. Across a three-year appointment that comes to $195,000 in salary and $36,000 in research funds before benefits. The research allowance is the part worth planning around, since it means fieldwork or travel to your partner organisation does not need a separate grant.
What is the Cornell Atkinson Postdoctoral Fellowship deadline for 2027?
Applications close on 20 October 2026 at 5pm Eastern Time. Notifications go out in January 2027, and fellowships start between 1 June and 1 September 2027. Because two of your four reference letters come from mentors you have to recruit yourself, the practical deadline for starting work on an application is the summer rather than October.
Who is eligible for the Cornell Atkinson Postdoctoral Fellowship?
Recent PhDs whose doctorate was received no earlier than two years before the start date, meaning no earlier than 1 May 2025 for this cycle. You need a Cornell faculty mentor who is PI-eligible and a current Cornell Atkinson Faculty Fellow, and an advisor at an external partner organisation outside higher education. Fellows must maintain primary residency in Ithaca, New York, throughout the appointment.
Can Cornell PhD students or postdocs apply?
No. The programme is no longer open to Cornell PhD graduates or to people currently holding a Cornell postdoc. That is a change from earlier years and it is the single rule most likely to surprise someone already inside the university. The fellowship is now aimed at bringing external scholars onto campus rather than retaining people already there.
How long is the Cornell Atkinson Postdoctoral Fellowship?
Three years, structured as 12-month appointments. Worth flagging if you are reading older coverage: fellows selected in earlier rounds held two-year appointments, and the programme moved to three years more recently. Check the current request for proposals rather than an article from a previous cycle.
Do you need a Cornell faculty mentor to apply?
Yes, and finding one is the first real task. The mentor must be PI-eligible Cornell faculty and a current Cornell Atkinson Faculty Fellow, which is a specific list rather than the whole faculty. Each mentor may support only one applicant per cycle, so approach candidates in the summer and be ready to move on quickly if someone has already committed.
What counts as an external partner for the fellowship?
An organisation in the governmental, non-governmental or private sector, with an advisor there who will support your project and write one of your four letters. What does not count is another university or higher education institution, which rules out the easiest option for most academics. Pick a partner who has a real stake in the answer your project produces.
How many Cornell Atkinson postdoctoral fellows are selected?
Up to four each year. With a small cohort and a proposal that requires two committed mentors before you can even submit, the field self-selects quite hard: most people who start an application do not finish it because they cannot secure the pairing in time. Getting the mentor and partner locked in early is most of the work.
What research does the Cornell Atkinson fellowship fund?
Sustainability projects, run under the joint mentorship of a Cornell faculty host and an advisor from an external partner organisation. Recent cohorts have worked on food security, climate and clean water among other areas, and past fellows have run projects across several continents. The common thread is research designed to produce a usable outcome for the partner rather than a paper alone.
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