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Fellowships

Alber Science & Engineering for Global Health Fellowship

Alber Science & Engineering for Global Health Fellowship

Fellowship

Application Deadline
June 6, 2025
Award Amount
$5,000

The Thomas C. Alber Science & Engineering for Global Health Fellowship is named after Dr. Tom Alber, Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology and founding Faculty Director of CEND. Dr. Alber believed that scientists from across the UC Berkeley campus have the potential to make an impact on our understanding of diseases that disproportionately affect the world's poor as evidenced by his own contributions to the tuberculosis and HIV fields in his career as a structural biologist. In recognition of Dr. Alber's contributions to CEND, Henry "Sam" Wheeler, Jr. is allowing CEND to use part of his gift to fund the S&E fellowship in Dr. Alber's honor.

The Alber S&E fellowship program provides professional development funds to early-career researchers in CEND-affiliated labs who are interested in conducting infectious disease research or drug discovery/high-throughput screening.

Application Guidelines: Submit a complete application package by midnight on June 6th, 2025. As part of the application, you must write about your current research project(s) and develop a proposal on what you intend to do with the funding, including a budget and an explanation of how it will support your professional development. Applications will be reviewed by a panel of CEND faculty members and awards will be announced in June 2025.

Step 1

Read about fellowship

The “Alber Science & Engineering for Global Health” Fellowship provides up to $5,000 for Master's students, PhD candidates and postdocs in CEND-affiliated labs interested in conducting infectious disease-related research or drug discovery/high throughput screening. The fellowship can be used to support research expenses or equipment that is not covered through the applicant’s PI, i.e. a campaign with the UCB drug discovery center to develop starting points for novel therapeutics, travel to conferences, and scientific or scholarly exchange between UC Berkeley and researchers in disease-endemic countries. Through the fellowship, awards of up to $5,000 will be made to qualified individuals. ​This fellowship is not intended to subsidize or replace pre-existing funding from the applicant’s lab.

In addition to receiving the funds for their professional development, fellows will also participate in the CEND fellowship research seminar giving them an opportunity to showcase their current research and practice their presentation and networking skills. They will also join the broader CEND community, which will open them up to access to CEND faculty, mentorship, and other CEND-related opportunities throughout the year. CEND fellows are required to write a one page report explaining how the funds were used to support their professional development.

Eligible Applicants

Master’s or Doctoral (PhD) students and postdoctoral fellows are eligible for a fellowship. To apply, you must be mentored by a CEND affiliated investigator. If unsure, please contact cend@berkeley.edu (please cc shannonkokesh@berkeley.edu). Individuals from backgrounds underrepresented in the biomedical sciences are especially encouraged to apply.

Step 2

Enter contact details

Step 3

Upload required documents

Please upload all required documents for this fellowship. Documents must be clearly labeled.

  1. Curriculum Vitae (Max 2 pages)
  2. Current Research: Project background, aims, methods, and technical and health significance (1 page)
  3. Professional Development Proposal (½ page)
  4. Budget: All expected expenses related to professional development costs. This can be for a side research project or software/equipment/reagents not funded through your PIs lab, travel to a conference or for a research exchange, etc. (½ page)
  5. Recommendation from a faculty mentor (1 paragraph)
Drop files here to upload or
(all file types ok)
You can also paste a Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive link below
Step 4

Add any additional notes

Please let us know anything that is important about you or your application that might fall outside of this standard format.

Step 5

Submit Application

When you have competed all of the above steps, please submit your application.

You will receive a confirmation email of your application and the documents you have submitted. if you do not receive a confirmation email, please contact us.

If you’d like to make a change or add additional materials, reply back to the confirmation email.

Step 6

Evaluation will be based on technical merit, relevance of current research to CEND’s vision and mission, and the applicant’s ability to articulate how this funding will support their long-term career goals and professional development.

CONTACT
For all inquiries about this Fellowship or to add additional documents or make changes - please reach out to:
Shannon Kokesh