In this document, the original Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellowship program (referred to as the Schmidt program) and now the new Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science African Faculty Fellows program (AF Fellows).
The University of Michigan is referred to as U-M.
Program Scope
The definition of AI for this program is broad: it includes machine learning, robotics, Bayesian inference, and simulation. However, this does not mean that everything in these topics is AI. For example, servo-motor design may be important for robotics, but is not AI; and numerical methods for finite element analysis can be useful in many scenarios, but are not AI. On the other hand, our definition of AI is not limited to these four terms: it also includes many additional areas of expertise important for advancing AI in science and engineering that do not fit within these four buckets. For example, data integration can be an essential precursor to the use of AI methods, and hence would be in scope. Similarly, using AI to automate research workflows is a topic of interest.
Physical sciences, mathematical sciences, earth and environmental sciences, and engineering, as well as biological and biomedical science research that uses AI methods to understand the basic biological processes, disease mechanisms and propagation (in silico, in vitro and animal models) is within scope. However, biomedical or healthcare research with a focus on developing or improving disease preventions, cures or treatments is out of scope.
A note about computer science. Much of AI is in computer science, and the participation of AI methodologists is essential for the success of this program. However, computer science is not a science or engineering domain within the scope of this program.
Program Structure
Appointments will be two years and begin in (northern hemisphere) summer 2025. A Faculty Fellow will spend 12 months of the Fellowship in Ann Arbor, Michigan; and the other 12 months at their home institution. The 12 months in Michigan can be taken in two separate trips, allowing Faculty Fellows to visit home.
This program has two phases. For the first year of the Fellowship (may fulfill in two visits, if logistics allow), the AF Fellows will need to be in residence at U-M and work in-person on U-M campus. The second year of the Fellowship will be carried out in the AF Fellow’s home institution.
The program will pay the following:
- An annual stipend of $35,000 when the AF Fellow is at U-M.
- Medical insurance.
- Housing (private room and bath) free of charge for the AF Fellow at U-M.
- Visa fees, visa tax, up to two trips for travel to and from Africa to U-M.
- Cost of computers and software licenses.
- Travel to two research conferences.
- Most publication costs.
- Limited funding for attending training workshops and short courses.
- $40,000 to cover one research project that the U-M faculty Host and the AF Fellow will jointly carry out.
- $50,000 to cover research, training and impact activities when the AF Fellow returns to their home institution.
No, except for a spousal air ticket in the situation described below. Should the AF Fellow wish to bring a spouse or dependents, they will need to find their own housing and bear the responsibility of the full living costs, medical insurance and meeting additional State Department requirements, in addition to transportation costs that go beyond any air tickets provided by the program. (Since single occupancy accommodation will already have been contracted for, there will be no offset or discount we can offer a Fellow who chooses to arrange other accommodation). We strongly discourage spouse or family accompanying the Fellow, not only because of cost, but also because it will take away from the Fellow’s full participation in program activities, many of which are designed for scholars living together.
Any cost for the joint research project that exceeds the $40,000 provided by the program.
We would like to give the Hosts as much latitude as possible to ensure that each can use the funding in ways that maximize the success of the joint project with the AF Fellows. The funding can be used to cover faculty effort, student research effort, research cost, and other related costs. However, the budget and budget justification must be approved by MIDAS before this funding is approved. If more than 10% of funds are moved to other uses, the rebudgeting must be justified and approved.
Each AF Fellow is expected to have a U-M faculty Host throughout the two-year Fellowship duration. The faculty Host will be responsible for co-designing and co-leading a one-year research project with the AF Fellow and managing seed funds provided by the program. The faculty Host will also work with the program team to help the Faculty Fellow seek AI skill-building opportunities, develop research collaborations with other U-M AI experts and domain scientists, and support the AF Fellow to develop and implement the Individualized Training, Research and Impact Plan (I-TRIP).
A faculty Host can be any U-M faculty member on the tenure track, clinical track, or research track with a full-time appointment in any of the Ann Arbor, Flint, or Dearborn campuses. They should be a MIDAS affiliate or have applied to be one. They should be fluent in AI methodologies that are central to the AF Fellow’s research.
For the sake of the program’s scientific diversity, a faculty Host may not have more than one AF Fellow in the program at any given time.
After an AF Fellow starts in the program, they and their Host, program directors, and one additional member (preferably a close collaborator with the AF Fellow) will form the Fellowship Committee. The committee will meet every six months to review progress in research and training as well as activities in collaboration development, and provide feedback to the AF Fellow. The AF Fellow can revise their I-TRIP based on the committee’s recommendations.
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is a core value at U-M, at MIDAS, and in this Schmidt AI in Science program. The program values diversity in both the AF Fellows and the faculty Hosts. The program seeks demographic diversity across race, gender, ethnicity, personal background and beliefs; professional diversity such as the graduate degree granting institutions of the AF Fellows and their career directions. The program also seeks to support AF Fellows working in a diversity of fields in science and engineering on a wide range of research questions.
The program will be advertised through multiple channels to reach diverse applicants. Reviewers of applications will be required to follow anti-bias best practices developed by the university. The AF Fellowship selection committee members are expected to have gone through anti-bias training. In addition, all candidates are required to submit a DEI statement.
After the AF Fellows join the program, we will effectively use the I-TRIP and the Fellowship Committee to ensure equity in their training and research. We will promote inclusion strongly in collaborative learning and community building activities.
A key aspect of the program is skill development for the AF Fellows. The program has many components to facilitate the AF Fellows’ skill development. However, such skill development will be effective only if Fellows are motivated. Passive reliance on program support is unlikely to suffice. As such, we explicitly require an I-TRIP for each AF Fellow, which will be crafted and revised by the AF Fellows, their Hosts and their Fellowship Committees. We will also track the progress of the AF Fellows closely.
The program has the following built-in activities.
Summer academies. MIDAS offers several weeklong summer academies that teach researchers data science and AI methods from beginning to advanced levels. The AF Fellows will be expected to attend any of these summer academies that fits with their training needs.
Bootcamp. The program organizes a weeklong boot camp for each new cohort of Schmidt AI Fellows, along with continuing Fellows. The boot camp will consist of AI tutorials and research presentations by the Fellows, the AF Fellows, faculty mentors and Hosts, and other collaborators.
“AI carpentries”. The postdoctoral Fellows form “AI carpentries” – small groups based on research directions and AI skills. Members of each carpentry will be required to work together at MIDAS collaboration space one day a week. AF Fellows are strongly encouraged to join these carpentries.
Weekly research meetings. All postdoctoral and AF Fellows attend these meetings to discuss projects, pitch new ideas, share interesting papers, practice their presentations, and carry out other group learning activities. Other postdocs and faculty members on campus will also be invited to these meetings.
Academic writing workshops. All AF Fellows are required to attend these workshops organized by African Studies Center (ASC) to sharpen their academic writing skills.
Expectations
First and foremost, they should be committed to successfully implementing their research, training and impact plan. But equally importantly, they should be committed to being active members of the program and the U-M AI in Science research community.
Each AF Fellow will have a desk in MIDAS’s space, and is expected to spend at least 50% time in this space. Each AF Fellow should also spend an appropriate amount of time with their faculty Hosts’ research groups (based on agreements between the AF Fellows and their Hosts).
After onboarding, each AF Fellow should set up a Fellowship Committee as described above. Committees will meet every six months and will begin with a presentation of progress made by the AF Fellow.
All AF Fellows are expected to actively participate in the collaborative learning activities. In addition, they are expected to participate in the academic and community building activities offered by the African Studies Center.
All AF Fellows are expected to carry out the research, training, collaboration and broader impact activities that they propose in the I-TRIP. For research, they should plan to carry out AI in Science research to address significant scientific and engineering challenges, especially those that have regional significance. For broader impact, it can be a variety of projects, such as developing an “AI in Science” class for their research community, or a workshop for the local research community; organizing regional AI in Science events; developing exchange activities that allow U-M researchers to visit Africa for research collaboration or teaching; working with grassroots organizations/research networks to promote AI for Science. They may build synergy with other organizations, especially the collaborators of our program. But the AF Fellows will decide how to best leverage their expertise for their region.
Schmidt Sciences, the funder of the program, may organize events across the programs that it funds at multiple universities. AF Fellows should abide by their attendance requirements.
After they leave the program, AF Fellows are expected to provide their CV to program management at MIDAS annually for at least five years, as well as an annual summary of their research activities and accomplishments, and how they advance the application of AI to enable research breakthroughs.
The Hosts are expected to devote sufficient time to support the training of the AF Fellows and collaborate with them to carry out a research project, meet with them regularly, attend Fellowship Committee meetings every six months, and help AF Fellows seek opportunities for research, training, collaboration and larger impact. They should also support the AF Fellows’ participation in activities of the Schmidt AI in Science program.
In addition, Hosts are expected to actively participate in program activities. A rough estimate of time commitment for some of the events is as follows:
- Annual bootcamp: each mentor is expected to attend parts of this weeklong event.
- AI Carpentries: each mentor is expected to join these group working sessions (working at MIDAS space) for 2-5 days a year.
- Weekly research meetings: occasional attendance.
- AF Fellow selection: Several hours of application review once a year.
- Being a champion for the program for AF Fellow recruitment and for the program to have a broader impact (a few hours to a few days a year).
- Any attendance requirement set up by the funder (for example, they may invite some faculty Hosts to their annual conference).
Qualifications and the Application Process
The candidate must have a graduate degree prior to the start date of the Fellow appointment, but within ten (10) years. The degree can be in any field. (Note the science and engineering domains listed above that are in scope: these apply to the area of proposed work, but not to the field of their graduate degree).
The candidate must either have a primary appointment as a faculty member at a university in Africa, or an appointment in an African university or research organization where they carry out research in a capacity similar to a university faculty member.
The ideal candidate will have the expertise to address significant domain science and engineering challenges and enable research breakthroughs, especially those that are important for Africa. They should also demonstrate a passion in acquiring AI skills and implementing them in the proposed research direction.
We use a two-stage application process. In Stage 1 (priority deadline: Oct. 31, 2024), applicants submit an application package. After our preliminary screening, we will help applicants who advance to Stage 2 match with a U-M faculty Host. The applicant and the Host will submit supplemental materials by Nov. 23, 2024. Applicants who have already connected with a U-M host are still asked to apply to stage 1 to benefit from the preliminary screening prior to submitting all the materials required for Stage 2. Fellowship offer distribution is expected to begin in mid-February 2025.
To develop a true Fellows cohort each year, and to allow synchronized programmatic activities and skill building for each cohort, the program has a target start date window of early- to mid-June, 2025. The first two months may be remote, with the Fellow participating in MIDAS summer academies and similar other skill-building activities prior to their arrival to Ann Arbor in August 2025. Some exceptions may be possible, in special circumstances, for example, due to visa processing.
Yes. If you have not yet received your degree by the time that we notify you with program acceptance, you will need to provide an official letter from the appropriate University authority stating that you have completed all requirements and your degree will be conferred on such and such date.
Yes, if your primary function is research and you are on your way to becoming a faculty member or a researcher in a research organization. We may ask you for evidence to establish your faculty trajectory.
Yes, as long as their primary appointment is in an African university or research organization. Visiting scholars currently at U-M are also eligible.
If you already have a faculty collaborator at U-M who would like to be your host, you may indicate so in your application package, and this will help you as we select applicants for Stage 2. However, the program team will help all other applicants connect with U-M faculty members whose research and expertise align well, and all applicants will be evaluated on an even playing field after this.
Yes. Once the candidate and the Host agree to work together, they should prepare the supplemental materials for the application package together, with the focus of revising the I-TRIP.
The faculty Host will also need to submit a letter of support.
We highly discourage a faculty member from agreeing to be the host for multiple applicants. However, we will not dismiss an application on account of a faculty Host who expresses support for multiple applicants. Keep in mind that we seek diversity along many dimensions. Having two AF Fellows working with the same Host goes against that, and so we will not want that in our final portfolio. So, among multiple candidates who apply with the same Host, we will accept at most one. In this sense, agreeing to host multiple applicants will hurt their chances.
Our advice to prospective Hosts: if you think one applicant is clearly more aligned with your research than another, go only with the first one. However, if you cannot decide between two or more applicants, please feel free to support all and let us evaluate.
As detailed and comprehensive as you can within the very tight page limits, but also know that we understand such plans will evolve greatly during your Fellowship. The I-TRIP should demonstrate that the applicant and their Host are aware of the applicant’s training needs, research interests and their future plan to make a major impact on enabling research breakthroughs with AI methods. We also do not favor one type of training, research or impact plan over another. The key evaluation criterion here is whether a thoughtful approach has been taken to consider the applicant’s background, expertise and career plan, and whether the proposed training, research and impact activities are feasible and significant.
After an AF Fellow starts in the program, the I-TRIP will be used as a guide and will be referred to in Fellowship Committee meetings. AF Fellows will work with the Hosts and the Fellowship Committee to revise the plan based on their needs and progress.
Yes. These letters are similar to letters of support in training grants, and should be included in the application package. These are different from reference letters, which are usually confidential.
If you can secure three reference letters that can provide valuable information to the reviewers, you should. Having strong letters that can speak to your strengths and achievements will help you. However, we only require two letters. This can work well, especially if your faculty Host already knows you well, and can speak about both your future and your past in the letter of support.
Other Questions?
For questions, please contact schmidt-aim@umich.edu.