John C. Slater Predoctoral Fellowship in the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine

This nine-month fellowship during the 2025-2026 academic year is offered to advanced Ph.D. students working on topics related to the history of science, technology, and medicine.

The APS's Library & Museum seeks applicants for a one-year, residential fellowship for graduate students specializing in the history of science. The nine-month fellowship is intended for advanced Ph.D. students working toward the completion of the dissertation. The caliber of the project, and evidence that the project will be completed in a timely manner, are the two most important criteria for selection. The selection committee will also take into consideration the need to be at the APS's Library & Museum and other research institutions in the Philadelphia area. Applicants’ research must pertain to topics in the history of science, technology, or medicine

Eligibility:

This fellowship is open to those who are not U.S. citizens or residents, but it does not provide visa sponsorship.

Terms

  • 9 month residential fellowship
  • $25,000 stipend
  • $5,000 travel/research fund

Application Instructions:

All application materials will be submitted online via Interfolio (https://apply.interfolio.com/154817). Applicants will submit:

  • C.V.
  • An introductory cover letter (no more than two pages)
  • Two letters of reference in support of the project and applicant.
  • A project proposal of approximately 2-4 pages (no more than 1,000 words in length). The proposal should include: a) a description of the project; b) a statement explaining the significance of the project; c) an indication of the specific APS collections the applicant wishes to consult.

Deadline: January 17, 2025 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time.

Current and Past Recipients

2024-2025

Taylor Dysart, University of Pennsylvania, "The Psychedelic Century: The Amazonian Origins of the Global Science and Medicine of Hallucinogens in the Long-Twentieth Century"

2023-2024

Nayanika Ghosh, Harvard University, "Genes and Gender: Sociobiology and the Emergence of a Political Critique of Science in Postwar United States"

2022-2023

Patrick Walsh, University of Wisconsin-Madison, "Glands on the Market: Doctors, Drug Companies, and the Making of American Endocrinology, 1889-1922"

2021-2022

Rebecca Jackson, Indiana University Bloomington, “Measuring Well: Clinical Measuring Practices and Philosophy of Measurement”

2020-2021

Andrew Seaton, New York University, "The National Health Service and the Endurances of British Social Democracy, 1948 to the Present"

2019-2020

John C. Slater Predoctoral Fellowship in History of Science, Technology, and Medicine

Siva Prashant Kumar, University of Pennsylvania, “Empire of Space and Time: Data and Cosmography in British India, 1783-1924”


American Philosophical Society Pilot Program in the History of Science Fellowships

Megan McDonie, The Pennsylvania State University, “Explosive Encounters: Volcanic Landscapes, Indigenous Knowledge, and Cultural Exchange in Early Modern Mesoamerica"

Gina Surita, Princeton University, “The Currency of the Cell: Energy, Metabolism, and Life in Twentieth-Century Biochemistry"

2018-2019

Lauren Kapsalakis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “Pedagogy, Practice, and Place: Field Schools as Laboratories in American Anthropology, 1929-1975"

2017-2018

Tabea Cornel, University of Pennsylvania, “Through the Brain into the Body: Handedness Research and the Problem of Sex/Gender, ca. 1860-2015”

2016-2017

Elaine LaFay, University of Pennsylvania, “Atmospheric Bodies: Medicine, Meteorology, and the Cultivation of Place in the Antebellum Gulf South”