This page contains a list of some of the more popular fellowships and scholarships available to graduate students specializing in a wide range of computer-science-related disciplines. This is not an exhaustive list, however, so certainly feel free to seek out opportunities on your own.
Be sure to explore the JHU Research Office’s webpage for Graduate Student Funding Opportunities. They maintain and regularly update a fairly comprehensive list of fellowships and scholarships.
We also encourage you to browse the Whiting School of Engineering’s page for graduate student fellowship and scholarship opportunities. They also maintain and regularly update a solid list of external fellowships and scholarships.
External Scholarships & Fellowships
The Google PhD Fellowship Program was created to recognize outstanding graduate students doing exceptional work in computer science and related research areas. This is a limited submission fellowship, so direct applications from students are not accepted. You will need to submit your application through the department’s academic program manager. Please refer to the Google Fellowship FAQ for specific eligibility criteria and award provisions, as they may change from year to year.
Timeframe: The announcement (from your academic program manager) of the open application period usually happens in mid-October. All application materials are typically due to your department program manager in mid-November. If awarded, the fellowship goes into effect the following academic year.
The IBM PhD Fellowship Awards recognize and support exceptional PhD students who want to make their mark in promising and disruptive technologies. This is a limited submission fellowship, so direct applications from students are not accepted. You will need to submit your application through the department’s academic program manager. Please refer to the IBM PhD Fellowship Awards FAQ for specific eligibility criteria and award provisions, as they may change from year to year.
Timeframe: The announcement (from your academic manager) of the open application period usually happens in mid-September and all application materials are typically due to your department academic manager in mid-October. Once the department’s internal selection process concludes, chosen applications must be submitted directly to IBM by the student’s faculty advisor. If awarded, the fellowship goes into effect the following academic year.
The Link Foundation Fellowship supports PhD students specializing in modeling, simulation, and training. The fellowship was created to foster advanced-level research in modeling, simulation, and training; enable PhD students the freedom to work on their research full-time; and to disseminate the results of that research through conferences, journals, and other publications. This is an unlimited submission fellowship, so students should apply directly to the Link Foundation. Please refer to the Link Foundation’s website for specific eligibility criteria and award provisions, as they may change from year to year.
Timeframe:The online application submission usually opens around October 1 and closes around January 15. If awarded, the fellowship goes into effect the following July.
The Meta Emerging Scholars Fellowship Program is designed to encourage and support promising doctoral students who are engaged in innovative and relevant research in areas related to computer science and engineering at an accredited university. This is an unlimited submission fellowship, so students should apply directly to Meta. Please refer to the fellowship website for specific eligibility criteria and award provisions, as they may change from year to year.
Timeframe: The application period usually opens in mid-August and all application materials are typically due in early October. If awarded, the fellowship goes into effect the following academic year.
The Microsoft Research PhD Fellowship is a two-year fellowship for PhD students at North American universities pursuing research aligned to the research topics carried out by Microsoft Research. This is a limited submission fellowship, so direct applications from students are not accepted. You will need to submit your application through the department’s academic program manager. Please refer to their fellowship website for specific eligibility criteria and award provisions, as they may change from year to year.
Timeframe: The application period usually opens in August or early September (announced by your academic department manager) and all application materials are typically due in early October. If awarded, the fellowship goes into effect the following academic year.
The NDSEG Fellowship is sponsored and funded by the Department of Defense under the direction of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Engineering, Director of Basic Engineering. The NDSEG Fellowship is available to bachelor’s and master’s degree recipients and 1st and 2nd year PhD students. This is an unlimited submission fellowship, so students should apply directly to NDSEG. Please refer to the NDSEG Fellowship FAQ for specific eligibility criteria and award provisions, as they may change from year to year.
Timeframe: The application usually opens in early September and closes in early December. If awarded, the fellowship goes into effect the following academic year. Prospective applicants are encouraged to check the NDSEG website for exact submission protocols and deadlines.
The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited United States institutions. This is an unlimited submission fellowship, so students should apply directly to the NSF Fellowship Program via Research.gov. Please refer to the NSF Fellowship website for specific eligibility criteria and award provisions, as they may change from year to year.
Timeframe: The application deadline is usually in mid-October. If awarded, the fellowship goes into effect the following academic year. Prospective applicants are encouraged to check GRFP Solicitation for exact submission protocols and deadlines.
Internal Scholarships & Fellowships
The Vivien Thomas Scholars Initiative (VTSI) is dedicated to nurturing, mentoring, and connecting the exceptional diverse talent that exists at historically black colleges and universities and other minority serving institutions (MSIs) to STEM graduate education and future leadership in STEM careers.
The VTSI provides:
- Exceptional Research Training: As the nation’s first research university and the nation’s leader in annual federal research funding for over 40 years, Hopkins is a great place to learn, do science, and grow in STEM. Together, Hopkins faculty and students do phenomenal research, giving rise to extraordinary discoveries that have positively transformed our nation and the globe. VTSI scholars will join one of our exceptional STEM PhD programs for their own graduate journey of discovery, working closely with the world’s leading scholars and scientists.
- Excellent Advising and Mentorship: Providing students excellence in mentorship is a core value of Hopkins graduate programs. VTSI scholars will work jointly under the guidance of outstanding STEM program faculty mentors and dedicated VTSI mentors, with whom VTSI scholars will meet regularly for individual check-ins and complementary advising, mentorship, and sponsorship, all dedicated towards ensuring that VTSI scholars thrive personally and professionally throughout their journey at Hopkins and beyond.
- Professional and Career Development Activities: The VTSI is fully committed to ensuring that as its scholars advance to take on the mantle of future leadership in STEM, they are able to do so in ways that fully align with their own individual life aspirations and are attentive to their own internal voice. In synergy with Hopkins STEM graduate programs, the VTSI will provide and support professional, career, and experiential life design opportunities to provide a robust foundation for VTSI scholars to soar in their future STEM careers.
- Community: Our Hopkins students are phenomenal in many ways—they do amazing science; their diverse histories, identities, and life journeys bring exceptional community and richness to the Hopkins space; and they are devoted in service to Baltimore, the broader national and global communities, and those coming in on the path behind them. VTSI scholars will belong to and be embraced within this outstanding community of scholars at Hopkins. They will also come together regularly for dedicated VTSI social and community activities that will extend across the entire course of the Vivien Thomas STEM PhD scholar’s journey at Hopkins.
- Benefits: Vivien Thomas PhD scholars will receive an annual stipend plus full tuition, health insurance, and other benefits.
Who should apply:
- Applicants who have attended a VTSI-eligible undergraduate institution. Review the list of eligible MSIs.
- Applicants applying to an eligible VTSI PhD program.
How to apply:
Vivien Thomas PhD Scholars Applicant Checklist:
- Confirm you have attended a VTSI-eligible undergraduate institution.
- Apply to an individual JHU PhD program.
- Complete the VTSI Supplemental Application materials.
- Submit both your JHU PhD application and all VTSI supplemental materials by December 1.
- Ensure your letters of recommendation are also submitted by December 1.
Timeframe: To be considered for the VTSI, you mustcomplete and submit all components of the individual PhD program application and the VTSI supplemental components by December 1. All supporting materials, including letters of recommendation, must also be received by December 1.
Percy Pierre knows how it feels to be a pioneer; when he received his PhD at Johns Hopkins in 1967, he became the first African American in the nation to earn a doctorate in electrical engineering.
To honor this legacy, the Whiting School of Engineering has established the Percy Pierre Doctoral Fellowships. These awards recognize outstanding incoming graduate students from underrepresented backgrounds who will contribute both to the intellectual life of their departments and to that of the broader graduate community.
The fellowships will provide recipients with competitive monthly stipends, tuition, health insurance, and fees for the first two years of graduate school and access to a variety of special programming and mentoring opportunities
Eligible students will be considered automatically as part of their application.
JHU Homewood’s program is one of few similar programs in the world recognized by the Siebel Scholars Foundation for groundbreaking research, excellence in education, and high caliber of students. JHU offers five single-year awards for students in bioengineering fields who are at the top of their class based on academic results (including research), demonstrate excellence in terms of leadership qualities in the school community and in experience prior to graduate program, and have completed at least one year at the school and are reasonably expected to have only one year remaining.
This is a limited submission scholarship, so direct applications from students are not accepted. You will need to submit your application through your department’s academic manager. Please refer to the Siebel Scholarship website for specific eligibility criteria and award provisions, as they may change from year to year.
Timeframe: The announcement (from your academic program manager) of the open application period usually happens in late May and all application materials are typically due to your department program manager mid-June. If awarded, the scholarship goes into effect the upcoming fall semester.
This competitive scholarship is awarded to a prospective CS PhD student who has shown exceptional promise. The primary purpose of this scholarship is to provide an incoming student who possesses a broad set of interests the flexibility to work with multiple faculty members and lab groups in their first year. The scholarship includes full first-year tuition, fees, and stipend support for 12 months.
Incoming students cannot apply directly. This scholarship is awarded to a particular student based on the recommendation of the CS Department faculty and chosen by the CS PhD faculty admissions committee.
The CS Graduate Achievement Scholarship is an internally funded scholarship intended to support annual cost of living expenses and provide funds for travel and accommodations as it pertains to the awardee’s professional development.
It is awarded to a newly admitted CS PhD student who has overcome significant socioeconomic barriers and/or is a first-generation graduate student. The recipient of the scholarship must remain in resident, full-time status and in good academic standing. So long as the student meets these criteria, they will receive the scholarship each academic year until their graduation from the CS PhD program.
Incoming students cannot apply directly for this scholarship. It is awarded to a particular student based on the recommendation of the CS department chair and the CS PhD faculty admissions committee. The scholarship may not be awarded every year.
The goals of the Computational Cognition Vision and Learning (CCVL) research group are to develop mathematical and computational AI models of vision and its relations to other cognitive abilities, including language. These models should ideally have the same abilities as humans, including the capability of building models of the 3D world. The CCVL group consists of 20–30 graduate students and postdoctoral researchers.
The CCVL group runs a summer internship program that involves 10–20 undergraduate interns. Postdoctoral researchers are encouraged to work with other research group members. The CCVL group has a strong record of publications at major conferences, including CVPR, ICCV, ECCV, ICLR, and NeurIPS, with twelve papers at CVPR 2022 and ten papers at ECCV 2022.
Timeframe: Positions are available now with an initial appointment for one year, with the possibility of extension. If interested, contact Alan Yuille with an attached CV, statement of interest, list of selected publications, and the names of individuals who can provide recommendations.