This is the twenty-fourth year that NVIDIA has invited PhD students to submit their research projects for consideration. Recipients are selected based on their academic achievements, professor nomination, and area of research. They have found this program to be a great way to support academia in its pursuit of cutting-edge innovation, as well as an ideal avenue to introduce NVIDIA to the future leaders of the industry.
NVIDIA has long believed that investing in university talent is beneficial to the industry and key to their continued growth and success. NVIDIA particularly invites submissions from students pushing the envelope in artificial intelligence, robotics, autonomous vehicles, and related fields. They select students each year who have the talent, aptitude and initiative to work closely with them early in their careers. Recipients not only receive crucial funding for their research but are able to conduct groundbreaking work with access to NVIDIA products, technology and some of the most talented minds in the field. In addition, the Fellowship includes a mandatory in-person summer internship preceding the Fellowship year.
Benefits
The NVIDIA Graduate Fellowship Program provides funding in the amount of up to $60,000 per award to PhD students who are researching topics that will lead to major advances in accelerated computing and its applications.
Eligibility
Students must have already completed their first year of PhD level studies (at the time of application)
Students must have majors in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, System Architecture, Electrical Engineering, or a related area
Students must be engaged in active research as part of their PhD thesis
Students must be enrolled as a full time active PhD student during the 2025-2026 academic year (9 months) of the award – this means they should not be expecting to graduate sooner than May/June 2026.
Students must be available to complete an in-person summer internship prior to the start of their Fellowship year at one of NVIDIA’s research offices in the United States, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Israel, and Taiwan.
Students may not be immediate family of a current NVIDIA employee
Note: The award must be administered through the student’s university; payment will be made to the university, not directly to the student
Evaluation Criteria
Proposals Will be Evaluated for:
Student quality
Letters of recommendation
Academic performance (GPA) and achievements
Research quality
Research results to date
Research proposal for fellowship
Publication track record
Relevance to NVIDIA
How your work connects to NVIDIA’s primary research domains
How your research might influence the design, performance or use of future GPUs
Application Process
Graduate Fellowship applications must Include:
Research summary/thesis proposal – up to 2 pages, plus bibliography (bibliography does not count toward 2 page maximum for proposal)
Resume/Curriculum Vitae (CV) including contact information
Professor nomination letters (2 letters minimum (must include one from thesis advisor), up to 3 letters maximum — OK to have nomination letters from non-professors, as long as you have one from your thesis advisor/professor).
Confirmation of availability for an in-person summer internship
Submission Portal: It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that all of these items are submitted prior to the deadline. They are using a Submission Portal in which the student manages their own application. The student must:
Complete the student profile – start this now; you can go back to the portal repeatedly until you submit the final application
Complete your application input including research summary thesis proposal and resume (CV)
Add contacts for the letters of recommendation — an email will automatically be sent on your behalf to each recommender you add — be sure to add and notify your professors/recommenders early in the process! Do not wait until close to the deadline!
Monitor the status of your recommendation letters in the portal — do not click on the final submission until the recommendation status shows “recommendation uploaded” for each recommendation you are expecting — the professor deadline has been set 2 days prior to the student deadline to allow the student to ensure all documents are received before submitting — the deadline for recommendation letters is 3pm Pacific September 11, 2024.
Communicate with the recommenders to complete their letter upload on time – it is the student’s responsibility to ensure their letters are received into the system.
Submit the final application when all items are complete, and prior to the application deadline: 3pm Pacific September 13, 2024.
