The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation invites senior graduate students and early postdoctoral fellows, who are US Citizens or Permanent Residents to apply for the Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellowship in Chemical Sciences or Chemical Instrumentation. The 2026 AOB Postdoc Program opens May 28, 2025 and LOI submissions are due September 5, 2025 by 5pm Pacific time.
Please forward this email to your colleagues, students, and institutional contacts that may be interested in our program.
Purpose
To support postdoctoral fellows at research institutions across the United States who have the highest potential for successful careers in chemistry and who will become the next generation of leaders and innovators in science, engineering, and technology.
Description
The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation invites senior graduate students and early postdoctoral fellows to apply for the Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellowship. The Fellowships has two tracks:
- Postdoctoral Fellowship in Chemical Sciences: For chemists pursuing advanced chemistry-focused research, including chemical physics, chemical engineering, and the chemistry of materials. The underlying proposed research and innovation must be chemistry-focused, although the project can have applications in other fields such as biology or physics.
- Postdoctoral Fellowship in Chemical Instrumentation: For those chemists looking to conceptualize, develop, and build new instrumentation aimed at advancing research in chemistry, chemical physics, chemical engineering, or the chemistry of materials science.
It is the Foundation’s intent that the Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellowship will serve as a catalyst, aiding in the fellow’s transition to an outstanding, independent research career in academics or in an industry/governmental laboratory. Fellows who accept an academic faculty or full-time research position at an academic US research institution during the course of their AOB Postdoctoral Fellowship will be allowed to transition their current program year funding to their new institution. Candidates who already have funding for their independent careers tend to be reviewed more favorably by hiring committees, often increasing the candidates value on the job market.
The Foundation will support up to 14 exceptional research fellows with $224,000 over 2 years for salary, fringe benefits and research expenditures; instrumentation fellowships will include an additional one-time payment of up to $200,000. Renewal for a third year, and an additional $118,000, is possible. As a matter of policy, the Foundation does not provide funds for overhead and indirect costs.
We acknowledge, appreciate, and support the fundamental roles that varied perspectives have in scientific progress and innovation. As such, the Foundation seeks applicants from all backgrounds and strives to ensure a fairness during awardee selection, recognizing that excellent science is not the exclusive endeavor of one group of people, but of all. In an effort to avoid implicit and explicit bias in our review process, the Foundation will blind all information pertaining to applicants’ name, gender, ethnicity, citizenship status, as well as their institution from reviewers during the preliminary review.
Qualifications
The Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellowship provides 2-3 years of financial support for a scientist:
- who has completed their PhD by May 1 of the program year and/or has completed no more than 18 months of postdoctoral work by the application deadline
- who is a US citizen, permanent resident, or holds Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient status
- whose research will be conducted at a university or research institute; research at national labs and the like are not eligible
- whose research is broadly defined as within the chemical sciences; the underlying proposed research and innovation must be chemistry-focused, although the project can have applications in other fields such as biology or physics.
The timeline for the program is as follows:
| Letter of Intent Review Timeline: | Tasks |
| May 28, 2025 | Letter of Intent Opens |
| September 5, 2025 | Letters of Intent Due |
| September 8, 2025 | Preliminary Review Period Begins |
| October 20, 2025 | Full Application Invitations Sent |
| Full Application Review Timeline: | Tasks |
| December 12, 2025 | Full Applications Due |
| December 15, 2025 | Full Application Review Period Begins |
| February 27, 2026 | Award Announcements |
How to Apply
The Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellowship is an open call; all senior graduate students and early postdoctoral scholars are encouraged to submit a blinded Letter of Intent (LOI), including a blinded research proposal. For full details, instructions, and to apply, please visit http://www.beckman-foundation.org/programs/beckman-postdoctoral-fellows.
Institutional Contact Webinar
The Foundation will be hosting a webinar for institutional contacts on August 14th at 10AM PST. We will discuss recent program and application changes and answer questions from attendees. If you or another contact from your institution would like to join this webinar, please register here.
Contact Information
For additional information, please contact aobpostdoc@beckman-foundation.org or visit: http://www.beckman-foundation.org/programs/beckman-postdoctoral-fellows.
