Home > About IEEE > History Center
Close
The IEEE Life Members' Fellowship in Electrical History supports either one year of full-time graduate work in the history of electrical science and technology at a college or university of recognized standing, or up to one year of post-doctoral research for a scholar in this field who has received his or her Ph.D. within the past three years. The stipend is US$17,000, and a research budget of US$3,000 is available.
About the fellowship
Reimbursable research expenses include: economy class travel to visit archives, libraries, historical sites, or academic conferences, either to hear papers or to present one’s own work. Hotel stays, meals while traveling, copying costs, reprints of scholarly articles, proofreading fees, and books directly pertaining to research are reimbursable.
Any research trip expected to cost more than US$1,000 must be approved in advance by IEEE History Center staff. Examples of non-reimbursable expenses include, but are not limited to, licensing fees for images for book version of thesis (book publisher should pay for those), computers or computer peripherals, digital cameras, clothing, and office supplies (paper, pens, printer cartridges, CDs, memory sticks, etc.).
Recipients are normally expected to take up the Fellowship in the July of the year that it is awarded. Fellowship checks are usually mailed to the Fellow quarterly in July, October, January, and April. For Fellows in the southern hemisphere who follow the southern hemisphere academic year, arrangements can be made to mail the checks in December (two quarters' worth), March, and June.
Candidates with undergraduate degrees in engineering, the sciences, or the humanities are eligible for the Fellowship. For pre-doctoral applicants, however, the award is conditional upon acceptance of the candidate into an appropriate graduate program in history at a school of recognized standing. In addition, pre-doctoral recipients may not hold or subsequently receive other fellowships, but they may earn up to US$5,000 for work that is directly related to their graduate studies. Pre-doctoral Fellows must pursue full-time graduate work, and evidence of satisfactory academic performance is required. These restrictions do not apply to post-doctoral applicants.
The Fellow is selected on the basis of the candidate's potential for pursuing research in and contributing to electrical history. The deadline for receipt of applications each year is 1 February. Applicants will be notified of the results by 1 June.
The IEEE Fellowship in Electrical History is administered by the IEEE History Committee and sponsored by the IEEE Life Members Committee. The applications will be judged by a subcommittee of the IEEE History Committee, which will consist of a mix of electrical engineers and historians.
Application instructions
We encourage you to submit as much of your application material to us electronically as e-mail attachments as possible. This will not only prevent the risk of material becoming lost in the mail but should also save on mailing and express-mailing costs.
1. A complete application consists of the following:
a. The Subcommittee encourages applicants to submit as much of their application material electronically as possible. This not only saves applicants the postage costs of sending a hard copy but it is more reliable and eco-friendly as well. The PDF of the application form can be downloaded and filled out and e-mailed back at the address on the form.
b. A detailed (approximately ten- to 15-page) description of your proposed research, discussing subject, scope, methodology, and the contribution that this work will make to the field of electrical history.
c. Letters of recommendation from three (3) references. These should be addressed to the Chair of the Fellowship Committee. The letters may be sent as scans attached to e-mails or mailed in paper form in envelopes sealed by the writer. Be sure to allow your references sufficient time to meet the deadline. Letters of recommendation for the IEEE Life Member's Fellowship should give the selection committee an evaluation of the candidate's ability to conduct graduate- or post-doctoral-level historical research, and of his or her originality, creativity, character, diligence, social responsibility, and ability to lead or communicate. For professors, please indicate approximately how many students you have had in the field, and at what percentage you would rank the applicant among those you have taught or advised. The letter will be considered confidential.
This letter may be e-mailed as an attachment to ieee-history@ieee.org or a paper copy may be mailed directly to:
Chair, IEEE Fellowship in Electrical History Committee
IEEE History Center
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
39 Union Street
New Brunswick, NJ USA 08901-8538
In order to be considered, this letter must be received by 1 February. The letters may be sent directly to the Center by the recommenders or collected by the applicant and submitted by the applicant with the application.
Please type or print legibly in black ink.
d. A certified transcript of your university record. If you have attended more than one college or university, be sure to provide transcripts for all undergraduate and graduate course work. You are encouraged to submit transcripts as a scan. However, a paper copy may also be mailed if your educational institution requires.
2. Format for submission: Please keep file sizes below 4 megabytes for e-mailing. Word files are preferred for the application, research proposal, and letters of recommendation. JPEGs are preferred for transcripts and may also be used for letters of recommendation (if preferred to prevent tampering). PDFs are accepted provided they do not exceed the size limit stated above. TIFFs are not acceptable.
3. File naming formats: When submitting your files, please name them according to the following format:
[your surname] Fellowship Application
[your surname] Fellowship Proposal
[your surname] Transcript [short name of university]
[your surname] Recommendation letter [surname of reference]
If a document requires two files, then add a 1, 2, 3, etc., at the end of the file name as needed. Here is an example of a fellowship application package from Smith, with a two-page transcript that came in separate scans:
Smith Fellowship Application
Smith Fellowship Proposal
Smith Transcript Johns Hopkins
Smith Transcript Johns Hopkins 2
Smith Recommendation letter Davis
Smith Recommendation letter Terhune
Smith Recommendation letter Nash
4. If you have any questions regarding application procedures, contact the IEEE History Center, Rutgers - The State University of New Jersey, 39 Union Street, New Brunswick, NJ USA 08901-8538, +1 732 562 5450 or ieee-history@ieee.org.
5. E-mail your application material to the address below:
Chair, IEEE Fellowship in Electrical History Committee
IEEE History Center
Rutgers - The State University of New Jersey
39 Union Street
New Brunswick, NJ USA 08901-8538
