The IEEE Life Member History Fellowship supports one year of full-time graduate work or one year of post-doctoral research for a scholar in this field who has received his or her Ph.D. within the past four years in the history of IEEE's designated fields. These are defined per IEEE Bylaw I-104.11 as: Engineering, Computer Sciences and Information Technology, Physical Sciences, Biological and Medical Sciences, Mathematics, Technical Communications, Education, Management, and Law and Policy. This work should be carried out at a college or university of recognized standing. The stipend is US$25,000, with a research budget of up to US$3,000. The IEEE Fellowship in the History of Electrical and Computing Technology is funded by the IEEE Life Members’ Committee and supports historical research in any area covered by an IEEE Society. IEEE has more than forty separate Societies and technical Councils covering a broad range of electrical and computing engineering. For a complete list, see the IEEE Society Descriptions page.

Please note that this Fellowship is intended for the history of technology; it is not intended for scholars studying current electrical engineering or computing. For those, there is an IEEE Life Members Graduate Study Fellowship in Electrical Engineering, which might be more appropriate.

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 stay, meals while traveling, copying costs, reprints of scholarly articles, 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, computers or computer peripherals, digital cameras, clothing, and office supplies.

Recipients are normally expected to take up the fellowship in July of the year that it is awarded. Fellowship checks are normally 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. The checks are sent directly to the Fellow, not to the Fellow's institution.

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 the candidate’s good standing in an appropriate Ph.D.-granting graduate program. 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. Post-doctoral applicants must be no more than four years from the award of their Ph.D. on the date the application is due. The Fellow is selected on the basis of the candidate's potential for pursuing research in, and contributing to the history of IEEE's designated fields. Applicants pursuing technical topics should demonstrate that they possess the necessary skills—for example, knowledge of programming languages or mathematical discipline. Such knowledge can be demonstrated through course work or experience.

The IEEE History Committee requires the Fellow to present a report in the following spring giving updates on their research project and details about how the IEEE fellowship has helped advance their scholarly work. The preferred form of this report is a 5-minute prerecorded video, but a 1-2 page written report is also acceptable. 

The Fellow is selected on the basis of the candidate's potential for pursuing research in and contributing to the history of IEEE's designated fields. The deadline for receipt of applications each year is 1 February. Applicants will be notified of the results as soon after the Spring History Committee meeting, (which is usually early March) as possible, but in any case by 1 June.

The IEEE Fellowship in the History of Electrical and Computing Technology 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.