Microsoft Research Faculty Fellowship

Microsoft Research Faculty Fellowship

Offers early-career faculty in the Americas recurring support through computing fellowships in applied research.

Eligibility · United States, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile +1 more

⚠ This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.

The Microsoft Research Faculty Fellowship is a two-year cash fellowship of $100,000 per year — $200,000 total — awarded to early-career professors in the Americas conducting breakthrough research in computer science, artificial intelligence, or closely related fields. Funds are paid as a cash grant directly to the recipient's university. The program is administered by Microsoft Research and targets faculty who are within approximately five years of receiving a terminal degree (PhD, DSc, or equivalent) and who are currently active in teaching, advising students, and conducting research at a degree-granting institution.

Geographic eligibility covers North America (United States, Canada, Mexico) and South America. Recipients must remain full-time, active faculty for the entire two-year award period; departing an active faculty role forfeits remaining funding. The award conditions also state that misconduct proceedings involving discrimination, harassment, or plagiarism result in loss of remaining support. The program contact is msfellow@microsoft.com, with John Krumm listed as Program Chair. The last fully documented cycle used a February nominations / July announcements cycle pattern (most recent confirmed: 2021). As of May 2026 no active call for proposals was visible on the program landing page.

Faculty most competitive for this award are those working on research problems where Microsoft Research has active investment — including machine learning systems, human-computer interaction, programming languages, security, and quantum computing. Nomination-style cycles favor candidates whose work is already visible to the Microsoft Research community, suggesting that establishing a co-authorship or collaborative project relationship with a Microsoft Research employee strengthens positioning ahead of a cycle opening.