Now Open! Application for Penn AI Fellowship 2026-27
The Penn AI Fellows is a program for postdocs and advanced graduate students at the University of Pennsylvania, whose research is focused on topics in or related to Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. Managed in partnership between Penn AI and the Data Driven Discovery Initiative, the fellowship recruits rising talent with expertise in AI whose primary role is to bridge disciplines and foster new collaborations.
The Penn AI Fellowship supports postdocs and graduate students across disciplines whose research engages with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Science. The Fellows program is run by Penn AI and the Data Driven Discovery Initiative. Fellows receive faculty mentoring, dedicated funds for research and travel, and access to a weekly postdoc lunch and seminar series that fosters learning, networking, and collaboration. While the program has historically focused on the natural sciences, engineering, and biomedical sciences, the program is intentionally seeking scholars from fields such as policy, education, business, law, ethics, and the humanities. This expansion reflects the need for interdisciplinary perspectives to guide the responsible and inclusive development of AI and Data Science. By bringing together researchers from diverse backgrounds, the fellowship cultivates a dynamic community where fellows can learn from one another, explore new ideas, and build cross-disciplinary collaborations.
AI is transforming the frontiers of discovery—enabling new questions to be asked, new methods to be applied, and new connections to be made across disciplines. At the same time, scientific and humanistic inquiry can shape the development of more meaningful, ethical, and impactful AI. We will foster interactions with research centers, labs, and institutes at Penn through co-hosted events and mixers, creating opportunities for postdocs to engage across fields. A weekly postdoct lunch program will bring together fellows and faculty from across the University, cultivating peer learning, interdisciplinary dialogue, and collaborative research.
Promote ethical and interpretable AIEmphasize the design and engineering of fair, ethical, explainable, robust, and trustworthy autonomous systems through interdisciplinary research at the intersection of AI and application domains. Applying AI to research across disciplines offers powerful testing grounds for approaches to interpretability, reliability and safety.
Bridge disciplinary dividesFacilitate collaboration between postdocs and graduate students engaging with AI and Data Science research across schools. Postdocs will typically work with up to two mentors, with complementary expertise in AI and another domain.
Support career developmentProvide postdoctoral fellows with a unique opportunity to engage with cutting-edge data, leveraging Penn’s research centers, laboratories, and institutes.
Current and incoming postdocs at the University of Pennsylvania, whose research develops, applies, or critically examines AI or data science methods. This includes researchers in any field or discipline, both those advancing the foundations of AI and data science, and those bringing these methods to new questions and domains.
Current graduate students at the University of Pennsylvania entering the final year of their graduate program whose research develops, applies, or critically examines AI or data science methods. This includes researchers in any field or discipline, both those advancing the foundations of AI and data science, and those bringing these methods to new questions and domains. Priority will be given to graduate students in disciplines where postdoctoral fellowships are not traditionally or frequently available (e.g., GSE, SP2, Law, Design, etc.).
Fellowship appointments are for the upcoming academic year (eligible for renewal). Applicants are generally expected to spend the full academic year (through June 2027) at Penn.
Penn AI Fellows are expected to regularly participate in program activities, including seminars and lunches. Penn AI Fellows will be expected to present or lead a discussion once per fellowship year on a topic related to their areas of interest and/or collaboration. Participation and continued eligibility are reviewed at the end of each fellowship year and form the basis for renewal decisions.
The Penn AI Fellows program is open to all areas of study at Penn. Individuals interested in participation should have a significant aspect of AI or Data Science integrated into their current research projects.
To apply to the program, individuals should submit:
A brief letter of support (1 page max) from the applicant's PI, faculty mentor, or thesis advisor must be emailed to penn-ai@upenn.edu no later than Friday, September 18.
The letter must include the source of funding support for the matching research and travel funds. Funding support can be provided by the applicant's PI/faculty mentor, home department, school, or a center/institute that wishes to support the applicant (total funding support from the sponsoring organization is $4,000 for the fellowship year).
