The Molecular Sciences Software Institute (MolSSI) provides funding for a set of prestigious fellowships that recognize advanced graduate students and postdocs pursuing the development of software infrastructure, middleware, and frameworks that will benefit the broader field of computational molecular sciences, including biomolecular and macromolecular simulation, quantum chemistry, and materials science. MolSSI Software Fellows receive specialized training in state-of-the-art software design principles and tools, and they engage in outreach and educational efforts organized by the MolSSI.  Each Fellow is assigned a mentor among the Institute’s Software Scientists, who oversee their software development efforts and training.  In addition, Fellows are encouraged to spend a minimum of one week each year at the Institute headquarters at Virginia Tech to interact with the Software Scientists, members of the MolSSI Board of Directors, members of the Science and Software Advisory Board, and other visitors.

The MolSSI offers two types of Software Fellowships for which both graduate students and postdoctoral associates are eligible:

“Seed” Fellowships: These six month Fellowships will give recipients the opportunity to work with scientists at the MolSSI in order to implement recommended best practices, putting the Fellow’s project on a firm foundation.

“Investment” Fellowships: These 18-month Fellowships support software development efforts that will have a broader impact on the community and last for longer. These Fellowships provide longer term collaboration with the MolSSI scientists, who have a broad range of domain knowledge, applied mathematics, HPC and computer science backgrounds.

Fellowship competitions are held twice annually, with application windows open between February 15-April 1 and August 15-October 1.

The most recent competition announcement is here.