Postdoctoral Fellowship
in High Energy Density Science

Explore our website to identify exciting research areas, and then use a point of contact found within our Research Area pages to identify a possible research area and mentor. The LLNL mentor should help you formulate a statement of interest, identifying key research problems that are important to our laboratory. If your application is shortlisted, the mentor will be asked to give a short presentation to the fellowship committee on how your project will impact LLNL and how hiring you will be mutually beneficial. You must therefore obtain permission from the prospective mentor to use their name prior to the application deadline.

While formulating your statement of interest, you can start the fellowship application process by submitting your personal information via the fellowship job posting on LLNL’s career website (see job REF6284L). During this stage, you can upload a cover letter (optional) as well as required materials described below (statement of interest and transcripts). You will have an opportunity to add to or modify these materials after submitting your initial application.

Within 24 hours of initiating the application, you will receive an acknowledgement via email, which will provide instructions for accessing and updating your application file. You must complete and upload your materials by the application deadline to receive full consideration.

References

You will need to provide names and email addresses for three references (one must be your thesis advisor, and the other two should be scientists who can speak with authority on your research). You are allowed to provide contact information for more than three references, but additional references are only recommended if you feel the extra letter provides key information that won’t be captured in the first three letters.

Transcripts

Digital copies of transcripts are preferred. If you are unable to obtain an electronic copy of your transcripts, hard copies can be scanned and uploaded with the application.

Statement of Interest

This statement is your research proposal. Please use the template.

Download proposal template (Word) | Download proposal template (PDF)

While mentors may help give the proposal a direction and give revision guidance, the applicant should author the proposal. Note that fellows are free to alter their plan during their fellowship upon the advice of their mentor(s). We are most interested in your ability to produce a well-thought-out research plan and to learn what research topics you think are important to work on.

In this document, describe the background, the aims and/or goals of the proposed research, why it is important, and how you plan to conduct your research at LLNL. You are encouraged to include figures, graphs, and references in your statement of interest. You will have the option to add your statement as plain text or as a PDF, but a PDF document is preferred.

Scientists from many different HEDS-related disciplines comprise the selection committee, so the statement should be understandable to a broad technical audience, but it should also include sufficient details to satisfy experts in your field. It is important to convey why your research is important, why the work should be done at LLNL, and how you will carry out the research.

The committee is looking for candidates with a vision, a plan, and a track record that indicates that the candidate will succeed. When writing your interest statement, it is important to be concise, clear, and readable.

Summary Slide

Summarize your application in a single slide. Please use the template

Download summary template (PowerPoint) | Download summary template (PDF) 

This slide will be shown to program managers and used by the committee to remind themselves of the details of your application.

When you submit the names and contact information for the individuals who will provide recommendation letters, we will automatically send an email request to each person, with instructions regarding how to submit the letters. These letters are a critical part of the committee’s evaluation of applications. We highly recommend that you contact these references to confirm their availability to provide us with a letter on your behalf by the deadline. Application packages that do not include all reference letters will not receive full consideration.

We plan to narrow the application pool to a shortlist by mid-December. Prospective mentors of these candidates will be asked to give a short unclassified presentation to the fellowship committee. Presentations should complement the statement of interest and should not include details of the research plan. Such presentations should include:

1. An overview of the candidate’s strengths
2. How the proposed work fits into LLNL research
3. How the candidate will fit into LLNL
4. Resources the candidate will need and whether the programs can provide them
5. How can LLNL and the HEDS Center help the candidate’s career

The selection committee, comprised of experts in HEDS, reviews applications between October and December to select roughly three finalists. We expect to notify finalists in January, who will be invited for an interview that includes a seminar about their current research work. The seminar and interview are important for demonstrating excellent communication skills, particularly the ability to successfully explain specialized topics to a broadly-based, interdisciplinary audience.

A pre-employment security background check must be completed for finalists before an employment offer can be made. Once the security background check is approved, the selected candidate will be contacted by a representative from LLNL’s Human Resources division with a formal offer of employment.