UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State Institute for Computational and Data Sciences (ICDS) is accepting proposals from Penn State faculty members who are seeking opportunities to gain new skills and focus on professional development opportunities through the ICDS Faculty Upskilling Fellowships program.
Tenured, tenure-track and non-tenure track faculty who have held a faculty appointment at Penn State for at least three years and have served as a principal investigator for at least one external grant, are able to submit proposals up until the deadline by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026. Faculty can submit their proposals via InfoReady.
The ICDS Faculty Upskilling Fellowships program is open for any faculty members within any discipline who have an interest in growing their expertise in any of the institute’s core research focuses: artificial intelligence, computational and data sciences, digital twins and quantum sciences.
The program also seeks to extend beyond learning new tools by aiding in transforming how Penn State researchers approach their domains, opening new frontiers in inquiry, collaboration and impact.
Fellowships are designed per the faculty member’s proposed learning plan, with the goal of enabling faculty to integrate advanced technical approaches into their ongoing research programs and to encourage multi-disciplinary collaborations.
Proposals should describe how gaining new skills could transform their research program; identify specific objectives and milestones for their learning process; outline how they plan to integrate their new expertise into their research program; and describe the desired impact on their scholarly output.
Selected faculty will receive support to dedicate time to professional development opportunities like learning fundamental concepts, mastering existing and new algorithms and models and training to use advanced software and hardware.
Selected faculty can request a one-course teaching buyout to provide time dedicated to developing new skills. Teaching buyouts can be used during fall 2026, spring 2027 or fall 2027. Faculty may also request funds that support activities that will contribute to their proposed learning plan and research integration goals, such as participation in meetings or conferences focused on AI or quantum sciences and domains outside of the faculty’s home discipline, or workshops or training programs on tools, techniques or software that support their goals. Faculty can also request credits for compute resources on Penn State’s Roar supercomputer, funds to access other research tools and consulting time with the Research Innovations with Scientists and Engineers (RISE) team.
For complete details, visit the ICDS website.