Academic partners
Each year, the Simons Institute welcomes around 250 junior and senior researchers from around the world as long-term visitors to the Institute’s programs. The Institute gratefully acknowledges the many academic institutions that provide paid leave to enable their faculty to participate in Institute programs. Each year, this contribution offsets a substantial cost the Simons Institute would otherwise have to pay to support this level of worldwide participation.
Shared postdoctoral fellowships
The Institute co-hosts joint postdoctoral fellowships in which a junior researcher spends a period (typically one semester) as a Simons-Berkeley Fellow and is also appointed to a postdoctoral position at a partner institution. Partner institutions include the Max Planck Institute for Informatics in Saarbrücken, Germany; the Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago; the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel; the Center for Mathematical Modeling at the University of Chile in Santiago; and the Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute at UC San Diego. For more information, see the current call for applications for Simons-Berkeley Research Fellowships.
Simons-Weizmann Alliance
The Simons Institute is building a collaboration with the Weizmann Institute in Israel, as part of a broader cooperation between UC Berkeley and Weizmann. As a first step toward further connection, a jointly funded Weizmann-Simons Travel Fund of $50K/year has been established to support visitors from Weizmann to the Simons Institute. The broader initiative will be funded through joint fundraising efforts by the Simons Institute and the Weizmann Institute.
TCS+
Since long before the coronavirus pandemic, the online lecture series TCS+ has been offering talks on theoretical computer science to audiences worldwide via videoconference. The Simons Institute provides IT support for this initiative.
Women in Theory
The annual Women in Theory (WIT) workshop is intended for graduate and exceptional undergraduate students in the area of theory of computer science. The workshop features technical talks and tutorials by senior and junior women in the field, as well as social events and activities. The motivation for the workshop is twofold. The first goal is to deliver an invigorating educational program; the second is to bring together theory women students from different institutions to foster a sense of kinship and camaraderie, and create collaborations. The Simons Institute will host WIT for the second time in 2022.
David Harold Blackwell Summer Research Institute
David Harold Blackwell is widely regarded as the top African-American mathematician of the 20th century. Established in 2021, the David Harold Blackwell Summer Research Institute honors Blackwell’s legacy by attempting to increase the number of undergraduate students who aspire to achieve his level of excellence and widen participation of African-American men and women in obtaining PhDs in the mathematical sciences. The program offers a six-week summer research experience for undergraduates, and is led by professors Todd Coleman (Stanford Bioengineering), Wilfrid Gangbo (UCLA Math), and Jelani Nelson (UC Berkeley EECS & Simons Institute senior advisor), who mentor students directly on research programs in applied probability, analysis, and theoretical computer science. The Simons Institute provides convening space and logistical and communications support for the Blackwell Institute. Watch our Polylogues interviews with co-founder Jelani Nelson and with students from the inaugural cohort.
