SurveyMonkey Apply Registration Instructions

If you do not already have a SurveyMonkey Apply account, please first create an account by clicking the "Register" button in the top right corner. You will create an account and then need to verify your email address. After verifying your email address, you will be brought to the Schmidt Sciences SurveyMonkey Apply homepage, where you will see the Schmidt Science Polymaths Program. Click the green "More >" button to be brought back to this page. Start your application by hitting the "Apply" button. 

Our Program 

The Schmidt Science Polymath Program seeks to empower intensely creative, mid-career researchers to take adventurous leaps into new research domains, experiment with new methodologies and ideas, and inspire impactful scientific breakthroughs.

Achieving tenure, or equivalent status, should be a moment when professors feel a new sense of freedom that allows them to innovate and attempt new research paths. Unfortunately, this time is often coupled with a lack of resources and a pressure to continue producing results within their established research portfolio.

The Schmidt Science Polymath Program (“the program”) recognizes extraordinary researchers with remarkable track records, promising futures, and a desire to expand their research portfolios by exploring a substantive disciplinary or methodological shift soon after achieving tenure.

The program will offer research support to professors who have achieved tenure or an equivalent status within the past three calendar years with remarkable track records and highly promising futures. Each professor will be awarded $500,000 per year, paid through their institution, for up to five years to help support a research group through talent, collaboration, equipment, and/or other resources. These grants are intended to make possible the exploration of new ideas across disciplines, using emerging technologies to test risky theories that may not otherwise receive funding or support. They are not intended to relieve the researcher of pursuing other grants to continue their mainstream work, nor to be large enough to fully support a modern lab.

There are 35 Polymaths representing 28 institutions across 9 nations. They work in mathematics, computer science, natural sciences, engineering and beyond. To learn more about our current Schmidt Science Polymaths and their work, please visit our website. 

Candidate Criteria 

Schmidt Sciences is seeking extraordinary candidates from a specific and pivotal period in their career. In order to be eligible to apply, candidates must meet the following qualifications: 

• tenure or equivalent status, achieved within the past three calendar years (January 1, 2022, or later),
• a remarkable record of accomplishment in mathematics, computer science, natural sciences, and/or engineering,
• a demonstrated history of pursuing and publishing results in more than one field,
• a desire and plan to expand their research portfolios by exploring a substantive disciplinary or methodological shift, but have not yet launched such shifts,
• a need for additional funding to enable new experiments, explorations, or shifts in research directions. 

Timeline

Application and Selection Timeline:

• October 1, 2025 – Application Deadline
• November 5, 2025 – Reference Letter Deadline
• March-April 2026 – Final Decisions and Awardee Notification 

Selection Criteria 

Applications will be evaluated on: 

• The breadth and depth of the candidate’s work
• The quality, impact, and innovation displayed in the candidate’s work
• The candidate’s track-record of high variance thinking and approaches, as well as their capacity for creative new research or shifts in research directions given flexible resources
• The candidate’s proposed research directions and projects as outlined in their application, including likelihood of success and potential for significant impact, and expectation that the candidate’s research will continue to be driven by deep curiosity 

Please reach out to polymaths@schmidtsciences.org with any questions. Thank you for your application!