University Awards

The IBM Faculty Awards is a competitive worldwide program intended to:

• Foster collaboration between researchers at leading universities worldwide and those in IBM research, development and services organizations; and
• Promote courseware and curriculum innovation to stimulate growth in disciplines and geographies that are strategic to IBM.

Faculty Awards are cash awards granted annually. The current maximum award to any one recipient is 40,000 USD per year. IBM Faculty Awards are not contracts and no intellectual property rights are stipulated as part of a Faculty Award. We strongly encourage all work to be placed in the public domain.

For more information, please review the frequently asked questions.

To qualify for this internationally competitive award, the nominee must be a full-time professor at an accredited university which has a Ph.D. or MBA program in the nominee's field. Candidates must have an outstanding reputation for contributions in their field or, in the case of junior faculty, show unusual promise.

IBM does not accept unsolicited requests or proposals for Faculty Awards. Candidates must be nominated by an IBM employee with common interests who will serve as a liaison for the collaboration. Awardees may be nominated for an award renewal, and renewal nominations engage in the same competition as first-time nominations. Upon nomination, candidates are notified by e-mail. This e-mail message will contain a URL the candidate should access to complete and submit the Faculty Award nomination form to IBM. The information requested on the nomination form includes detailed contact information, a CV, a description of project goals and plan, and an assessment of the expected outcomes and merits of the proposed work.

If you are interested in pursuing a nomination for a Faculty Award, we recommend that you speak with your IBM employee contacts in the development, research, or services organizations. If there is a mutual interest in research collaboration or curriculum development, your IBM contact can seek sponsorship and initiate a nomination for you.