Hertz Foundation

Last updated
Fannie and John Hertz Foundation
Founded1957 [1]
FounderFannie and John D. Hertz
Focus Applied science and engineering
Location
Area served
United States
Method Ph.D. Fellowships
Key people
Robbee Baker Kosak, President
David J. Galas, Ph.D., Chairman of the Board
Philip Welkhoff, Ph.D., Senior Fellowship Interviewer
Revenue$5,055,682 [2] (2018)
Expenses$4,364,123 [2] (2018)
Website hertzfoundation.org

The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation is an American non-profit organization that awards prestigious [3] fellowships to Ph.D. students in the applied physical, biological and engineering sciences. The fellowship provides students with up to $250,000 of support over five years, giving them flexibility and the ability to pursue their own interests, as well as mentoring from alumni fellows. [4] Fellowship recipients pledge to make their skills available to the United States in times of national emergency. [5]

Contents

Hertz Fellowship

History

Cold War Origins

In 1957, during the Cold War era, emigrant Jewish-Hungarian John D. Hertz [6] [7] established the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation with the purpose of supporting bright young minds in the applied sciences. [8] In the political climate of the time with the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union, Hertz's intentions in making this significant contribution towards American scientific excellence were specifically anti-communist. For his significant contribution to the security of the US, Hertz received the highest civilian award given by the Department of Defense in 1958. [9]

Pivot to Graduate Level Research

Initially, the Foundation granted undergraduate scholarships to qualified and financially limited mechanical and electrical engineering students. In 1963, the undergraduate scholarship program was phased out and replaced with postgraduate fellowships leading to the award of the Ph.D. The scope of the studies supported by the fellowships was also enlarged to include applied sciences and other engineering disciplines. The intellectual freedom granted by the fellowship was intended to foster "a cross-generational community of research leaders and entrepreneurs." The degree to which this lofty goal has been a success can perhaps be judged by its alumni. Hertz fellows include "Nobel Laureates, CEOs, generals, and best-selling authors." [6]

Breadth of Alumni Reach

With a coterie of some 1,300 recipients over the fellowship's tenure, "[c]onnections among fellows over the years have sparked collaborations in startups, research, and technology commercialization." [10] With a ceiling approaching $250,000 for fellowship grants, the fellowship is highly competitive. In recent years, respected universities like Case Western Reserve have initiated companion grants to full fund finalists connected with their institutions with full funding in situations in which they are not selected for the final prize, in testament to the quality of those making applications to the Hertz Foundation. [11]

Selection process

As of 2024, following a "highly selective" interview process, the Hertz Foundation narrows its field of candidates to approximately 50 finalists for fellowships in applied science, mathematics and engineering. "Recipients must display high academic achievement and the capacity to contribute to the advancement of knowledge in their field." [12]

15 to 20 of those finalists are named Hertz Fellows and receive up to five years of graduate school funding. [11]

Competitiveness

Hertz Fellowships are highly competitive. For the 2017–2018 academic year, nearly 800 applicants applied for 10 spots, giving it an acceptance rate of 1.5%. Since 1960, the foundation has made awards to more than 1,300 fellows, with (as of 2022) 309 fellows affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; 255 with Stanford University; 104 with the University of California, Berkeley; 95 with the California Institute of Technology; and 76 with Harvard University. These top five universities account for nearly two-thirds of all fellows. [13]

InstitutionFellows (1960-2022) [13]
MIT 309
Stanford 255
Berkeley 104
Caltech 95
Harvard 76

Notable Fellows

In 2018, some 30 Hertz Fellows were recognized by MIT Technology Review, Forbes, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, National Academy of Sciences and many others for outstanding work in their respective fields.

Thesis Prize

The Hertz Foundation requires that each Fellow furnish the Foundation a copy of his or her doctoral dissertation upon receiving the Ph.D. The Foundation's Thesis Prize Committee examines the Ph.D. dissertations for their overall excellence and pertinence to high-impact applications of the physical sciences. Each Thesis Prize winner receives an honorarium of $5,000. [25]

References

  1. ↑ "Jay Davis, PhD, Elected President of the Hertz Foundation". NonProfitPRO. 30 October 2009. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  2. 1 2 "Fannie and John Hertz Foundation" (PDF). Hertz Foundation. Retrieved 3 December 2018.[ permanent dead link ]
  3. ↑ "Hertz Foundation announces 2024 Hertz fellows". EurekAlert!. Retrieved 2024-07-12.
  4. ↑ "Five with MIT ties win 2022 Hertz Foundation Fellowships". MIT News. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 2022-07-08. Retrieved 2024-07-12.
  5. ↑ "The Hertz Fellowship". Fannie and John Hertz Foundation. 3 March 2020. Retrieved 2024-07-12.
  6. 1 2 Goodman, Daniel (2019). "Find Your Path: Unconventional Lessons from 36 Leading Scientists and Engineers". MIT Press. p. xiii. Retrieved 2025-03-18.
  7. ↑ "The Hertz Corporation Partners with the Hertz Foundation to sponsor 2019 fellow". Bloomberg. 16 April 2019. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  8. ↑ Peterson's (2011). The Best Scholarships for the Best Students. Peterson's. ISBN   978-0-7689-3526-4.
  9. ↑ "Department of Defense Honors John D. Hertz". Daily Racing Form (DRF). Retrieved 24 February 2023.
  10. ↑ "Ten with MIT connections win 2024 Hertz Foundation Fellowships". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 2024-06-03. Retrieved 2025-03-18.
  11. 1 2 "Case Western Reserve University to offer full funding to Hertz Fellowship finalists". The Daily. Case Western Reserve University. 2024-11-12. Retrieved 2025-03-18.
  12. ↑ Fellman, Megan (31 May 2024). "Northwestern alumnus receives prestigious Hertz Fellowship". news.northwestern.edu. Retrieved 2025-03-18.
  13. 1 2 "Our Fellows". hertzfoundation.org. 3 March 2020.
  14. ↑ "Kathleen Fisher". Fannie and John Hertz Foundation. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  15. ↑ "Leonidas Guibas". The Hertz Foundation. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  16. ↑ "Nate Lewis, PhD, 1977 Hertz Fellow". The Hertz Foundation. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  17. ↑ "David Kriegman". The Hertz Foundation. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  18. ↑ Easter, Jessica (2021). "Riding the Hertz "Magic Carpet" | Fannie and John Hertz Foundation" . Retrieved 2025-03-20.
  19. ↑ Emma Pierson's webpage https://www.cs.cornell.edu/~emmapierson/images/resume.pdf . Retrieved 30 October 2022.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  20. ↑ "Robert Sedgewick". Fannie and John Hertz Foundation. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  21. ↑ Saijel Kishan (1 October 2015). "Two Sigma Hires Google's Spector as Chief Technology Officer". Bloomberg.com.
  22. ↑ Celebrating 50 Years of the Hertz Graduate Fellowship (PDF). The Hertz Foundation. 2013.
  23. ↑ "General Officer Announcements". West Point Association of Graduates. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
  24. ↑ "Lee T. Todd, Jr". University of Kentucky. Archived from the original on 22 July 2019. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  25. ↑ "Hertz Thesis Prize". Fannie and John Hertz Foundation. 7 April 2020. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
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