This scholarship requires applicants to be nominated by Reed College. Follow the internal application instructions on this page in order to compete for a nomination from the college. Nomination decisions will be made by the Reed faculty Fellowships & Awards Committee.
For the internal application, you will use the online application on the Goldwater website and have two of your recommenders send internal letters of recommendation to CLBR Fellowships via email. The online application is done in two sections: first, a Student Interest Form and Student Profile which you'll fill out early on, and then the full online application which will be due by the internal deadline. Review the Goldwater Foundation website for more details about this process.
Using Articial Intelligence
Review the Goldwater Foundation's guidance on the use of artificial intelligence in your application.
Internal Application Deadline
Wednesday, November 11, 2026, at noon, pacific time
Application Steps
Student Interest Form & Student Profile
Do this well before the internal application deadline:
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Fill out and submit the online Student Interest Form & Student Profile on the Goldwater website.
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Email clbrfellowships@reed.edu to let us know you've submitted the form.
- Reed's Goldwater Campus Representative will review your interest form. If we have any questions for you, we'll reach out to you by email. Otherwise we'll approve your interest form which will then give you access to the rest of the application.
Internal Application Requirements:
Your complete internal application must be received by the internal application deadline, and includes an online application in the Goldwater application portal, two internal letters of recommendation, and a waiver.
Online Application
Complete the online application in the Goldwater application platform which consists of the online questionnaire, your research essay, and transcripts. You can save your application in draft form for the internal deadline. Reed's Goldwater Campus Representative will be able to see your application from their view of the application portal.
Transcripts
Upload an unofficial copy of your Reed transcript to the application platform. Upload transcripts for any college courses taken elsewhere that are not included on your Reed transcript, following the guidance for transcripts on the Goldwater website.
Internal Letters of Recommendation
You will need to have two internal letters of recommendation sent to clbrfellowships@reed.edu by the internal application deadline. These letters will be reviewed by Reed's Fellowships & Awards faculty committee as part of the nomination process.
Your most important letters come from research mentors — the project directors, faculty, or postdocs who supervised your work. The two recommenders may be from Reed, or elsewhere. Make sure to read the full guidance for choosing your letter writers on the Goldwater website. For the internal deadline, if you have more than one research mentor, both recommenders should be research mentors. If you're not sure whom to ask for letters, email clbrfellowships@reed.edu with your questions or make an appointment with a CLBR advisor in Handshake.
Make sure to give your recommenders several weeks notice and review our guidance on requesting letters of recommendation.
Note that if you are nominated, you will need three recommenders in total for the final application.
Waiver
You will need to complete this online waiver form as the final step in submitting your internal application.
Applicants submitting application materials electronically will generally receive a confirmation within twenty-four hours. If you do not receive a confirmation during this time, please follow up with the Center for Life Beyond Reed at clbrfellowships@reed.edu to ensure that the application was successfully submitted.
Next Steps
The Reed fellowships and awards committee will meet the week after the internal application deadline, and notifications should be made by the end of that week. Reed College may nominate up to four applicants (six if at least one nominee is a transfer student and one is a U.S. Veteran). If you are nominated by Reed, you'll be notified by email and you'll receive instructions on what to do next leading up to the national deadline in January. A faculty member of Reed's fellowships and awards committee will need to meet with you in order to prepare to write an endorsement for you as well.