The Aspen Center for Physics (ACP) is committed to hosting diverse, engaged participants. The Center encourages you to apply if you would contribute to and benefit from an ACP program.
Our summer program is open to individuals across international communities of physics, astrophysics, mathematics, and biology, at the postdoctoral level and above. (Graduating Ph.D. students may be accepted only in exceptional circumstances.)
Our winter program is also open across international scientific and mathematical communities. It accepts researchers at the graduate student level and above.
Scientific excellence is the most important criterion in selecting Center participants, as measured by past accomplishment or, for junior researchers, by promise. Relevance to an existing ACP workshop is considered so that each week, there will be a strong, diverse group of participants who will enhance the workshop’s success. Special consideration is accorded to working groups that bring scientifically outstanding participants to the Center, or research topics complementary to existing workshops.
Each year, the number of applicants exceeds the sum of participants the ACP can accommodate, so the Center cannot admit everyone. Consequently, an Admissions Committee of ACP General Members in each field must meet to carefully consider applications, and to select and schedule participants. The Committee includes input from workshop organizers and other General Members, satisfies applicant schedule constraints, and works to achieve weekly balances between concurrent workshops, working groups, and individual researchers.
The Admissions Committee gives special consideration to applicants from groups underrepresented in physics, to individuals who have not previously visited the Center, to early career researchers, to those from smaller institutions who demonstrate serious commitment to research and who would derive particular benefit from the active research environment at the ACP, and to the many worthy applicants who were not accepted in previous seasons due to space limitations.
Financial assistance is available. It may be requested on the program application. Click here to view financial support information.
