NASA's Hubble Fellowship Program

By Antonino Cucchiara (NASA HQ) and Patricia Knezek (NASA HQ)

Summary: The NASA Hubble Fellowship Program (NHFP) seeks input from the astronomical community and, in particular, from early career colleagues, in response to the 2021 NHFP program review and recommendations. This feedback form will be available until October 21st, 2023.

Background: The NASA Hubble Fellowship Program, the umbrella program that currently includes the Hubble, Sagan, and Einstein Fellowships, has been critical in providing talented and scientifically productive early career researchers the necessary tools to pursue groundbreaking discoveries while becoming leaders in the field of astronomy. The NHFP was created in 2018, but when considering its impact in combination with fellowships (e.g. Chandra, Spitzer) previously funded by NASA's Astrophysics Division, the role the fellowships have played cannot be understated: many fellows reached leadership positions in academia, federal agencies, and research centers and were awarded research grants, and prizes earlier than many of their peers.

In 2021, NASA Headquarters (HQ) initiated the first-ever review of the NHFP with the main objectives of identifying areas of improvement. While the charge of the review panel was to focus on two major areas (the NHFP success under its current structure and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion of the program), the report included 32 recommendations that span a wide range of topics (e.g., the Mission of the NHFP, the management of the program, the review and application processes, Diversity and Accessibility, and the support of the fellows).

The report was published in December 2021 and showed the impact and aura of prestige that surrounds the program, its participants, and the key role within the astronomical community in providing resources to emerging early career researchers.

Nevertheless, under the broader lenses of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) 2020-2024 Science Plan and the adoption of Inclusion as a NASA core value (in addition to the values of Excellence, Integrity, Teamwork, and Safety), the NHFP report highlights the need for change in several aspects of the NHFP, some of which were already underway at the time of its publication.

Actions: NASA HQ created a task force, which included the NHFP program leads and management personnel at NASA, as well as personnel at Goddard Space Flight Center, the Space Telescope Science Institute, the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, and the Center for Astrophysics, to address the recommendations. Over the first year, the task force crafted a response to the report and identified recommendations that were already implemented or would be implemented by the 2023 Fellows cycle (e.g., providing funding for non-research career development activities, and extending the 4-year post-PhD eligibility criteria). This response can be found here.

Also, in the summer of 2022 a Community Feedback form was delivered to the astronomical community to gauge which of the 32 recommendations should be prioritized, while considering their impact on the program and the fellows’ experiences. The responses on the aforementioned form came from community members who identify along multiple diversity axes, from early career to more senior colleagues and also included members from institutions and private sectors. While all recommendations were included in the feedback request, key takeaways from the response was that the community was split in its consideration of the importance of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA, as defined in the report and in NASA SMD Strategic Plan) and the role this should play in the various aspects of the program (e.g., from the definition of a program Mission statement, to selection criteria, to the need for funding fellows’ career development initiatives). Many of the 32 recommendations, though, require financial commitments that will naturally delay their implementation, as well as require fundamental changes in financing the program’s day-to-day operations (e.g., policies, reviews, etc.). 

In summer 2023, the task force developed a more focused feedback form, whose aim is to narrow down some of the key aspects of the program review (and relevant recommendations) to gauge community inputs regarding possible changes to the NHFP that could support future needs of the fellows. The task force will brief the community on the results and outcomes of the current feedback form at a Special Session on the NHFP at the 243th AAS in New Orleans, in January 2024.

2022 NHFP Symposium