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NSF awards record number of coveted PhD fellowships in surprise move

Quantum science and AI research are big winners just a year after the US funding giant slashed its Graduate Research Fellowship Program awards in half.
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  1. Dan Garisto

    1. Dan Garisto is a science journalist in Syracuse, New York.

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In an unexpected turnaround, the US National Science Foundation (NSF) on Sunday handed out a record 2,599 of its prestigious graduate fellowships to young researchers — after briefly slashing the number to a low of just 1,000 last year.

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Nature 652, 840-841 (2026)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-01119-1

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