Mathematics & Physical Sciences Programs

Grants to Individuals

Simons Investigators

Simons Investigators are outstanding theoretical scientists who receive a stable base of research support from the foundation, enabling them to…

Simons Fellows

The Simons Fellows program provides funds to faculty for up to a semester-long research leave from classroom teaching and administrative obligations.

Travel Support for Mathematicians (formerly known as Collaboration Grants)

The goal of the program is to stimulate collaboration in the mathematics field primarily through the funding of travel and related expenditures. Read More

Targeted Grants in MPS

The program is intended to support high-risk theoretical mathematics, physics and computer science projects of exceptional promise and scientific importance on a case-by-case basis.

Scientific Software Research Faculty Award

The Simons Foundation’s Mathematics and Physical Sciences (MPS) division invites applications for its Scientific Software Research Faculty Award (SSRF Award) in the MPS program for faculty appointments to start between September 2024–September 2025. The foundation strongly encourages scientists from disadvantaged backgrounds or underrepresented groups to apply.

Solar Radiation Management

The Simons Foundation is launching an international collaborative research program designed to fill fundamental scientific knowledge gaps relevant to Solar Radiation Management.

Simons Dissertation Fellowship in Mathematics

The Simons Foundation’s Mathematics and Physical Sciences (MPS) division invites applications for the new Simons Dissertation Fellowship in Mathematics to provide research support to excellent graduate students in the final years of their Ph.D. studies. This program has been created to honor the work of our late founder, Jim Simons, and his commitment to supporting the field of mathematics.

Grants to Institutions

Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing

The Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing is the world’s leading venue for collaborative research in theoretical computer science.

Targeted Grants to Institutes

The program is intended to support established institutes or centers in the mathematics and physical sciences through funding to help strengthen contacts within the international scientific community.

Simons Observatory

The Simons Observatory will join the Atacama Cosmology Telescope and the Simons Array in the high Atacama Desert in Chile to make observations of the cosmic microwave background and study how the universe began, what it is made of, and how it evolved to its current state.

Simons Array

Following completion of observations with POLARBEAR-1, two more 3.5 meter diameter Huan Tran Telescopes will be deployed at UCSD's James Ax Observatory. This project, known as the "Simons Array", will include more than 20,000 "POLARBEAR-2 style detectors, cooled nearly to absolute zero. The Simons Array will provide an unmatched combination of mapping speed, frequency, and sky coverage.

AMS-Simons Travel Grants

The American Mathematical Society is overseeing a prestigious program of travel grants that will be available to mathematicians who are within four years of earning their Ph.D.s at the time the grant begins. By having travel funds available, a significant number of U.S. mathematicians will be able to travel to conferences and to work with collaborators. This promises to enhance the early stages of the research careers of these young mathematicians.

AMS-Simons Research Enhancement Grants for PUI Faculty

The American Mathematical Society is managing a new program to foster and support research collaboration by mathematicians (with at least five years of experiences beyond the Ph.D.) employed full-time in tenured or tenure track positions at primarily-undergraduate institutions in the United States. This program aims to counteract the institutional barriers and limited funding options at these institutions, by providing modest, sustained support in an effort to impact the research efforts of the faculty, the visibility of their institutions, and the profession in general. Read More

MPS-NSF Joint Programs

NSF-Simons Collaboration on a National Institute for Theory and Mathematics in Biology (NITMB)

The National Science Foundation Directorates for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (NSF/MPS) and for Biological Sciences (NSF/BIO) and the Simons Foundation Division of Mathematics and Physical Sciences (SF/MPS) shall jointly sponsor a new research institute to facilitate collaborations among groups of mathematicians (including statisticians and computational scientists) and biologists. Read More

NSF-Simons MathBioSys Research Centers

The NSF-Simons Research Centers for Mathematics of Complex Biological Systems (MathBioSys) initiative created innovative, collaborative research centers at the intersection of mathematics and molecular, cellular and organismal biology, establishing new connections between mathematical sciences and biological sciences and promoting interdisciplinary education and workforce training.

NSF-Simons Research Collaborations on the Mathematical and Scientific Foundations of Deep Learning

The NSF-Simons Research Collaborations on the MoDL initiative awarded two collaborations designed to support research activities focused on a particular set of topics involving some of the most challenging questions in the general area of mathematical and scientific foundations of deep learning.

NSF-Simons National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research Institutes in the Astronomical Sciences

The NSF and the Simons Foundation shall jointly sponsor up to two national AI research institutes in the astronomical sciences. These institutes shall have, as their primary focus, the co-advancement of astronomy, astrophysics and artificial intelligence through multidisciplinary, multi-stakeholder research on large-scale, longer-term horizon challenges.

Infrastructure

MAGMA (Software download)

Magma is a Computer Algebra system developed by the Computational Algebra Group at the University of Sydney, with many collaborators around the world. It specializes in areas of mathematics that make heavy use of algebraic techniques. The Simons Foundation's support covers the cost of use for all academic and non-profit research users in the U.S..

arXiv

Cornell University Library receives funding from the Simons Foundation to secure the sustainability of arXiv, providing a strong financial basis for the arXiv operation and building trust in the durability of a community-supported business model. The grant encourages long-term community support by lowering arXiv membership fees, making participation affordable to a broad range of institutions.

Simons Collaborations

Simons Collaborations in Mathematics and the Physical Sciences

Simons Collaborations in Mathematics and the Physical Sciences bring together groups of outstanding scientists to address topics of fundamental scientific importance in which significant new developments have created novel areas for exploration in the fields of mathematics, theoretical physics and theoretical computer science.

NSF-Simons Research Collaborations on the Mathematical and Scientific Foundations of Deep Learning

The NSF-Simons Research Collaborations on the MoDL initiative awarded two collaborations designed to support research activities focused on a particular set of topics involving some of the most challenging questions in the general area of mathematical and scientific foundations of deep learning.

Conferences and Symposia

Simons Symposia

Each Simons Symposia series brings together mathematicians, theoretical physicists and/or theoretical computer scientists to interact and collaborate in a series of up to three symposia, held every second year and focusing on one topic or a tightly connected group of topics.