CRCS Postdoc - Frequently Asked Questions

CRCS researchers and staff are frequently asked the following questions about applications for postdoctoral fellowships, and we've included answers. If you're wondering about applying and your question has not been answered, please reach out to CRCS@seas.harvard.edu and we'll respond as soon as we can!

Is the postdoc open to PhD candidates in fields besides computer science?

While PhD candidates in other fields are welcome to apply, the postdoctoral fellowship is the best fit for researchers with a track record of publications in computer science. If you have published in computer science and your work is a good fit in equity, conservation, and/or public health, please apply! 

If you are interested in our work but do not have a record of publications in CS or another engineering discipline, please apply for an appropriate postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard and reach out once you’ve been accepted. We’re delighted to partner with folks at Harvard in other disciplines, but our CRCS-funded postdoc is the best fit for computer scientists. 

The job posting says applicants should list three faculty members with whom they would like to work.  Should the three faculty members be the faculty members who are currently affiliated with CRCS or could I also list faculty members at Harvard who are not affiliated with CRCS?

Please identify and share 3 faculty members who are appointed at SEAS. At least 1 faculty member must be at SEAS and ideally would be CRCS affiliated. We are open if there is one or two faculty members at other Harvard schools. 

May I ask if applicants must specifically propose to work on issues relating to conservation and public health?

We like to see applicants work on conservation, population health or equity-related projects. For example,  it wouldn't be a stretch to connect housing and urban development to environmental health, community health, and health equity. For projects that seem further afield, please consider if there are mentors at SEAS and the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH), Harvard Center for the Environment, the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability that would be a good fit for your work? Please spend time in your cover letter and statement of research explaining how your work connects to the CRCS mission. 

I have noticed that some faculty members mention in their personal web pages that they do not have funding at this moment for hiring postdocs. I was wondering whether this has to do with the CRCS postdoctoral positions as well (and therefore they should not be listed as mentors in the application).

Nope, CRCS funding is separate, so this will not limit who you list as a mentor in your application.

A note on Letters of Recommendation

You can check the status of your references by following the instructions on this webpage. Sometimes, if you have applied for other positions via Harvard's Academic Recruitment Information eSystem (ARIeS), the request emails to your recommenders for this particular may be threaded as a follow up to a previous email instead of a separate request for a letter of recommendation. Please let your letter writers know that this may happen if you are applying for multiple Harvard positions.