For three decades, the Society of Hellman Fellows has played a significant role in supporting early-career faculty across the University of California’s ten campuses. Since its founding in 1995, the program has provided financial support to thousands of junior professors, helping them advance their research and careers during a critical period before securing major federal funding.
The Hellman fellowship was established by Warren and Chris Hellman and their children. The initiative was inspired by Frances Hellman’s experiences as she began her career in academia. As Frances Hellman explained, “I came into UC San Diego as an assistant professor in 1987 and had a certain level of startup funds, and spent those on getting my lab built. I then went through this period of time almost all young faculty go through where you’ve used up your startup funds but you haven’t yet gotten the major funding you need to get tenure.”
Recognizing these challenges, Warren Hellman proposed a fellowship for second- and third-year faculty members to help bridge this gap. After launching pilot programs at UC San Diego and UC Berkeley, the fellowship expanded systemwide.
Michael Bishop, former chancellor at UCSF, commented on the program’s broad impact: “Warren made it possible for many people who otherwise might not have made it to have thrived. Some of the things they [young faculty] were doing really stretched the boundaries of what I would consider academia in a way that I thought was admirable, terrific.”
In 2020, after 25 years of providing support, the Hellman family endowed the program with $125 million to ensure its continuation across all UC campuses.
Katherine Newman, University of California Provost and Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs, highlighted the ongoing importance of this support: “Hellman fellowships have been instrumental in supporting thousands of our junior faculty as they become leaders in their fields, shaping scholarship across the arts, medicine and sciences,” she said. “30 years on, we can see clearly the enormous impact of the Hellman family’s gift not only to UC, but to the nation. We are eternally grateful to the Hellmans and excited to witness the transformational research contributed by these fellows.”
Recipients receive up to $70,000 each to support foundational research efforts that often lead to further recognition from national organizations such as MacArthur Foundation or Guggenheim Foundation.
UC Merced professor Asmeret Asefaw Berhe described how her award enabled key preliminary data collection for future grant proposals: “The Hellman award allowed my lab to collect essential preliminary data that we used to demonstrate the significance of our proposed work for a major federal grant,” Berhe said. “This kind of funding enables early career researchers to conduct foundational work that sets our research programs up for long-term success.” Berhe is now recognized nationally for her contributions in earth sciences.
Other notable past fellows include Peidong Yang (UC Berkeley), Dan Choe (UC Davis), Steve Mahler (UC Irvine), Yvonne Chen (UCLA), Victoria Reyes (UC Riverside), Lei Liang (UC San Diego), Dr. Kirsten Bibbings-Domingo (UCSF), Michelle O’Malley (UC Santa Barbara), and Rebecca Covarrubias (UC Santa Cruz). These scholars represent diverse disciplines ranging from engineering and medicine to music composition and gender studies.
Each campus highlights its current fellows’ work through dedicated web pages:
– UC Berkeley
– UC Davis
– UCLA: A boost for early-career faculty
– UC Irvine: Eight UC Irvine faculty members named Hellman fellows
– UC Merced: Hellman fellowships welcome three new members from UC Merced
– UC Riverside: Early-career faculty win fellowships
– UC San Diego: Largest cohort in UC San Diego program’s history receives Hellman fellowships
– UC Santa Barbara: Bioengineering’s Marley Dewey named 2025 Hellman Faculty fellow
The Society continues its mission by recognizing promising talent among assistant professors throughout California’s public university system.
