Research fellowships

Deadline and Research Topics Updated as of March 2025

To:   Professors Engaged in Joining Research
Subject:   Request for Proposals for AWS Fellowships
Deadline:   May 15, 2025

The American Welding Society (AWS) Foundation seeks to foster university research in joining and to recognize outstanding faculty and student talent.  We are requesting your proposals for consideration by the AWS Foundation.

The Research Fellowships are $35,000 per year.  $17,500 installments are paid following the submission of progress statements on November 1^st and March 1^st. Proposals may be funded for a period of up to three years, however, renewal applications must be submitted for the second and third years. Renewal by AWS will be contingent on demonstration of reasonable progress in the research or in graduate studies.

Proposals must be received by May 15, 2025 at mpfarr@aws.org. New Fellowships will be announced in June 2025. The AWS Foundation reserves the right not to make awards if the Committee does not find any satisfactory candidates.

The AWS Fellowship is awarded to the student for graduate research toward a Masters or Ph.D. Degree under a sponsoring professor at a North American University. The qualifications of the Graduate Student are key elements to be considered in the award.

The academic credentials, plans, and research history (if any) of the student should be provided in the application package. The student must prepare the proposal for the AWS Fellowship. However, the proposal must be developed under the guidance of a professor and accompanied by letters of recommendation from the sponsoring professor and others acquainted with the student's technical capabilities. Should the student selected by AWS be unable to accept the Fellowship or continue with the research at any time during the period of the award, the award will be forfeited, and no further funding will be provided by the AWS Foundation. The bulk of funding should be for student support.

RESEARCH TOPICS
Topics for the AWS Fellowship may span the full range of the joining industry. Proposals for both applied and fundamental research topics are welcome. In 2025, there will be two open fellowships.  For one fellowship, priority will be given to proposals that address one of the topics under Suggested Topics.  For the second fellowship, proposals may be on any topic related to welding and joining research.

Research findings may contribute to the development and refinement of AWS Codes and Standards.

DETAILS
The technical portion of the proposal package should include:

1. Executive Summary
2. Annualized Breakdown of Funding Required and Purpose of Funds (Student Salary, Tuition, etc.)
3. Matching Funding or Other Support for Intended Research
4. Duration of Project
5. Statement of Problem and Objectives
6. Current Status of Relevant Research
7. Technical Plan of Action
8. Qualifications of the Student Researcher and Professor
9. Pertinent Literature References and Related Publications
10. Special Equipment Required and Availability
11. Statement of Critical Issues Which Will Influence Success or Failure of Research

The technical portion of the proposal should not exceed 15 typewritten pages. The title page, which may include the executive summary, is not included in the page count limit. The maximum file size for the technical portion is 2 megabytes. Proposals that exceed either the page limit or file size limit will be considered non-conforming and will not be evaluated.

In addition, the proposal must include:

1. Student's Academic History, Resume and Transcript (Both undergraduate and graduate)
2. Recommendation(s) Indicating Qualifications for Research must include one or more letters of recommendation from the sponsoring professor or others acquainted with the student's technical capabilities. A maximum of three support letters may be submitted.
3. Brief Section or Commentary on Importance of Research to the Welding Community and to AWS, Including Technical Merit, National Need, Long Term Benefits, etc.
4. Statement Regarding Probability of Success

Proposal should be typed in a minimum of 12-point font in Times, Times New Roman, or equivalent. Proposals received after the deadline will not be evaluated. Proposals should be sent electronically by May 15, 2025 to Monica Pfarr, Executive Director, AWS Foundation at mpharr@aws.org.

AWARD REQUIREMENTS 
Recipients will be expected to submit at least one manuscript for publication in the Welding Journal Research Supplement and to present in the Professional Program at a future FABTECH Conference event during the time you are funded under this fellowship (up to three years). The manuscript will be reviewed just like all other submissions, and no special treatment will be given during review resulting from the AWS Graduate Fellowship status.

In 2025, priority will be given to proposals that address one of the recommended topics below.

Topic 1: Optimal location for Charpy Vee Notch (CVN) notch location for heat affected zone (HAZ) testing of single and multiple pass-per-side steel welds

Description: The location of the notch for CVN testing of HAZs is typically specified in terms of the distance from the fusion line (FL), in a format such as “FL +1” where the notch is 1 mm away from the fusion line. See AWS D1.1:2015 Table 4.14 for an example. Various standards specify different notch locations, while others specify multiple locations. In the case of this topic, the “optimal location” is the location where the lowest absorbed energy values would be obtained for low, moderate and high heat input. If the HAZ location with the lowest value is identified, and acceptable results obtained from this “worse case” situation, then additional HAZ testing should not be required. Given the variety of locations specified by standards, it is apparent that there is not consensus as to where this “worse case” situation occurs. This lack of agreement is likely due to the variety of factors that likely affect the HAZ properties, including the steel composition, welding heat input level, and Part thickness. Trials should be conducted on low and medium carbon steel, low alloy steel (D1.1 Gr 4)) and Cr-Mo steel (ASME P-number 4 or 5A). Tests should be produced using low, medium and high heat inputs . The welding process used would be automated GMAW or FCAW. Joints tested will be single bevel so that as the notches in the specimens and the HAZs are parallel to each other as much as possible.

Objective: Establish a practical method of prediction of size and location of areas of HAZ w/ various levels of heat input. Identify the location of the area within the HAZ of common structural steels where the CVN absorbed energy is lowest and develop a means of predicting this location. Practical predictions based on fundamental concepts such as phase transformations, heat transfer, solid- mechanics, thermodynamics, kinetics, etc. will be especially welcome. The output of this research would be usable by code and standard writers so that they could specify the “worse case” location for the notch.

Topic 2: The effects of moderate to very low heat input/moderate to small bead size on Charpy Vee Notch (CVN) values in weld metal and the HAZ in multiple pass steel welds carbon steel and HSLAS and nickel alloyed steels.

Description: While the effects of high heat input and large weld beads on the toughness of weld metal and the HAZ of multi-pass welds are well known, the effects of moderate to very low heat input and associated small beads on toughness are not well understood. With large beads, there is little interpass tempering, leading to low toughness. As bead size decreases, there is more interpass tempering that leads to an increase in toughness. It is unknown whether very small beads will result in a reduction in toughness due to excessive interpass tempering. There are the variety of factors that affect the weld metal and HAZ properties, including the steel composition, welding heat input, thickness of the steel, preheat and interpass temperatures, and bead shape. The welding process used will be automated GMAW or FCAW. Joints tested will be single bevel when testing the HAZ so that as the notches in the specimens and the HAZs are parallel to each other as much as possible. Hardness testing should also be done to monitor the effects of bead size on tensile strength.

Objective: Develop curves that show how toughness changes with heat input/bead size and shape. The output of this research would be usable by code and standard writers to specify tolerances on heat input/bead size and shape from what was used during qualification.

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