J-WAFS Fellowships
Applications were due March 3, 2025. Check back in January of 2026 for more information on the call for fellowships.
The Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS) was founded in 2014 as an effort to amplify MIT’s research in the water and food sectors in order to respond to the urgent global water and food challenges faced by our human community. In 2017, J-WAFS inaugurated two J-WAFS graduate student fellowships: the Rasikbhai L. Meswani Fellowship for Water Solutions and the J-WAFS Graduate Student Fellowship Program.
***Important note*** For the 2025-2026 academic year, J-WAFS offered the Rasikbhai L. Meswani Fellowship for Water Solutions. The application deadline has now passed, but you can find information about the fellowship and what was required for AY2026 below:
The Rasikbhai L. Meswani Fellowship for Water Solutions is a doctoral fellowship for students pursuing research related to water for human need at MIT. Up to two outstanding students will be selected to receive fellowship support; the fellowship currently covers one academic semester. Through it we seek to support outstanding MIT students who are pursuing solutions to the pressing global water supply challenges of our time. This fellowship is made possible by Elina and Nikhil Meswani and family.
Application to the Meswani Fellowship is by faculty nomination; nominating faculty and students interested in the fellowship can click the button below to read the 2025-2026 RFP for instructions and nominating requirements.
Students eligible to be nominated for a Meswani Fellowship must be MIT PhD students who are graduating no earlier than May of 2026. (Please note that no portion of awarded fellowships can be used for continuing postdoctoral appointments or other nondegree support if an awardee graduates early or before spending down the fellowship award). Students must have passed their qualifying exams by the nomination deadline, March 3, 2025. Nominees should be engaged in research focused on alleviating problems of water supply for human need, or other solutions-based research and innovation related to the water sector.
J-WAFS seeks students with outstanding academic credentials as Meswani fellows; candidates should be able to demonstrate a GPA of 4.5 or higher. They should also have a clear research question and plan that they are actively pursuing. Eligible students must be in residence at MIT during the fellowship award period.
Complete nomination packets were due by email to J-WAFS no later than 5:00 p.m. ET on Monday, March 3, 2025.
Click the button below for more information and submission instructions.
“This fellowship support has afforded me the freedom and ability to pursue impactful water treatment research that may not have otherwise been funded or explored. This work has directly led to research and development that is actively being translated into a company that aspires to bring clean water to remote communities worldwide."
——Jonathan Bessette, PhD student, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2024-2025 Rasikbhai L. Meswani Fellow for Water Solutions
