On December 9, 2022, the governments of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States, alongside founding corporate sponsors, jointly announced the first cohort of 100 Quad Fellows. The announcement described the cohort as a “diverse and interdisciplinary group of scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians” selected from 69 undergraduate institutions across the four Quad countries. More than fifty percent of fellows identified as women or non-binary.
Operated and administered by Schmidt Futures, the Quad Fellowship provides each fellow with a one-time award of $50,000 to pursue master’s or doctoral STEM degrees at U.S. universities. Fellows pursue fields including computer science, physics, engineering, and mathematics, with quantum-related disciplines among the eligible areas of study. The program was first announced at the September 2021 Quad Leaders’ Summit.
Corporate sponsors included Accenture, Blackstone, Boeing, Google, Mastercard, and Western Digital. Google’s Vice President of Global Affairs Karan Bhatia stated that “by investing in the next generation of leading scientists and technologists, the governments of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States are strengthening the foundation of scientific collaboration among democracies.” Fellows began their studies in the third quarter of 2023.