The Thomas J. Watson Fellowship is a grant that enables graduating seniors to pursue a year of independent study outside the United States. The Fellowship Program was established by the children of Thomas J. Watson, Jr., the founder of IBM. Thomas John Watson, Jr. ... International Business Machines Corporation (known as IBM or Big Blue; NYSE: IBM) is a multinational computer technology corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, USA. The company is one of the few information technology companies with a continuous history dating back to the 19th century. ...

Only graduates of fifty highly-selective small colleges are eligible. Institutions eligible to nominate Watson Fellows are mostly esteemed small liberal arts colleges such as Amherst College, Carleton College, Middlebury College, Williams College, Ursinus College and Haverford College, but other small and distinguished institutions such as Caltech and the Rhode Island School of Design are also eligible. Amherst College is a private, independent, elite[1][2] liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, USA. It is the third oldest college in Massachusetts. ... Skinner Memorial Chapel, Carleton College Carleton College is an independent, non-sectarian, coeducational, liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, USA. The school was founded on November 14, 1866, by the Minnesota Conference of Congregational Churches as Northfield College. ... Middlebury College is a small liberal arts college located in the rural New England shire town of Middlebury, Vermont, United States. ... Williams College is a private, coeducational, highly selective (18% admission rate in 2006) liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts. ... Ursinus College is a small, coeducational, liberal arts college in Collegeville, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. ... Haverford College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college located in Haverford, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. ... The California Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Caltech)[1] is a private, coeducational university located in Pasadena, California, in the United States. ... The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD, pronounced /RIZ-dee/) is one of the premier fine arts institutions in the United States. ...

Currently the award is $25,000 per fellow or $35,000 for a fellow traveling with a spouse or dependent. Among the 2,300 former Watson Fellows are included numerous diplomats (such as the late Sudanese Vice-President, and Grinnell College graduate, John Garang), scholars, doctors, and artists. The fellowship itself grants recipients money to spend one year traveling (recipients are forbidden from reentering the United States for one year) in pursuit of their projects. Projects are not academically oriented, as the fellowship is intended to encourage exploration and new experiences rather than formal research. Grinnell College is a small liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa. ... John Garang, August 2004 John Garang de Mabior (June 23, 1945 – July 30, 2005) was the vice president of Sudan and former leader of the rebel Sudan Peoples Liberation Army. ...

External links

• Official site