NSF AAPF Recipients and Award History 2026

This guide is for: Astronomy and astrophysics PhD candidates, recent doctorates, faculty mentors, and observatory staff who want the real NSF AAPF recipient list, how many fellowships NSF funds each year, where fellows choose to work, and what the award pays while the October 15, 2026 window is still open.

Last updated: October 12, 2026

Full answer: NSF made 9 AAPF awards dated 2026, up from 7 in 2025, according to a Grantsights pull of the NSF Awards API on October 12, 2026. Each 2026 record shows $330,000 obligated, matching three years at $110,000 a year. Across 2019 to 2026 the program funded 62 fellowships, between 7 and 11 a year. The solicitation is NSF 22-621, and the current window closes October 15, 2026.

Next route: Read the NSF astronomy and astrophysics postdoctoral fellowship guide, check the NSF Windows on the Universe guide for multi-messenger funding, and search open astronomy funding with the free grants search.

NSF AAPF Recipients and Award History: 2026 Astronomy Postdoc Fellows

Data note: Grantsights pulled the NSF Awards API on October 12, 2026 using the fund program name keyword PSTDC for award dates January 1, 2019 through October 12, 2026, then kept the 62 records carrying program element 160900 (NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowships). Years use the award date. "Obligated" is the fundsObligatedAmt field, the amount NSF had committed to each record on the pull date. The fellow is the awardee, so the host is taken from the place-of-performance field. Grantsights kept the unedited API response as a JSON file.

According to the NSF AAPF program page, the fellowship supports recent doctoral scientists who carry out an integrated program of independent research and education in any area the Division of Astronomical Sciences supports, for up to three years at an eligible host of their choice. NSF lists a submission window of August 15 to October 15, 2026, and every year after that.

According to the NSF 22-621 solicitation, the annual award rose from $100,000 to $110,000, made up of a $75,000 stipend and a $35,000 fellowship allowance. NSF updated the solicitation page on October 5, 2026, but the program page still labels its estimate of 8 to 9 awards as FY2023 information.

Grantsights analysis of 62 award records found a program that hasn't grown or shrunk much in eight years. NSF funded 7 fellowships in six of the eight years, 11 in 2023, and 9 in 2026. That makes the AAPF one of the smallest named postdoc fellowships at NSF, and the cohort numbers are worth knowing before treating it as a safety option.

AAPF Awards By Year, 2019 To 2026

NSF funded 7 to 11 AAPF fellowships a year from 2019 through 2026, with $2.97M obligated to the 9 records dated 2026, according to the October 12, 2026 Grantsights pull.

The obligated column needs care. For 2023 through 2026, nearly every record shows $330,000, which is three years at $110,000. Older records vary more: the 2020 median is $233,000 and the 2019 median is $350,000. Obligations on a record can change after award, for example when a fellowship ends early, transfers, or gets extra funds, and the API doesn't say which happened. Use the newer records as the benchmark for what the award pays now.

The award months also moved. The 2025 cohort was dated March 12 to 14, the earliest in the pull, while the 2026 cohort arrived May 8 to 21. A May offer leaves less time to line up a fall start, which is worth planning for when weighing competing offers.

The 9 Fellows In The 2026 AAPF Cohort

All 9 records dated 2026 show $330,000 obligated and the Astronomical Science section of NSF's Mathematical and Physical Sciences directorate as the managing unit. Names and hosts come from public NSF award records; titles are shortened to the part before the first colon.

Two of the 9 records, awards 2602636 and 2602584, also carry the Simonyi-NSF Scholars program element. NSF's abstract for 2602636 says the award is partly funded by a gift from Charles Simonyi to the Astronomical Sciences section and includes contributions to the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's Legacy Survey of Space and Time. Both 2026 Simonyi-coded titles mention Rubin or LSST.

The topics split across exoplanets and stars (3 records), galaxies and black holes (3), Milky Way structure (2), and cosmic microwave background instrumentation (1, the Simons Observatory pointing work). That spread fits the solicitation's statement that fellows may do observational, instrumental, theoretical, laboratory, or archival research.

4 Host Patterns From 41 Recent AAPF Records

From 2022 through 2026, 41 AAPF fellows worked at hosts in 15 states, with no single institution taking more than 4, according to the October 12, 2026 pull.

Four patterns stand out. First, hosts are spread out: the top institution had 4 fellows in five years, far less concentration than the math postdoc program shows. Second, research observatories count, with the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and Carnegie Science Observatories both in the 2026 list. Third, no 2022 to 2026 fellow in the pull holds the award abroad, though the solicitation allows international sites run by U.S. organizations, such as the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. Fourth, every record is managed by the same astronomy unit, so there's no directorate split to analyze.

What NSF Award Search Doesn't Tell You About AAPF

NSF Award Search lists the 9 fellows dated 2026, but at least 4 things an applicant needs aren't in those records.

The success rate is the biggest gap. With 7 to 11 awards a year, even a modest applicant pool means long odds, but NSF doesn't publish the proposal count on the program page or in the award records Grantsights checked. Any AAPF success rate you see quoted elsewhere should name its source.

The second gap is the education plan. The AAPF requires an integrated research and education program, and the award abstract usually describes it in a sentence or two. The record won't show how much weight reviewers gave it. Applicants who underestimate that half of the proposal are taking a real risk, because the solicitation calls for a coherent educational plan for the full fellowship.

The third gap is overlap with other fellowships. The award list won't tell you which fellows also held offers from other prize postdoc programs and chose the AAPF.

5 Eligibility And Proposal Rules In NSF 22-621

NSF 22-621 sets 5 rules that decide who can appear on the AAPF list, according to the solicitation checked October 12, 2026.

Eligible hosts include U.S. colleges and universities, NSF-funded centers, facilities, and institutes, U.S. nonprofits with research and education missions, and international sites run by U.S. organizations eligible for NSF funding. Each proposal names one or more scientific mentors and hosts when it's submitted.

The two-competition cap is the rule people overlook. Withdrawn proposals and returns without review have their own treatment in the solicitation, so check the exact language before submitting a draft just to "get one in."

Specifically, a fellow who uses all three years receives $225,000 in stipend and $105,000 in allowance, the $330,000 that appears on every recent record. The allowance pays for research and education costs, which the solicitation describes as expenses directly tied to the proposed research and education activities, including materials and supplies.

Apply Or Wait: 5 Checks Before October 15

The 2026 window closes 3 days after this pull, so most readers are deciding whether to submit now or plan for the 2027 window.

The red flag in that list is item 2. Because the solicitation caps participation at two competitions, a rushed proposal can burn half of a person's lifetime attempts. Skip the current window if the education plan isn't finished.

For broader routes, compare the NSF MSPRF guide for math-heavy astrophysics, the NSF GRFP winner history for earlier-stage students, and the NSF CAREER winner history for the faculty award that comes after the postdoc stage.

How 9 AAPF Slots Compare With 2 Other NSF Postdoc Fellowships

The AAPF pays more per fellow than NSF's math and biology postdoc fellowships but funds far fewer people, based on Grantsights pulls of NSF award records on October 12, 2026 and the current solicitations.

Two things follow from that table. The AAPF is the best-paid of the three per year of support, and it's also the hardest to plan around, because a single cohort of 9 leaves almost no room for year-to-year noise. A swing of two awards is a 22% change in the size of the class.

The second point is that the three programs don't compete for the same people. Each one is tied to a field and a directorate, so an astronomer can't fall back on the math fellowship unless the research is really mathematics. For astronomers who miss the AAPF, the usual alternatives are postdoc positions funded by a faculty member's NSF or NASA research grant, or institutional prize fellowships, none of which show up in NSF's fellowship records.

Is the AAPF worth it with only 9 slots? For an eligible applicant with a mentor already lined up and an education plan in hand, yes: the proposal overlaps heavily with what other prize fellowships ask for, so the extra cost is mostly the education plan and the NSF formatting. For someone whose education plan is still a placeholder, the two-competition cap makes waiting the better call.

3 Takeaways From 62 AAPF Records

According to NSF award records pulled October 12, 2026, the AAPF averaged under 8 fellows a year from 2019 through 2026, 62 in total.

First, the fellowship is fixed in size and small in count. Recent records all show $330,000, so planning numbers are clear, but 9 slots is a short list.

Second, host choice is spread out. No institution hosted more than 4 fellows from 2022 through 2026, and observatories show up next to universities.

Third, outside money can add slots. Two 2026 fellowships carry Simonyi gift co-funding, a reminder that the yearly count depends partly on funding sources beyond the base program. Whether that continues isn't something the records can show.

Sources

• NSF AAPF program page - nsf.gov
• NSF 22-621 solicitation - nsf.gov
• NSF Awards API, pulled October 12, 2026 - api.nsf.gov
• NSF Award Search - nsf.gov
• NSF PAPPG - nsf.gov

Related Guides

• NSF astronomy and astrophysics postdoctoral fellowship guide
• NSF Windows on the Universe guide
• NSF MSPRF guide
• NSF GRFP winner history
• NSF CAREER winner history
• NSF grants complete guide