THE WORLD’S MOST COMPLEX CHALLENGES – AND THE LEADERS THAT WILL SOLVE THEM – CROSS ALL TRADITIONAL LINES OF SKILLS & KNOWLEDGE.
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Learn more about the Polymath Fellowship
A fully funded, 9-month fellowship built to amplify your impact through interdisciplinary learning.
Four ways
to learn
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Application deadline June 30 for the first cohort beginning Fall 2025, this fully-funded fellowship is for early and mid-career problem solvers with a bachelor’s degree. Delivered weekly over 9 months, fellows will be matched with expert mentors and will learn skills to tackle their chosen problems with an interdisciplinary approach.
Ideal candidate: someone who has a complex challenge that they are passionate about, and who has a clear idea of how they would use the $2,000 grant to advance their work.
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Beginning late 2025, Polymath University offers 8-week online courses in Systems Thinking, Human-Centered Design, Technology, Leadership, and more. Online, synchronous, and built around the schedule of a working professional.
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Expected Fall 2026, this master’s degree in organizational leadership will be offered fully online (synchronous) over 15 months and in partnership with an existing and fully accredited university.
Ideal candidate: a professional 5-15 years into their career who is making a career pivot.
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Expected Fall 2028, the Polymath University bachelor’s degree is interdisciplinary, apprenticeship based, and debt-free. Think of it like ROTC for the private sector.
Students study 3 non-adjacent majors, like healthcare administration or cybersecurity, economics, and philosophy, because narrowing your skills no longer works in a complex, technology-empowered world.
In years 2 and 3 of a year-round academic year, students will serve as apprentices with employer partners while taking courses to earn an income and apply learning in real time.
Ideal candidate: a young adult who wants to be academically challenged in a 3-year “earn while you learn” model of college.
Meet the Mentors for the 2025 Polymath Fellows
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David Epstein
Polymath Fellowship Mentor
NYT Best-Selling Author of Range
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Adiba Hassan
Polymath Fellowship Mentor
Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer, CDC
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Donnell Butler, PhD
Polymath Fellowship Mentor
President & Founder, Prelude
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Kimberly Jung
Polymath Fellowship Mentor
CEO, Blanchard House
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LeNaya Hezel, PhD
Polymath Fellowship Mentor
CPO, Warrior Scholar Project
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Socrates Rosenfeld
Polymath Fellowship Mentor
Co-Founder & CEO, Jane Technologies
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Megan Malone
Polymath Fellowship Mentor
Founder, The Akazi Project
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Peter Cambor
Polymath Fellowship Mentor
Founder & Executive Producer, District 33
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Kevin Bubolz
Polymath Fellowship Mentor
Creator & Founder, Golden Retriever Life
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David Henderson
Polymath Fellowship Mentor
Founder, Giving Credit
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Giselle Futrell
Polymath Fellowship Mentor
ED, National Veterans Art Museum
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Isaac Stoner
Polymath Fellowship Mentor
CEO, Octagon Therapeutics
What is a polymath?
A modern polymath is someone with breadth and depth of knowledge who can integrate across disciplines.
Imagine understanding something about how the environment works together in ecosystems and applying a concept from that understanding to how people collaborate together in the workplace. Thinking like that is a skill that can be developed, and that has been proven to produce innovation and creativity.
A polymath is a problem solver. Polymaths have a high tolerance for ambiguity. Polymaths are systems thinkers. They are adept at using what they've learned in other domains to solve complex problems in front of them. They repurpose what is already available. They can synthesize information from many different sources and connect it in new ways. Polymaths read more, and more broadly, and have a broad range of interests. Polymaths are leaders and collaborators.
“Operate in the intersections, the gray spaces where others get uncomfortable. Dare to be different. Embrace your inner polymath.”
Learn more about the concept of polymaths that our curriculum builds on through Alternative Universities: Speculative Design for Innovation in Higher Education, by Dr. David Staley (an advisor to Polymath University); or Range: Why Generalists Triumph In A Specialized World, by David Epstein, a Polymath Fellow mentor.
