Fellowship Opportunities from Maryland Sea Grant

Studying the abundance of the American Eel in the Potomac River. Exploring the effect of sediment on underwater grasses in the Chesapeake Bay. Reviewing drafts of a major piece of environmental legislation. These are just a few of the opportunities students have had through two Maryland Sea Grant fellowships, one for undergraduates and another for graduate students.

For undergraduates, Sea Grant offers an opportunity to spend the summer conducting hands-on scientific research on the Chesapeake Bay. The Maryland Sea Grant Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program for summer 2009 is accepting applications through February 17, 2009.

Every year, the 12-week program supports fourteen students to work with a scientist mentor on an individual research project at one of two marine labs located on the Chesapeake Bay — the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's (UMCES) Chesapeake Biological Laboratory in Solomons, Maryland, or its Horn Point Laboratory in Cambridge, Maryland.

With support from the National Science Foundation, the Maryland Sea Grant Program provides each fellow with a stipend, dormitory costs, and round-trip travel expenses.

For more information on this opportunity for budding scientists, visit Maryland Sea Grant’s REU web page at www.mdsg.umd.edu/programs/research/reu/

Sea Grant is also seeking qualified graduate students to apply for a fellowship year working on marine science and policy issues in the U.S. legislative or executive branches of the government. The Dean John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship program for 2010 is accepting applications through February 20, 2009.

The Knauss Fellowship, established in 1979, provides a unique educational experience to students who have an interest in ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes resources and in the national policy decisions affecting those resources. The program matches highly qualified graduate students with “hosts” in the U.S. Congress or executive branch of government located in the Washington, D.C. area for a one-year paid fellowship.

Each Sea Grant College Program may forward a maximum of 6 fellowship applications to the National Sea Grant Office and 30 - 50 fellowships are awarded every year. Note that D.C. residents may apply through Maryland. Fellowships pay a stipend plus travel and benefits support.

For more information on Knauss Fellowships, visit Maryland Sea Grant’s website at www.mdsg.umd.edu/programs/education/fellowships/knauss/ or the National Sea Grant website at www.seagrant.noaa.gov/knauss/