Competitive Graduate Research Fellowship

The Maryland Sea Grant Competitive Graduate Research Fellowship is a two-year fellowship that provides graduate students with a stipend, fringe benefits, tuition remission, and travel allowances. Applications are due by March 6, 2026, at 5 p.m. EDT.

View the official fellowship announcement.

Eligibility

This program is open to graduate students enrolled in or admitted to a full-time graduate or professional degree program at a Maryland or Washington, DC, academic institution. Students may be working toward any master’s or doctoral degree, as long as their research is relevant to Maryland Sea Grant's mission and strategic plan and has an emphasis on the Chesapeake Bay or Maryland coastal bays and their watersheds.

Award Information

The two-year fellowship provides a stipend (~$35,000), fringe benefits, tuition remission, and a $2,000 travel allowance. Fellows will be paid as graduate research assistants by Maryland Sea Grant, a University System of Maryland institution, following the same model and terms as our Maryland Sea Grant Research Fellowships program. Continued support after the first year will be contingent upon satisfactory performance by the fellow and the availability of federal funds. The anticipated start date is the fall semester of 2026.

If your institution requires that graduate students are paid through its own payroll system, Maryland Sea Grant can provide an institutional award to cover only the $35,000 stipend, fringe benefits, partial tuition remission, and travel allowance up to a total of $55,000 per year. However, additional matching funds contribution may need to be negotiated with the institution to meet the 50% matching requirement above the first $25,000 of the subaward. Typically, these awards would need to be made to the student's faculty advisor. We will negotiate this arrangement with the selected students' institutions. No budget is required at the application stage.

Requirements

Graduate student fellows who are selected will be required to:

• Work with a professional mentor who is an extension, education, or communication staff person or an end-user of research results (e.g., state or federal agency professional, K-12 teacher, industry partner) to ensure that results are translated and communicated to end-users. The individual’s primary professional responsibility should not be research
• Provide annual and final progress reports to Maryland Sea Grant, as well as electronic copies of derived publications and their thesis or dissertation
• Participate in Maryland Sea Grant-sponsored professional development activities and presentations (1-3 activities anticipated)
• Contribute one entry per semester to Maryland Sea Grant's student blog
• Acknowledge Maryland Sea Grant support in all relevant scientific presentations and publications

Fellows must meet with their professional mentor at least three times per year to review research design, activities, and plans. Mentors provide guidance on communicating results to non-experts, informing managers or policymakers, and applying findings to real-world decisions. In some cases, mentors may serve on the student’s academic committee. Applicants, together with their primary advisor, should define the mentor’s role and describe it in the project narrative.

Professional mentors may come from the public, private, or nonprofit sectors. While students are encouraged to consider Maryland Sea Grant educators, communicators, or extension staff as mentors, this is not required. Mentors should work in roles where scientific information is applied to management or policy decisions, ideally involving the student in related discussions. Mentors should not be academic or government scientists whose primary role is conducting research. Maryland Sea Grant can help applicants identify potential mentors during the application period.

How to Apply

Full application guidelines and submission requirements can be found in the official request for applications. 

The project description file must include:

1. Cover sheet (one page maximum)
2. Career and research interest statement (one page maximum)
3. Project description (five page maximum)
4. Literature cited
5. Timeline and tasks (one page maximum)
6. Academic CV/biosketch (three page maximum)
7. Data management plan
8. Proof of acceptance (letter or current transcript)

Font size can be no smaller than 12 point (Arial preferred) and margins must be 1-inch on standard 8.5x11 inch paper throughout the document. Note that no budget is required for this fellowship application.

You must submit your proposal online at eseagrant.mdsg.umd.edu. Register for a new account, or login using your credentials or the “Login Without Password” tab. You must complete several steps, including completing an applicant information table, uploading a project description file, and requesting two letters of recommendation. Maryland Sea Grant will not accept late proposals, so allow ample time to submit your proposal before the deadline. Applications that do not follow the project description file specifications or fail to include all required materials, such as letters, by the deadline will be returned without review.

Contact

Michael Allen, Associate Director for Research and Administration
Maryland Sea Grant College
5825 University Research Court, Suite 1350
College Park, MD 20740
(301) 405-7500
mallen@mdsg.umd.edu