OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. – The Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium is seeking applicants for the 2016 Sea Grant Dean John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship. Marine policy refers to the plans, regulations and laws that affect how we use and conserve ocean and coastal resources.
If you are a student in a graduate program or in professional school and you have an interest in natural resource conservation and policy, you are a candidate for the fellowship.
Knauss fellows spend a year in positions related to marine policy working with the federal government and lawmakers in the Washington, D.C., area. Past fellows have worked in the offices of U.S. senators and representatives, on congressional subcommittees and at agencies, such as the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and U.S. Fish and Wildlife.
The fellowship, designed to allow graduate and professional school students experience the marine policy process, offers many opportunities to:
- Discover what marine policy is all about
- Make valuable professional connections
- Learn how laws and regulations are formed and implemented
- Understand how science research is prioritized and funded
- Learn to communicate science issues
- Improve leadership skills on a national level
“The Knauss Fellowship provided me with an invaluable first-hand experience to learn how scientific research informs and influences environmental policy,” said Andrew Coleman, a 2011 Knauss fellow who now works as a senior research scientist at the Institute of Marine Mammals Studies. “It also introduced me to a variety of organizations, agencies, and even ideas that have proven important to my current research endeavors. I believe research scientists should have a thorough understanding of how science is properly communicated, and the Knauss Fellowship is a wonderful opportunity to gain that worthwhile knowledge.”
To apply, candidates must be in a graduate or professional school student as of Feb. 13, 2015, at an accredited U.S. institution of higher education.
Fellowships run from Feb. 1, 2016, to Jan. 31, 2017, and pay a stipend of $45,000 plus $9,000 for professional development, moving expenses and health insurance.
Applications are due at the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium office Feb. 13, 2015.
For details, you can go to www.masgc.org/funding/fellowships or the National Sea Grant website at http://seagrant.noaa.gov/FundingFellowships/KnaussFellowship.aspx. Contact Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Research Coordinator Loretta Leist at loretta.leist@usm.edu with questions.
See a poster about the opportunity
