NMFS-Sea Grant Fellowship Now Accepting Applications for 2024

Federal Funding Opportunity Number: NOAA-OAR-SG-2024-24162

Florida Sea Grant is now accepting applications for the 2024 NMFS-Sea Grant Fellowship Program from Florida Ph.D. students interested in population and ecosystem dynamics or marine resource and environmental economics. Complete applications are due to Florida Sea Grant by 5:00PM EST, on Jan. 25, 2024

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)-Sea Grant Joint Fellowship Program in Population and Ecosystem Dynamics and Marine Resource Economics places Ph.D. students in research-based fellowships that provide support for up to three years.

This joint fellowship program offers two specialized areas:

Population and Ecosystem Dynamics: This fellowship focuses on the development and implementation of quantitative methods for assessing marine ecosystems, for assessing the status of fish, invertebrate, and other targeted species stocks and for assessing the status of marine mammals, seabirds, and other protected species.

Marine Resource Economics: This fellowship focuses on the development and implementation of quantitative methods for assessing the economics of the conservation and management of living marine resources.

During their fellowship, fellows are guided by at least two mentors, one from the fellow’s university and one from NOAA Fisheries. Fellows are also required to participate in a yearly research symposium.

Florida applicants are encouraged to contact Florida Sea Grant or browse Southeast Fisheries Science Center’s staff and publications to identify and connect with a potential NOAA Fisheries faculty mentor whose research aligns with their own.

Since the program began in 1999, 10 graduate students from Florida have been placed in NMFS-Sea Grant fellowships, most recently, one population and ecosystem dynamics fellow in 2020 and 2022.

Alumni of the NMFS-Sea Grant fellowship typically hold future positions in NOAA Fisheries, other agencies, academics, and fishery management councils.

“Since my work is transdisciplinary, hearing ideas from fisheries modelers, geneticists, ecologists, and economists has helped me improve my research and grow as a fisheries scientist. The connections the NMFS-Sea Grant Fellowship allows you to make are invaluable.”

Fellowships offer funding for up to three years, and cost sharing by the fellow’s institution of higher education is required. Funding is contingent on availability of funds and satisfactory performance by the recipients.

Eligible applicants are any graduate student that: 1) is of U.S. citizenship, and 2) is enrolled in or provisionally accepted to Ph.D. degree programs in academic institutions in the United States and its territories in population dynamics, ecosystem dynamics, resource or environmental economics, or a related field such as wildlife biology, fishery biology, natural resource management, marine biology, quantitative ecology, applied mathematics, applied statistics, or simulation modeling.

Sea Grant champions diversity, equity, and inclusion, working to create a marine science workforce that reflects the communities the program serves. We are recruiting, retaining, and preparing a diverse workforce, and proactively engaging and serving the diverse populations of coastal communities.

Sea Grant is committed to building inclusive research, extension, communication and education programs that serve people with unique backgrounds, circumstances, needs, perspectives and ways of thinking. We encourage applicants of all ages, races, ethnicities, national origins, gender identities, sexual orientations, disabilities, cultures, religions, marital statuses, education levels, job classifications, veteran status types, and income, and socioeconomic status types to apply for this opportunity.

All prospective fellows from Florida must submit their applications through Florida Sea Grant’s eSeaGrant portal at eflseagrant.ifas.ufl.edu. Consult the 2024 NMFS-Sea Grant Fellowship Student Guide and the Student Applicant Guide to Sea Grant Fellowships for a complete list of requirements as well as tips and best practices for a successful submission of a NMFS-Sea Grant Fellowship application.

Applicants are encouraged to reach out to Florida Sea Grant at fsg-students@ifas.ufl.edu at least one month before the application deadline to provide notification of intent to apply.

Information Session & Office Hours hosted by the National Sea Grant Office (NSGO) Fellowship Team:

  • November 13, 2023, 2:00PM EST – NMFS-Sea Grant 2024 Fellowship informational webinar. Registration is required and can be found here.
  • November 14, 2023, 12:00 – 1:00PM EST or 3:00 – 4:00PM EST – NMFS-SEa Grant 2024 Fellowship office hours session for questions. Link to attend is here.

University of Florida Applicants:

In addition to an eSeaGrant submission, applicants from the University of Florida should be sure their proposals are submitted into UFIRST using the “pre-proposal” application type and must be approved through UFIRST by January 25, 2024. 

Non-University of Florida Applicants:

Non-UF applicants will be required to submit a letter of commitment from their institution’s sponsored programs office along with their applications in the eSeaGrant portal. 

For questions, contact Florida Sea Grant Student Programs Coordinator Cassie Sexson at fsg-students@ifas.ufl.edu.

Additional information is available at the National Sea Grant fellowship website at seagrant.noaa.gov/NMFS-SG-Fellowship.

To learn more about other Florida Sea Grant graduate fellowships, visit flseagrant.org/student-opportunities.

About Florida Sea Grant

Hosted at the University of Florida (UF), the Florida Sea Grant College Program supports research, education and Extension to enhance coastal resources and economic opportunities through a partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the State University System of Florida, and UF/IFAS Extension in counties statewide. flseagrant.org | @FloridaSeaGrant

Media Contacts

Cassie Sexson, Student Programs Coordinator, fsg-students@ifas.ufl.edu