Delaware Sea Grant-Delaware National Estuarine Research Reserve Fellowship

Note: The application period is currently closed.

Fellowship Description

Delaware Sea Grant and the Delaware National Estuarine Research Reserve (DNERR) are partnering to offer two graduate research fellowships for Delaware graduate students to explore the rich natural environments contained within the Reserves. DNERR is comprised of two “living laboratories” in the Delaware bayshore region: the St. Jones Reserve, a brackish estuarine system located on the St. Jones River in Dover, Delaware, and Blackbird Creek Reserve, a tidal freshwater estuarine system located in Townsend, Delaware.

Up to two $10,000 graduate fellowships will be awarded for a one-year funding period beginning June 1, 2019 and ending June 1, 2020. Proposed projects should be focused on the broad goal of improving our understanding of Delaware's coastal ecosystems; potential topics include addressing the vulnerability of Delaware’s coastal ecosystems to climate change, sea level rise, human-impacts, and/or storm-related impacts or assessing the socioeconomic value of wetlands.

Proposals must clearly demonstrate that the research would improve our current knowledge of Delaware coastal ecosystems, as represented by the DNERR, and their vulnerability to challenges and changing conditions. Research should be important to the state of Delaware and have broader implications related to environmental literacy, public awareness, and/or coastal stewardship. A portion of the proposed research (if not all) must be performed within at least one of the DNERR Reserves.

This fellowship opportunity is meant to provide graduate students with additional funds to enhance their research efforts in an area that benefits Delaware stakeholders and complements the research priorities of Delaware Sea Grant and the DNERR.

To be eligible, applicants must be a graduate student in good academic standing enrolled in any academic institution in Delaware and performing research that has the potential to benefit stakeholders within the State of Delaware. A portion of the study must be performed within the boundaries of the DNERR. The graduate student must be the primary investigator and provide a letter of support from their advisor(s). The Delaware Sea Grant College Program encourages participation from students with expertise in the broad science and social science research disciplines.

Application deadline: April 19, 2019
2019 Fellowship Application Guidelines (pdf)