NOAA Coastal Management Fellowship

Minnesota's Park Point Beach and Lake Superior.

Image credit: Marie Thoms/Minnesota Sea Grant.

The NOAA Coastal Management Fellowship was established in 1996 to provide on-the-job education and training opportunities in coastal resource management and policy for postgraduate students and to provide project assistance to state coastal zone management programs. Each year, fellows are placed with state coastal programs to work on projects proposed by those programs and selected by NOAA. This two-year opportunity offers a competitive salary, medical benefits, and travel and relocation expense reimbursement.

Placement for the Coastal Management Fellowship positions is fully integrated into the placement process with the Digital Coast Fellowship positions. Candidates apply to NOAA's Coastal Management and NOAA's Digital Coast Fellowship program as a whole, and selected candidates will be eligible to interview with both the state coastal programs and NOAA's Digital Coast partnership organizations at the fellowship matching workshop.

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2025-2027 Fellowship Projects

To read about the 2025-27 projects, visit Coastal Management Fellowship projects and Digital Coast Fellowship projects. Previous fellows have had degrees in environmental studies, natural resource management, marine affairs, marine science, geology, public affairs, communications, social sciences, and regional land management. The most important prerequisite is an interest in coastal issues. Students who are not U.S. citizens or who attend non-U.S. institutions are not eligible.

Additional information:

Eligibility

Any U.S. citizen who will complete a master’s or other advanced degree at an accredited U.S. university between August 1, 2023, and July 31, 2025, is eligible to apply for the Coastal Management and Digital Coast Fellowships. Students from a broad range of programs are encouraged to apply. A variety of degrees are applicable to the fellowship because the projects are new and different each year.

How do you apply?

Application packages must be submitted to the Sea Grant program office in the state where you earned your degree by January 24, 2025. Each Sea Grant program office may select and forward up to four applications to NOAA for review. In order to increase diversity in the fellowship, Sea Grant may submit one additional application from a candidate who attended a minority serving institution, for a total of five. The fifth nomination spot is reserved solely for minority serving institution candidates.

Applicants from states not served by a Sea Grant program office should contact the fellowship coordinator for more information on submitting an application.

Minnesota based applicants should apply via eSeaGrant. Questions? Contact Minnesota Sea Grant Research and Fellowship Coordinator, Alex Frie.

All applications must include the following items:

  1. Resume or curriculum vitae (not to exceed two pages using 12 point font).
  2. Statement of the applicant’s goals with emphasis on what the applicant expects from and can contribute to the fellowship experience. This should also include how the fellowship can help reach goals that may be difficult to reach without the fellowship opportunity. Include any obstacles that have been overcome to reach this point in your academic career (500 words or less).
  3. Two letters of recommendation, including one from the applicant’s principal professor. If no principal professor exists, the faculty member who is most familiar with the applicant’s academic work may be substituted.
  4. Unofficial copies of all undergraduate and graduate student transcripts.

Any additional materials submitted will not be considered in the selection process. If you are selected as a finalist, an additional writing sample will be requested.

What happens if you are selected?

From the nominations submitted by Sea Grant directors, 12 finalists will be selected by a panel. Final decisions will be made by March 21, 2025, and all applicants will be notified of the decision by the end of the following week (March 28, 2025).

Finalists will be selected using the following criteria: 

  1. Statement of the applicant’s goals. How well does it emphasize what the applicant expects from and can contribute to the fellowship experience? Does it address how the fellowship can help reach goals that may be difficult to reach without the fellowship opportunity? Consider any obstacles the candidate may have overcome. 
  2. Diversity of educational background and quality of academic performance.
  3.  Candidate experience, including life experience, internships, volunteer experience, extracurricular activities, and jobs.
  4. Scholarships, awards, honors, and acknowledgements.
  5. Support from two letters of recommendation, including one from the applicant's principal professor. The letters should demonstrate knowledge of the applicant and their abilities.

Placement of Fellows

The Coastal Management matching process will take place from Monday, April 7 to Friday, April 11, 2025, and will be entirely virtual. This week includes program orientation by NOAA, host project and finalist presentations, and virtual interviews between candidates and host organizations. Sessions will be live and recorded for later viewing.

During the virtual workshop, finalists will meet with mentors from selected host organizations for interviews and discussions. Finalists can review fellowship projects on the fellowship website before the workshop. No contact should occur between hosts and finalists before the workshop. Candidates and hosts will submit their top placement choices to NOAA, which will then match fellows with hosts.

Of the finalists selected in 2025, up to six will be placed with a state coastal program. If a host does not find a suitable candidate during the matching process, the host is given the option to defer fellow placement for one year. Hosts are only allowed one deferment before they have to reapply.

Additional information:

 

Why Minnesota Sea Grant?

Minnesota Sea Grant is part of the National Sea Grant Office, which is under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). MNSG supports NOAA fellowships for undergraduates, graduate students, and post-graduate students because they directly support Sea Grant's mission to enhance the practical use and conservation of coastal, marine and Great Lakes resources in order to create a sustainable economy and environment. The NOAA Coastal Management Fellowship program also supports the National and Minnesota Sea Grant workforce development focus area.

Contact

Want more information? Submit this Minnesota Sea Grant form.

Questions? Contact Alex Frie, Minnesota Sea Grant research and fellowship coordinator.


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Program Staff

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Research and Fellowship Coordinator

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Applications due to Minnesota Sea Grant by January 24, 2025 via


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