Application Process

• Eligibility

  The Environment Track invites research that leverages innovative scientific or technological approaches to assess, monitor, or predict the resilience of critical ecosystems and species to changing conditions.

  Fellows should develop or test innovative monitoring techniques and/or develop solutions that enhance a system’s biodiversity or slow its loss. This work should translate into actionable management and policy strategies that sustain ecosystem services and strengthen community resilience. Special emphasis will be placed on applicants that utilize genetic, genomic, machine learning, or AI methodologies in their work.

  Applicants must, at the time of application:

  • Hold a permanent, fully independent position as an investigator, faculty member, clinician scientist, or scientific team lead in industry, academia, or a research organization. A postdoc is not considered a fully independent position.
    
  • Be an early-career scientist who has received their eligible degree within the past 10 years (on or after January 1, 2016).
    
  • Hold a doctoral degree (e.g., PhD, ScD, EngD, MD, DrPH, EdD, DSW or DVM) in the social and behavioral sciences, health sciences and medicine, engineering and physical sciences, earth and life sciences, or interdisciplinary scientific fields relevant to the charge of the Gulf Research Program.
    
  • Not be currently employed by the U.S. federal government.

• How to apply

  Applications can be submitted through our online application system.

  Required application materials:

  • Your resume or CV (up to 5 pages).
    
  • A series of personal essays that respond to the following prompts:
    
  • Relevance (1000 words total): Using language for a lay audience, explain how your research has contributed to and will continue contributing to the track goal. In your response, include the following:
    
    • Describe or specify:
      • the ecosystems, communities, and species that will be studied,

      • the genetic, AI, and/or machine learning approaches you will leverage,

      • and how your proposed subject will enhance the resilience and understanding of ecosystem services for Gulf communities or more broadly for the region. (All proposed projects must focus on communities within the U.S. Gulf region, defined as Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, consistent with the scope of the Gulf Research Program.)

    • Describe how your research connects/informs ecosystem health and how this knowledge could be integrated into natural resource management actions and/or inform policy strategies.
      
  • Research Portfolio (2,000-word limit): The Gulf Research Program Early-Career Research Fellowship funds people, not projects. Therefore, your research portfolio statement should include information about your research portfolio as a whole, not a specific project. We encourage you to write your research portfolio statement in a way that is understandable to a scientifically literate lay reader and to make the best use of the space provided by utilizing the entire word count, rather than uploading images, diagrams, or figures. The use of references should be minimal and only when absolutely needed. If references are included, they will be counted toward the total word count, and we do not have a preference as to citation style. Your research portfolio statement should include:
    
    • A description of your relevant research and projects to date.
      
    • A description of future work and the research goals you hope to accomplish in the next two years.
      

  Please note, a budget is NOT required and should not be included in the research statement. You may upload a budget as a separate task if your university requires that one be submitted.

  • Special Skill Essay (2 part, 600-word limit): Research that enhances environmental protection and stewardship requires multidisciplinary approaches, broad range of perspectives and strong science communication skill to engage with managers, decision makers and various communities within the region.
    
    • Describe your experiences and approaches to collaboration across scientific disciplines and engagement of end-users of scientific information. How did you utilize your science communication skills to complement your research to other disciplines/audiences?
      
    • How have you incorporated principles of impartiality, fairness, and equal opportunity, while nurturing a wide spectrum of viewpoints, in your research, academic work, and career?
      
  • Personal Growth and Mentoring:
    
    • How will the mentoring provided by the fellowship help you to address your career goals and challenges? What is your strategy to be a productive mentee? (400-word limit)
      
    • How will you know when you have achieved professional success in your career? What skills or characteristics do you need to work on in order to achieve this success? (350-word limit)
      
    • How have your lived experiences, educational journey, and/or understanding of the world shaped your identity as a scientist and an early-career researcher? If applicable, we invite you to share your lived experiences of overcoming barriers in your academic journey, along with the strategies you employed to overcome these challenges. (500-word limit)
      
  • A statement (up to 1,000 words) from your selected mentor
    
    • Your selected mentor must be in a senior-level position at your affiliated college, university, research institution, or organization.
      
    • Do not choose a mentor for a research collaboration. Choose a mentor who is willing and able to meet at least twice a month to provide guidance and advice on professional development and career topics beyond merely promotion and tenure, such as work/life balance, time and project management, teaching and mentorship, committee and other professional service, community engagement and outreach, lab and research management.
      
    • In their statement, your mentor should address how you, the applicant, will benefit from mentoring. Your mentor should consider your professional development holistically, beyond research productivity alone, and identify areas for improvement or potential growth.
      
    • If you are unable to find a mentor at your affiliated organization, the mentor honorarium will be waived, and you will be asked to answer an additional question justifying your selection of an external mentor.
      
    • Once you have created an account and started an application, you can enter the contact information for your mentor. The system will generate an email to the mentor with instructions for logging in and uploading the mentor statement. We encourage applicants to complete this task as soon as possible because final applications cannot be submitted until the mentor statement have been completed. Incomplete or late applications will not be considered.
      

  All application materials, including the mentor statement, must be submitted through our online application system by June 2, 2026, at 5:00 PM ET / 4:00 PM CT / 2:00 PM PT. If you have difficulties submitting materials through our online application system, contact us at GulfFellowships@nas.edu.

  Requesting mentor statement

  Once you have created an account and started an application, you can enter the contact information for your mentor. The system will generate an email to the mentor with instructions for logging in and uploading the mentor statement. We encourage applicants to complete this task as soon as possible because final applications cannot be submitted until the mentor statement has been completed. Incomplete or late applications will not be considered.