Application Process

• Eligibility

  The Energy Track's goal invites interdisciplinary research that develops new knowledge, tools, or technologies for assessing and addressing the environmental, engineering, and/or community risks associated with legacy offshore energy infrastructure, including orphaned wells, aging platforms, and pipelines, and explore pathways for their safe decommissioning and/or repurposing.

  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 engineering and physical sciences, earth and life sciences, social and behavioral sciences, health sciences and medicine, 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 contribute to the Track Goal: This track supports interdisciplinary research that develops new knowledge, tools, or technologies for assessing and addressing the environmental, engineering, and/or community risks associated with legacy offshore energy infrastructure, including orphaned wells, aging platforms, and pipelines, and explore pathways for their safe decommissioning and/or repurposing.

    • In your response, describe:

      • The knowledge gaps associated with the scientific, technical, policy, and/or legal understanding of managing legacy offshore oil and gas infrastructure.

      • How your research addresses and will contribute to reducing risks associated with legacy offshore oil and gas infrastructure.

      • The scientific, technical, policy, and/or legal pathways toward decommissioning and/or repurposing legacy offshore oil and gas infrastructure.

  • 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 parts, 600-word limit): Describe your collaborative, crosscutting, and/or interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary experience.

    • Highlight the skills, partnerships, and/or research approaches you have used to integrate knowledge across disciplines or sectors.

    • Discuss any anticipated challenges in conducting collaborative, crosscutting, and/or interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary research focused on legacy offshore oil and gas infrastructure and how you would overcome them.

  • 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 May 5, 2026, at 5:00 PM ET. 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.