December 29, 2021

Glacier National Park Conservancy – Jerry O’Neal Research Fellowship

Applications are now being accepted for Glacier National Park Conservancy – Jerry O’Neal Research Fellowship. Jerry O’Neal was a scientist, poet, and writer. He had a deep love of nature and was an outspoken proponent for the need to have sound science to support resource management decisions. Jerry began his nearly 30 years of public service as an entomologist with the U.S. Forest Service and was the regional toxicologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Atlanta. He joined the National Park Service in 1998 as chief of science and resources management at Mammoth Cave National Park and later served as chief of the resource management program for 64 parks in the Southeast. He became deputy superintendent of Glacier National Park in 2002 where he was actively engaged in a range of environmental management projects and was a key park official during the wildfires of 2003.

Detailed Application Instructions

Applications due March 2, 2022

Jerry grew up in a poor family from the south and was the first to attend college. Education cultivated his commitment to preserving the natural world. In keeping with his model of learning as a way of improving one’s life situation and fostering environmental stewardship, the fellowship aims to provide educational assistance for students seeking to understand natural and cultural resource issues and how these intersect with human values. Special consideration will be given to proposals that address the following:
1) natural resource issues such as aquatic ecology, terrestrial ecology, fire ecology, invasive plants, and climate change
2) cultural resource issues, such as history and architectural studies, cultural landscape reports, ethnographic research and archeology.
3) social science that informs resource management about a natural or cultural topic and/or that addresses visitor impacts to park resources

Eligibility: Graduate students (a student who has been accepted into, but not yet started their grad program may apply only if a support letter from a faculty advisor is provided stating that the student has been accepted into a graduate program under their supervision) or superior upper division undergraduate students (3.5 GPA or above) in fields applicable to understanding and management of Glacier National Park. The fellowship is available to students at universities in the CESU Network.