SMEA students apply for a number of competitive fellowships during their second year of study or when they are close to completion of the MMA degree. The four fellowships listed below are the ones most frequently pursued and obtained by SMEA students. These fellowships often lead to employment in marine science and policy. Click on a fellowship title below to go to the program’s web site for more information.

Dean John A. Knauss Sea Grant Fellowships (NOAA)

The Dean John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship was established in 1979 to provide a unique educational experience to students who have an interest in ocean, coastal and Great Lakes resources, and in the national policy decisions affecting those resources. Knauss Fellowships are sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Sea Grant College Program and managed through local Sea Grant offices. The program places highly qualified graduate students on congressional staff or in federal agencies in the Washington, D.C. area for a one-year paid fellowship. Applications must be submitted through Washington Sea Grant, which selects and forwards up to six candidates to the national office annually.

Washington Sea Grant State Fellowship (Washington Sea Grant)

The Washington Sea Grant State Fellowship (formerly the Marc Hershman Marine Policy Fellowship) offers a unique educational opportunity for soon-to-graduate or recently finished graduate students engaged in studies pertaining to ocean and coastal policy issues. This one-year, paid marine policy fellowship matches highly motivated, qualified individuals with host agencies, nonprofits or tribes throughout Washington State. The Washington Sea Grant State Fellowship offers students first-hand experiences in crafting marine and natural resource policies and allows them to share their academic expertise with their host offices. Washington Sea Grant web site.

NOAA Coastal Management Fellowship

The NOAA Coastal Management Fellowship was established in 1996 to provide professional on-the-job education and training opportunities for post-graduate students in coastal resource management and policy and to provide specific technical assistance for state coastal resource management programs. The program, managed by NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management and coordinated through Washington Sea Grant, matches highly qualified, recently graduated master’s, professional and doctoral degree students with state hosts around the U.S. in state coastal zone management programs. For two years, the recipient will work on substantive state-level coastal resource management issues that pertain to federal management policies and regulations. Applications must be submitted to Washington Sea Grant, which selects up to three candidates to the national office.

Presidential Management Fellowship

The Presidential Management Fellowship (PMF) Program, established in 1977, is designed to attract to the federal service outstanding recent graduates with a master’s degree or PhD who have an interest in, and commitment to, a career in the analysis and management of public policies and programs. Interns receive a two-year assignment with a federal agency. All cabinet departments and more than 50 federal agencies have hired Presidential Management Fellows.

PMFs from SMEA have gone on to work as Resource Management Specialists, Research Coordinators, Fisheries Management Biologists, Regulatory Specialists and other positions for organizations such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), fishery management councils and various state agencies

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