The University of Wisconsin Aquatic Sciences Center, the administrative home to both the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute and the University of Wisconsin Water Resources Institute (WRI), is soliciting applications for two new Wisconsin Water Science-Policy Fellowships, including one named for longtime Sea Grant Civil Engineer J. Philip Keillor.
Jennifer Hauxwell, assistant director for research and student engagement, said, “The fellowships provide unique educational and career opportunities for recent graduates who are interested both in aquatic resources and in the policy decisions affecting those resources in Wisconsin.”
Recent master’s or doctoral graduates will be placed within state agencies full-time for one year, with the fellows bringing technical skills to benefit water issues and challenges and receiving valuable real-world science-policy experience from the resource professionals who will serve as mentors to those new professionals entering the workforce.
Hauxwell noted the fellowships will be mutually beneficial, with the fellows contributing to the advancement of science to support policy decisions. The fellowships will be June 1, 2016-May 31,2017. The dates may be adjusted to accommodate academic semester needs or the needs of the candidates or funding institutions.
Further details include:
J. Philip Keillor Wisconsin Coastal Management-Sea Grant Fellowship, co-funded by Sea Grant and the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program, stationed with the Coastal Management Program at the Wisconsin Department of Administration. Keillor, who served as Sea Grant’s coastal engineering outreach specialist from 1973-2003, was one of the few coastal engineers in the national Sea Grant network during his career. His work touched and assisted countless local and county officials. And while he died in 2009 at the age of 71, his legacy clearly lives on, cemented further by this fellowship. This new fellow will be updating a critically important and well-received coastal engineering processes manual, first created by Keillor.
Wisconsin Water Resources Policy Fellowship, co-funded by WRI, Sea Grant’s sister organization, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, stationed with the Bureau of Water Quality at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Some of this fellow’s duties may include developing models using groundwater and climate data to predict historical lake levels and characterize the hydrologic regime of seepage lakes in the state. The second possible project may be developing impairment guidance or criteria for stream total suspended solids and physical habitat.
For both fellowships, the annual stipend is dependent on the fellow’s academic background, with post Master’s fellows earing $39,000 and postdoctoral fellows earning $45,000, and both receiving additional benefits and up to $2,000 to cover fellowship-related travel. Any student or postgraduate who will have graduated between summer 2015 and summer 2016, with a degree in an aquatic sciences-related field is eligible to apply. Application deadline – March 11, 2016.
For more detail on the fellowships, view this PDF or email Jennifer Hauxwell. Her phone number is (608) 263-4756.
