FY25 Dr. Nancy Foster Scholarship Program

The NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries is seeking applications for the Dr. Nancy Foster Scholarship Program from individuals, particularly women and members of minority groups, who, due to financial constraints, may otherwise not be able to pursue an advanced degree in the scientific disciplines supported by this program.

The NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries conducts, sponsors, and facilitates research to better understand ecosystems and cultural resources in national marine sanctuaries, their changing condition, and the significance of threats. The National Marine Sanctuary System uses conservation science to support policy decisions, develop effective response capabilities, evaluate management practices, and support broader, NOAA-wide responsibilities for marine conservation and management. Science priorities are identified through assessments of threats and resource conditions within national marine sanctuaries and management plans and are necessary to protect and conserve sanctuary resources, manage risks, reduce threats and respond to unexpected events. Strong partnerships, expert scientific content and judgment, and peer review enhances the accuracy and credibility of monitoring and research. In addition, science, education, outreach, and policy development work together to raise awareness and prompt effective action that will address ocean problems. More information on the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries conservation science can be found at https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/science. 

NOAA recognizes the student's need to ensure that scholarly research, which is often hypothesis based, addresses critical gaps in knowledge about ecological processes, physiological mechanisms, evolutionary underpinnings, human behaviors, preferences and values, and related areas. The nature of the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries’ research, as well as interactions with sanctuary staff and partners with similar goals, can help students fulfill their degree requirements through work benefiting not only national marine sanctuaries, but marine conservation more broadly and ecosystem science as a whole. In addition to natural resource studies, scholars may investigate socioeconomic, maritime archaeological and maritime heritage resource studies in national marine sanctuaries.

General science priorities for the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries are stated below. Applicants are strongly encouraged to visit the Science Needs Assessment page (https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/science/assessment/) to determine if your research proposal aligns with science needs of one or more sites within the National Marine Sanctuary System. If you feel the need to discuss your research proposal with a site Research Coordinator, contact information is available at https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/science/assessment/research_coordinators.html. For questions on project proposals that address the entirety of the National Marine Sanctuary System, you can contact [email protected] with a snapshot of your proposed research.