John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship

North Carolina Sea Grant is accepting applications from North Carolina graduate students for the 2025 Dean John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship. The deadline is February 19, 2025 at 5 p.m. Eastern Time.

NOAA offers the prestigious fellowship through the National Sea Grant Office in honor of John A. Knauss, who was a Sea Grant founder, NOAA administrator, and dean of the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography. The program places graduate students in Washington, D.C. to work on federal policies and processes that affect ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes issues.

The 2025 Knauss fellows will serve from February 1, 2026 to January 31, 2027. Fellows may work in host offices in the U.S. Senate and House, as well as in departments in the executive branch, including many NOAA programs.

North Carolina Sea Grant strongly encourages applicants from graduate students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority Serving Institutions and/or from traditionally underserved and underrepresented communities.

To be eligible for the 2026 fellowship:

• A student must be enrolled towards a degree in a graduate program at any point between the onset of the 2024 Fall Term (quarter, trimester, semester, etc.) and February 19, 2025;
• The student’s graduate degree program must be through an accredited institution of higher education in the United States or U.S. Territories;
• Students are eligible regardless of nationality; domestic and international students at accredited U.S. institutions may apply; and
• Applicants must have an interest in ocean, coastal and Great Lakes resources and in the national policy decisions affecting those resources.

North Carolina Sea Grant will invite the state’s top candidates for interviews in March 2024 and then nominate a small handful for consideration at the national level.

Contact John Fear at jmfear@ncsu.edu for more information.

Deadline

All applications are due by 5 p.m. Eastern Time on February 19, 2025.

Application Information

• North Carolina applicants must apply through North Carolina Sea Grant’s eSeaGrant online portal. NOTE: Do not wait until the last minute to register for the portal and complete all required steps. The deadlines are firm. 
• Tips and important information are available in the 2026 Sea Grant Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship Student Guide.
• Read the Knauss Fellowships Fact Sheet.
• Learn more from the National Sea Grant College Program.
• Watch this video about the fellowship for a quick overview.

Hear From the Fellows Themselves

• Improving Hurricane Predictions by Observing the Ocean with Cheyenne Stienbarger
• Pathways to Marine Policy: Nine 2021 Knauss Finalists Talk About How They Became Fellows
• Interviews as Catalysts of Change, Maggie Chory (2020), National Sea Grant Office
• You Can’t Plan for a Change in Plans, Cheyenne Steinbarger (2020), Global Ocean Monitoring and Observing Program
• Sun, Sand and Science, Alicia Cheripka (2019), NOAA’s Ocean Acidification Program
• On the Cutting Edge of Ocean Policy, Elizabeth Clark (2018), NOAA’s Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs.
• Reflecting on Marine Concervation at the State Department, Brianna Elliott (2018), U.S. Department of State, Office of Marine Conservation.
• The Faces Behind our Maritime Industry, Supriti Jaya Ghosh (2016), U.S. Committee on the Marine Transportation System.
• Framing Policy in the Arctic: Views of Changing Ecosystems, Part 1 and Part 2, Meagan Dunphy-Daly (2015), congressional affairs fellow, NOAA’s Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs.
• Five Awesome Things About the Seafood Expo North America 2015, Nichola Clark (2015), NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement, and Carolyn Doherty (2015) U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs in the Office of Marine Conservation.
• Knauss Fellowship: Opening New Career Paths, Andrea Dell’Apa (2014),  Office of Management & Budget at NOAA Fisheries.

Read Coastwatch articles and news releases about current and former Knauss fellows:

• National Knauss Fellowship Program Selects Five NC Finalists
• Six NC Graduate Students Named 2023 Knauss Fellowship Finalists
• NOAA and Sea Grant Select 2022 Knauss Fellowship Finalists from NC
• NOAA and Sea Grant Select 2021 Knauss Fellowship Finalists from NC
• Four N.C. Graduate Students Named 2020 Knauss Fellowship Finalists
• CAPITAL ACHIEVEMENTS: 2019 Knauss Finalists Named
• KNAUSS FELLOWS: Where Are They Now?
• CAPITAL CAREERS: Knauss Fellows: Where are they now?