NC Sea Grant / NC Space Grant Ghost Forest Research Funding for Graduate Students

North Carolina Sea Grant and North Carolina Space Grant are offering a special joint funding opportunity for graduate student research on ghost forests. Full-time graduate students at colleges and universities in North Carolina are eligible to apply for the $10,000 award.

Proposals are due August 11, 2023. Information and instructions are available at go.ncsu.edu/ghost-forest-research.

Regional research on ghost forests — including a variety of remote sensing tools and mapping technology — can inform understandings of the impacts of sea level rise. One such impact is conversion of coastal forests to wetlands and eventually open water, a process that includes a “ghost forest” stage. Tracking the loss of forests and its effects is a sentinel tool in responding to how our coastal habitats are changing.

North Carolina Sea Grant and North Carolina Space Grant strongly encourage proposals from graduate students at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and minority serving institutions (MSIs) and/or from traditionally underserved and underrepresented communities, as well as from graduate students who can demonstrate how their work and related outreach will benefit underserved and underrepresented communities.

The programs’ joint funding for ghost forest research not only will highlight tools from NASA and NOAA, but also will provide opportunities for regional collaboration. The programs have partnered with Louisiana Sea Grant and Space Grant. Lousiana’s student and North Carolina’s student will collaborate, consider broader implications for their work, and have access to unique professional development opportunities.

North Carolina’s recipient of the research funding will present at the 2024 NC Space Grant symposium.

For more information, including required proposal elements and the submission process, visit go.ncsu.edu/ghost-forest-research.