I thought I would share some information about obtaining research experience, grants, writing science, and graduate school tips that might be helpful below.

GETTING RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

  • At many universities and colleges, professors that teach classes often have a research lab full of graduate students and other scientists. These labs sometimes have opportunities for undergraduates to get involved with research. If you find a certain professor or graduate student’s research interesting and would like to get involved, you could consider emailing them to see if there are any research opportunities in their lab.

    • For UC Davis undergrads there is a google doc that has undergraduate research/field work opportunities to work with graduate students on a wide range of projects (wildlife, entomology, soil science, agriculture, etc)

  • Research Experiences for Undergraduates : this program funded by the National Science Foundation provides fully funded, amazing opportunities to work with scientists and conduct research in the summer months.

  • Texas A&M Job Board : this webpage posts various wildlife-related jobs, including short-term positions over the summer months. Becoming a field technician is a great way to gain on-the-ground fieldwork experience and spend time learning about wildlife biology outside of the classroom!

  • Many large natural history museums offer both paid and unpaid internships to work with scientists on various projects. Here’s a few links of internships by various museums:

  • The San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Researh offers paid 12-week Summer College Student Fellowships in various areas of research. The Institute has different divisions that include Applied Animal Ecology, Applied Plant Ecology, Behavioral Ecology, Conservation Education, Genetics, Reproductive Physiology, and Wildlife Diseases Laboratories.

  • If you’ve recieved a Federal Pell Grant from the U.S Government, you could be eligible for the Bejamin A. Gilman International Scholarship, which financially supports undergraduates at 4 and 2 year colleges to study abroad. I’ve seen some students incorporate wildlife research internships into their study abroad experience (this student did an wildlife internship in Madagascar)

  • Here’s a list of organizations and job boards compiled by Dr. Jennie Miller (Defenders of Wildlife) that also might be useful.

GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS FOR WILDLIFE RESEARCH

Here’s a list of a few grants and fellowship opportunities:

  • The Fulbright Program offers fellowships for U.S based individuals to conduct research abroad AND individuals based in other countries to conduct research in the United States. The mission of the Fulbright program is to foster mutual understanding among nations and share knowledge across communities through educational and cultural exchange.

    • For the Research Awards, applicants can design a research project in collaboration with an organization based abroad (or a US-based organization/university if applying from abroad). I did a Fulbright in 2014 to study wolves in India – if anyone has any questions about the application process, I’m happy to answer questions over email.

    • For Pakistani scholars: Pakistan has one of the largest Fulbright program and offers a wide range of fellowship types (grants for funding graduate degrees, undergraduate and teacher exchange programs, etc). Check out the United States Educational Foundation in Pakistan’s website for more information.

  • The Rufford Foundation Grant : this grant is aimed for providing funding for conservationists working in developing countries.

  • The Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund : this organization provides grants to individual species conservation initiatives, mostly focused on species that are endangered or threatened.

  • The Alongside Wildlife Foundation: This NGO helps fund projects that are important yet typically overlooked by most funding agencies and organizations. Some of these often overlooked areas include projects that generate basic but fundamental information about species and projects involving science communciation.

  • The American Association of University Women offers various grants and fellowships to women’s graduate education.

    • For women scholars based not in the USA: The AAUW has International Fellowships for both graduate and postgraduate education in the United States for women scholars who are not US citizens or permanent residents.

  • For women scholars based not in the USA: The Schlumberger Foundation Faculty for the Future Program provdies fellowships to women from developing countries who are completing a PhD or postdoctoral program.

  • For women scholars based not in the USA: The P.E.O International Peace Scholarship provides funds up to $12,500 to women from other countries for graduate study in the United States or Canada.

  • for scholars based not in USA: The Wildlife Conservation Network Scholarship Program provides funding to nurture emerging young conservationists from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America that are committed to working on wildlife conservation in their home countries. If you are an interested applicant, the WCN required you to email scholarship@wildnet.org for more information. They also state that you must be nominated by a pre-approved.eligible nominator, and the call for nominations opens in October of every year.

  • for scholars based not in USA: SCGIS International Scholarship Program is designed to allow conservation GIS practitioners to attend the Esri User Conference and SCGIS Annual Conference in California, as well as allow them to take specialized three-week GIS courses at University of California, Davis!

  • for scholars based not in USA: Conservation Leadership Programme: this organization supports early career conservationists with project funding, as well as training and network opportunities.

  • for scholars based not in USA: IDEA WILD is a great NGO that aims to empower conservationists by awarding equipment grants for projects focused on research, conservation education, field training, etc. For example, IDEA WILD provides equipment such as camera traps, spotting scopes, tents, binoculars, GPS units to conservation projects worldwide.

RESOURCES FOR WRITING SCIENCE

I came across this book during graduate school and it was very helpful for learning the art of clear and effective writing:

“Writing Science: How to write papers that get cited and proposals that get funded” by Joshua Schimel.

The entire book is also freely available as a pdf here

APPLYING TO GRADUATE SCHOOL

The process of applying to an Ecology/Evolution/Conservation graduate program in the U.S.A can be a bit confusing. Although the application date is usually in the winter, the process of contacting potential professors and graduate programs starts much earlier.

The advice from Dr. Jennie Miller provides a great overview on the application process and is tailored for international students that may not be familar with the typical procedures of applying to U.S. schools. You can find the pdf here.

Dr. Anusha Shankar also provides tips on applying to graduate school.

The Brashares Group at University of California-Berkeley also offers advice for applying to a graduate program in ecology/evolution/conservation.

Feel free to reach out to me (lmhennelly@ucdavis.edu) if you have questions about applying to graduate school – I’m happy to answer any questions.