New federal grant will support UAF doctoral students

New federal grant will support UAF doctoral students

The University of Alaska Fairbanks has been awarded a $1.9 million federal grant to support 12 new Ph.D. students at the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences.

The program, Enhancing Marine Ecosystem Research and Graduate Education in Alaska, will be funded by the National Science Foundation. EMERGE Alaska will support three years' worth of academic and summer stipends, as well as a cost-of-education allowance for graduate fellows starting in 2026.

To qualify for the fellowship program, prospective students must have received an "honorable mention" ranking in their application for a highly competitive NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Incoming graduate research fellows will be paired with CFOS faculty in line with their research interests.

"One of the barriers to getting scientists in Alaska is funding Ph.D. students," said CFOS assistant professor of fisheries Jessica Glass, who is leading the project. "To be able to fund 12 high-quality research students will be great for CFOS and great for the university."

The funding comes through the NSF Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, which targets 28 states and territories, including Alaska, with funding to strengthen scientific endeavors.

The new cohort of graduate fellows will provide a large boost to an already significant number of Ph.D. students at CFOS: The college expects to have nearly 50 Ph.D. students enrolled during the fall 2025 semester. The EMERGE Alaska program will also support UAF's larger goal of achieving R1 research status as a university, which includes a threshold of 70 doctorate degrees awarded per year.

Because of the selective requirements for the program, most of the fellows will likely be from outside Alaska, Glass said. That expected influx of students could provide a long-term benefit to the state, since most CFOS graduate students from the Lower 48 remain in Alaska after graduating.

"It's not just a recruitment tool for CFOS, it's a recruiting tool for the state of Alaska," Glass said.

ADDITIONAL CONTACT:Jessica Glass, jrglass@alaska.edu

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