The Division of Forestry and Natural Resources (DFNR) at West Virginia University, with support from the USDA National Needs Graduate and Postgraduate Fellowship (NNF) Grants Program, is inviting applications for graduate fellows for Summer or Fall 2024 for the following graduate programs:
• Master of Science in Forestry (MSF) – 1 Fellow
• PhD in Natural Resources Science (NRS) – 2 Fellows
This is a 12-month fellowship that will provide 2 years of support for MS students and 3 years of support for PhD students.
The goal of the fellowship is to recruit and train multidisciplinary and diverse professionals in climate-smart forestry (CSF) through a graduate education that focuses on forest carbon management and sustainable biomaterials. These students will be earning either a PhD in NRS or an MSF degree that will be administered by the Sustainable Forestry and Biomaterials (SFB) program under DFNR. Students in this graduate fellowship will be exposed to vanguard methodologies to understand the role that carbon dioxide removal (CDR) plays in climate change (i.e., from management, policy, social, and marketing aspects), and how innovative and high value products can be produced from woody biomass to support and promote sustainable forest bioeconomies. The fellowship will provide experiential learning experiences, which include intensive collaborative and multidisciplinary research experience, interdisciplinary teaching experience, professional internship, and presenting in international/national/regional conferences. Examples of research topics that students could work on include:
- Forest policy and management approaches to carbon dioxide removal (CDR)
- Removing technical and accessibility barriers to carbon markets
- The social context of CDR – role of family forest owners in carbon markets
- Economic implications of different forest carbon management strategies
- Promoting sustainable biomaterials like wood for common and novel products and applications (e.g., mass timber, chemicals, biofuels, textiles, nanocellulose, packaging, etc.)
- Using nanotechnology as a means of supporting the development of high value products from renewable and highly available raw materials like wood
- Adding value to forest products industry with the production of innovative biomaterials
- Densification of underutilized hardwood species for structural applications
Benefits
- Annual stipend of $18,500 for MS students and $24,500 for PhD students
- Waiver of university tuition (fellows are responsible for University fees)
- College tuition scholarship of $250 for each Fall and Spring semester Student health insurance
- Travel allowance for professional meetings and internship activities
Eligibility
- Applicants must be U.S. citizens or native residents of U.S. territories
- Applications from women and from underrepresented minorities will be given special consideration
- A bachelor’s degree (MS applicants) or an MS degree (PhD applicants) in forestry and related fields, wood science and technology and related fields, natural resources, biomaterials related fields, chemical engineering, chemistry, geography, biology, natural resource/agricultural economics, and environmental science.
- Strong communications and quantitative skill.
- Applicants with previous research experience, leadership and mentoring experiences, and other extracurricular involvement are highly encouraged
- Minimum GPA of 3.0 and completion of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) for PhD. No GRE requirement for MS.
Application Details
- CV
- Transcript (could be unofficial)
- Graduate research statement (describing how motivations, research interests and career goals will fit in the NNF Program)
- Two recommendation letters from previous professors/mentors (send directly to the NNF program contact below)
- A writing sample.
The complete applications should be emailed to the following contact depending on field of interest:
Summer 2024 or Fall 2024 Start Date:
Forest Carbon Management Sustainable Biomaterials
(Management, policy, social, and marketing aspects) (Bioproducts from wood)
Dr. Kathryn Arano Gazal (PI) Dr. Gloria Oporto (Co-PI)
Email:
Ka***********@ma**.edu
Email:
Gl***********@ma**.edu
Phone: 304-293-5321 Phone: 304-293-7648
Those applicants selected to be fellows will then need to apply and be admitted to the DFNR MSF/PhD in Natural Resources graduate program.
