Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) is accepting applications for its second cohort of Sea Grant Scholars, our innovative professional networking and development program for college and university faculty in Illinois and Indiana. The purpose of the Sea Grant Scholars program is to help develop a community of researchers working on critical issues related to Lake Michigan and the Great Lakes region.

This is a great opportunity for both new faculty and faculty who want to increase their research focus on the Great Lakes. Here’s what Sea Grant Scholars receive as part of the program:

1. Up to $12,000 (50% non-federal match required), which can be used to fund summer salary, travel, or other relevant costs.
2. The opportunity to meet and interact with IISG staff and stakeholders to help further the scholars’ understanding of Great Lakes issues and how the scholars’ research might help to address those issues.

In exchange, we ask scholars:

1. To attend two networking events in which you’ll get to meet with IISG staff and stakeholders.
2. To develop a preliminary product on an IISG-relevant topic. This could be a literature review, pilot data set, or something else that can inform a future proposal.
3. To write a proposal for submission to an external funding agency that incorporates the preliminary product and/or information from the networking activities that scholars do during the scholars program.

In short, this is a good chance to get summer salary in exchange for attending a couple of networking events and developing an IISG-relevant proposal. It’s a pretty good deal!

If you’re interested, please read the RFA (available at https://iiseagrant.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/2020-Faculty-Scholars-RFA.pdf) and review our Strategic Plan to get an idea of the type of work that we’re interested in. Applications are due to iisgres@purdue.edu by 5 p.m. Central Time on March 13, 2020.

If you have questions, please contact IISG Research Coordinator Carolyn Foley (cfoley@purdue.edu).

Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant is a part of University of Illinois Extension and Purdue Extension.