NCASC Early Career Development
Early Career Development Opportunities
Explore programs and opportunities offered through the National CASC for early career development.
CASC Network Education Programs
Learn more about other education and professional development opportunities across the CASC network.
National CASC internship and fellowship programs help undergraduates, graduate students, and post-doctoral researchers make their research applicable to pressing climate change challenges.
Undergraduate Opportunities
George Mason and Howard University Fish and Wildlife Adaptation Internships
The George Mason University Department of Environmental Science and Policy and Howard University Department of Environmental Studies offer undergraduate internships in collaboration with the National CASC. Through these opportunities, students learn to develop policy-informing products to assist with managing the impacts of climate change on fish and/or wildlife species. The program provides students with the opportunity to acquire professional experience outside of academia, while simultaneously advancing their degree program.
The George Mason program includes spring and fall semesters (10 hrs per week) and summer (40 hrs per week). The Howard program is spring (10 hrs per week) and summer (40 hrs per week).
Questions? Contact Jackson Valler (jvaller@usgs.gov)
Applications open each Fall.
Graduate Opportunities
Science to Action Fellowship
The Science to Action Fellowship is a one-year program that supports graduate students in developing policy-relevant research related to climate change impacts on fish, wildlife, and landscapes. The program helps students “put their science into action”, pairing them with mentors in the USGS and the CASC network to help them find ways to apply their scientific research directly to natural resource decision making. For example, previous students have developed a structural decision making framework to help manage Navajo rangelands, conducted a vulnerability assessment to inform estuary management under climate change, and used climate modeling and stakeholder interviews to identify high-priority locations for freshwater fish conservation along the Red River. The program supports up to two students each year and comes with a $10,000 award to support the fellowship project. This program was jointly developed by the CASC network and the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Michigan State University. Learn More>>
Open to graduate students at CASC Consortium Institutions who are students for the entire fellowship year (special circumstances otherwise considered).
Questions? Contact Abigail Lynch (ajlynch@usgs.gov)
Applications open each Fall.
Postdoctoral Opportunities
Climate Adaptation Postdoctoral (CAP) Fellows Program
The Climate Adaptation Postdoctoral (CAP) Fellows Program is a one-of-a-kind research opportunity that brings together postdoctoral scholars from around the country to conduct independent and collaborative research on climate change impacts to fish, wildlife, and ecosystems.
Each two-year fellowship cohort is centered around a common climate theme, such as wildfire or aquatic flows. Regional CASCs each host one postdoctoral fellow per cohort at an associated consortium university. Fellows work with mentors associated within their CASC to conduct regionally-relevant research related to the theme, focusing on the management challenges experienced by resource stewards in those areas. The fellows also work with each other to create a national synthesis product that explores wide-scale implications of the theme. The fellows come together periodically to develop their synthesis products and to undergo professional development training on topics such as translational ecology, mutual learning with stakeholders, iterative creative problem-solving, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Learn More>>
Questions? Contact Jackson Valler (jvaller@usgs.gov)
ORISE Opportunities
The Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) is a US. Department of Energy asset directed to recruiting and training the next generation of our nation's scientific workforce. ORISE connects emerging undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate researchers with paid opportunities at federal agencies and research facilities across the country, giving participants experience with the federal workplace and providing professional development.
ORISE opportunities with the National CASC allow participants to work with USGS scientists on applied climate adaptation challenges, helping our nation’s natural resources to survive and thrive under a changing climate.
And More!
The National CASC also creates additional opportunities for students to engage with NCASC research projects and initiatives. These can be part- or full-time contract positions, where undergraduate and graduate students join a research project to collect data or perform analysis. They can also be full-time research positions where students or graduates lead an established research project. The NCASC also accepts participants from federal internship programs such as the Virtual Student Federal Service internship.
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