The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) and the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) today opened applications for the 2024 Marine Energy Graduate Student Research Program. This program supports graduate students working on marine energy-focused research theses or dissertations by providing access to expertise, resources, and capabilities available at DOE offices, national laboratories, government and industry partners, and other approved facilities. 

The program is open to full-time master’s and doctoral students enrolled at an accredited U.S. college or university. During the six-to-12-month fellowship, students will have access to leading scientists and researchers, along with state-of-the-art equipment. They will also gain insight into career and research opportunities and apply their academic interests to real-world challenges.  

Fellows are eligible to receive a monthly stipend, funding to cover health insurance costs, some tuition reimbursement, travel reimbursement for educational and research purposes, and a relocation allowance, if applicable.  

As part of the application process, students must identify a host institution. While students may identify their own hosts, a list of institutions that expressed interest in hosting a fellow is available on the WPTO website. (Students are not limited to this list of institutions.) Fellows can work with their host institutions remotely or on location and may conduct visits to the host facility or other sites for field research, based on their individual research plans. 

WPTO will host an informational webinar for students from 2–3 p.m. ET on October 24, 2023. More information about the webinar and a link to registration is available on the WPTO website.   

Applications are due December 1, 2023. Details on the application components, proposed research plan, and stipend and other benefits are available on the program website.  

WPTO funds and ORISE administers the Marine Energy Graduate Student Research Program.  

Learn about the 2023 fellows, as well as the 2022 fellows—Claire Gonzales, Habilou Ouro-Koura, and Christopher Ruhl—and their research.  

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