The North Carolina Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve (Coastal Reserve) and North Carolina Sea Grant are accepting applications for the 2020 North Carolina Coastal Research Fellowship. The fellowship provides North Carolina-based graduate students with an opportunity to conduct research within one or more of the 10 sites that constitute the Coastal Reserve. Using the reserve sites as a research platform, fellows must conduct hypothesis-based research that addresses coastal management issues in one or more of the following broad focus areas (in no order of importance):

• Social and/or economic value of coastal ecosystems and protected areas
• Effects of air or water quality on coastal habitats and associated flora and fauna
• Sources, composition, and impacts of marine debris
• Invasive species: distribution and abundance, impacts on coastal ecosystems and human communities, and/or effectiveness of management strategies
• Maritime forests: factors impacting regeneration, the effects of wildfire and prescribed fire on ecosystem components and processes, and changes in coverage over time

Proposals are due by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2019.