NSCU National Needs Fellowship Program open for applications

North Carolina State University’s Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Engineering, and Sciences are recruiting outstanding students to pursue interdisciplinary PhDs as USDA-funded National Needs Fellows. We are targeting students from groups traditionally underrepresented in agricultural sciences including women and African-. Hispanic-, Native-, and Asian-Americans. We seek highly qualified and motivated students with demonstrated research experience and potential to excel in an interdisciplinary setting.

Fellows’ research will focus on six targeted expertise shortage areas: 1) biotechnology, biochemistry, and microbiology; 2) natural resources including sustainable agriculture and biofuels; 3) soil sciences; 4) agricultural/biological engineering; 5) plant sciences and horticulture; and 6) water resources including water quality. The course selection will be rigorous, STEM-based, and tailored to each student’s professional goals and chosen research/extension project.

Students will concentrate on one core discipline with cross training among these and others such as bioinformatics, computational biology, statistics, electrical and computer engineering, geographic information sciences (GIS), remote sensing, integrated pest management, scientific modeling, regulatory sciences, and climate change.

The Fellowship will provide diverse training experiences that will prepare students for multiple career tracks. Fellows will develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and apply rigorous scientific methodology in a multidisciplinary teamwork environment. A required three-month resident internship in the public sector or at a local agricultural biotechnology company will increase career opportunities in the strong job market for cross-trained scientists.

NCSU is among the top PhD-granting institutions in 1) agricultural sciences, engineering, and statistics, 2) industry research funding and expenditures; 3) and agriculture research volume. We are regularly recognized for our outstanding academic quality, student-faculty ratios, and retention and graduation rates.

For more information about the program and how to apply, please see http://usdannf.wordpress.ncsu.edu/.