Knauss legislative fellowships in Congress help build careers — and they're fun and educational. See our video and fact sheet for details.
2025 Knauss Fellowships Awards and Schedules
Award Total: $76,400-$93,900
- $71,400 for your salary/stipend and personnel expenses (i.e. fringe benefits)
- $5,000 to cover other allowable expenses (relocation prior to the fellowship, academic tuition, journal publication fees, academic- and fellowship-related travel, conference fees, online trainings, and workshops.)
- Up to $17,500 for host office-related travel (dependent on host office selection) and/or placement week expenses.
Schedule
| October 2023 | NOAA releases 2025 Federal Funding Opportunity (NOAA-OAR-SG-2025-23655) and Maryland Sea Grant opens the Knauss Fellowship application process |
| Nov. 2023 - Jan. 2024 |
Draft applications in eSeaGrant Candidate meetings with Maryland Sea Grant |
| 15 February 2024 at 5 PM | Fellowship applications submitted to Maryland Sea Grant by the official deadline |
| March 2024 | Maryland Sea Grant programs review packages, interview applicants |
| March 28, 2024 | Maryland Sea Grant panel selects and submits finalist application packets to National Sea Grant program for the national competition (up to six for Maryland and 6 for DC) |
| May 2024 | National review panel and finalists selection |
| June 2023 |
Applicants notified of application status |
| June 2024 | All applicants should reserve this time for finalists' orientation. While the event will be recorded, all finalists will be required to watch the information provided. |
| July 2024 | Meet with Maryland Sea Grant to discuss upcoming fellowship before placement week |
| Fall-Winter | Placement week (virtual or in Washington, D.C.) |
| January 2025 | Meet with Maryland Sea Grant to complete paperwork |
| 13 January 20254 | Submit photo and biographical sketch to Maryland Sea Grant |
| January 2025 | Submit all required Human Resources paperwork to Maryland Sea Grant |
| 1 February 2025 | Fellowship starts |
| March 2025 | Knauss welcome reception and dinner on Capitol Hill |
| 31 January 2026 | Fellowship ends; final report due to Maryland Sea Grant and NOAA |
Program Announcements
News and Blogs
Featured Fellow
Leone Yisrael is a cephalopod-loving scuba diver, cook, and loves to try new activities. She conducts genetic analysis and fieldwork at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center through the Coastal Disease Ecology Lab.
Featured Research Project
Developing a habitat model for mysids, an important link in Chesapeake Bay food webs
Mysids are important mesozooplankton prey for many species of fish in Chesapeake Bay and are an important link in transferring energy from lower to upper trophic levels. Mysids also serve as biological vectors for benthic-pelagic coupling due to their diel vertical migration and omnivorous prey-switching behavior, which makes mysids important regulators of food web architecture. Despite their central role in coastal food webs, surprisingly little is known about mysid ecology and dynamics in Chesapeake Bay.
Chesapeake Quarterly Magazine
Complicated Contaminants: Finding PFAS in the Chesapeake Bay
