RFRC Graduate Student Fellowship Awards

2026 – 2027 Fellowship Awards Applications will close on January 16, 2026.

The Rasmuson Fisheries Research Center (RFRC) was founded in 1994 by Elmer E. Rasmuson with an endowment to the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). A second major endowment in support of the center was created through a bequest from Mr. Rasmuson’s estate in 2001. The endowments are managed by the University of Alaska Foundation, and interest on the principal is used to support College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences (CFOS) graduate student research that contributes to the scientific or applied knowledge base of Alaska’s marine waters and resources. Visit the RFRC Award Recipients page to read more about current and past students and their research. For examples of successful RFRC-funded proposals, graduate students intending to submit a proposal are encouraged to reach out to previous RFRC fellowship awardees.

About The Award

Rasmuson Fisheries Research Center (RFRC) fellowships are annual awards (01 July through 30 June of next year) that provide a student stipend, tuition, fees, and health care to recipients. The fellowship amount is based on the degree sought.

  • For MS: $37,526 plus resident tuition*, health insurance, and infrastructure and consolidation fees
  • For PhD: $43,776 plus resident tuition*, health insurance, and infrastructure and consolidation fees

*For guidelines on allowable credits per year and the calculation of tuition costs, please see below under “Budget” for more details.

Occasionally, a fellowship will be awarded for only one semester (prorated to reflect the time the fellowship is awarded). Students who do not qualify for resident tuition must show how they will pay for the additional expense. Students cannot “self-fund” the nonresident portion of the tuition.

The fellowship award credits tuition, fees, and insurance first, and the remaining balance is awarded as a monthly fellowship payment. Income taxes are not deducted from the fellowships; students receiving the fellowship must plan accordingly (we recommend saving 10–15% for taxes).
The RFRC Advisory Board has the discretion to change the amount of awards depending on endowment earnings.

Research Goals

Proposals must demonstrate an interconnection within and/or among fishery systems, including community connections, and must address at least two of following target areas in Alaska waters. Priority will be given to projects that incorporate novel and emerging technologies as it pertains to the research goals. Note that the target areas below are not ranked in order of priority.

  • Ecology, biology, distribution and systematics of species of fish, shellfish, and seaweeds affected by fisheries, both target and nontarget species;
  • Human dimensions of fishery systems, e.g., community and socio-cultural relationships;
  • Development of the shellfish aquaculture and mariculture industry in Alaska;
  • Two-way exchange of knowledge (two-eyed seeing) that braids both Indigenous and Western knowledge systems and ways of knowing;
  • Genetic structure of Alaskan fish and shellfish populations and seaweeds;
  • Fluctuations of fish and shellfish stocks and seaweeds, interactions of forage species with consumers including mammals and birds, and the ecosystems in which they occur;
  • Responses of fish, shellfish, and seaweeds to environmental variability;
  • Impacts of climate change on marine and riverine fisheries and their communities;
  • Impacts of emerging and legacy contaminants and diseases on the health of water-based ecosystems and human populations.

Award Criteria and Guidelines

  1. Awards will be made to support excellence in graduate student research. The award is not a research assistantship, but a fellowship in recognition of scholastic excellence. Awards are open to any full-time or prospective CFOS graduate student.
  2. Research should produce findings with a potential for continued development as a scientific or applied initiative.
  3. Projects should be distinctive and make an original contribution to existing knowledge.
  4. Projects should have potential economic value to the fishing industry and contribute to long-term benefits for Alaska.
  5. Awards may be contingent on receipt of research funding from other sources. The award cannot be used for research expenses. See below under "Format of Proposals" for more details.
  6. Proposals must be submitted by the graduate student with faculty advisor endorsement as described below.
  7. Students must reapply and recompete each year for funding; there are no automatic renewals. Total funding is capped at 2 years for M.S. and 3 years for Ph.D. students.
  8. Proposals will be evaluated following the criteria identified in the proposal rubric.

Format of Proposals

Proposals should be submitted in electronic format (Adobe PDF preferred), should contain the following sections, and are limited to four pages (with an additional reference page, if needed). Supporting documentation should be provided electronically or in hard copy if necessary.

  1. Awards will be made to support excellence in graduate student research. The award is not a research assistantship, but a fellowship in recognition of scholastic excellence. Awards are open to any full-time or prospective CFOS graduate student.
  2. Research should produce findings with a potential for continued development as a scientific or applied initiative.
  3. Projects should be distinctive and make an original contribution to existing knowledge.
  4. Projects could have potential value to the fishing industry and contribute to long-term benefits for Alaska.
  5. Awards may be contingent on receipt of research funding from other sources. This award cannot be used for research expenses. See below under "Format of Proposals" for more details.
  6. Proposals must be submitted by the graduate student with faculty advisor endorsement as described below.
  7. Students must reapply and recompete each year for funding; there are no automatic renewals. Total funding is capped at 2 years for M.S. and 3 years for Ph.D. students.
  8. Proposals will be evaluated following the criteria identified in the proposal rubric (note that this does not link to the rubric right now, because we are revising that as well).

Format of Proposals

Proposals should be submitted in electronic format (Adobe PDF preferred), should contain the following sections, and are limited to four pages (with an additional reference pages, if needed; note that references do not count against the page limit). Supporting documentation should be provided electronically or in hard copy if necessary.

  1. Goal and objectives. Provide an overall study goal and list the RFRC research goals and priorities addressed in the study, and how they are addressed in your proposed research.
  2. Background and need. Document the background and need for your study using relevant literature. Please address how your proposed study is justified within the context of the current state of knowledge in this research area. Note how your proposal addresses an Alaska-relevant issue in fisheries and/or marine sciences, while also addressing community-based and/or socio-cultural concerns in Alaska.
  3. Study approach. Provide a brief overview of the fisheries, laboratory, and/or modelling/statistical approach that you will use to meet your research objectives. Please note that this section of the proposal should be no longer than 300 words maximum and not be highly technical.
  4. Prior achievements. In cases where the project is ongoing and has had other support, please list achievements of the project, or if appropriate, achievements of related projects of the graduate student and his/her professor. Students are encouraged to provide personal information on their background as relevant in relation to their study focus. This information may also include support from their mentor, laboratory group, or other research stakeholders related to their specific project.
  5. Milestones. Anticipated goals for this research with a timeline for the coming year should be given. Provide an estimate of the approximate number of months required for each goal. Estimate when the project will be completed.
  6. Budget. Please provide the following information on funding needs for the student: proposed start and end dates, degree sought, number of years completed, whether the student has advanced to candidacy, and how many credits of tuition are needed. The guidance below is provided to students on credit needs for the calculation of tuition. All budget questions should be directed to RFRC Director Trent Sutton at tmsutton@alaska.edu or CFOS Academic Program manager Christina Sutton at clsutton3@alaska.edu.
    1. Tuition is for the fall and spring semesters only and will not include tuition for the summer session.
    2. All students requesting a full one-year fellowship, regardless of resident or non-resident, must be registered for a minimum of six credits per semester.
    3. All graduate students that are student athletes, international, live on campus, and/or other exemptions as apply must register for nine credits per semester.
    4. A maximum of nine credits of tuition are funded per semester at the resident tuition rate. Non-resident students must have their advisors state in their letter of support how they are going to come up with the difference in tuition.
    5. All students, regardless of their status, must provide justification for the number of credits they enroll in per semester.
  7. Once the student’s thesis or dissertation has been submitted to the UAF Graduate School, the student’s RFRC fellowship will end, regardless of the amount remaining.
  8. Current and pending funding. Because research costs cannot be funded as part of this award, please state how research costs will be met. The proposal should indicate how funding for the research (other than the RFRC Fellowship) will be obtained for the student to complete the work described. If student funding has been requested and is pending for a research assistantship from another funding source (e.g., North Pacific Research Board, National Science Foundation, etc.), this should be stated in this section, including the organization to which the proposal has been made and the expected decision date. If no other potential source of assistantship funding is pending, please state “No other student funding has been applied for from other sources” in this section of the proposal. If the student has current funding, that also needs to be listed with the stipulation that “double funding” is not allowed. That is, the student cannot hold this award and another award for salary at the same time.
  9. Transcripts. Students must submit a copy of their undergraduate and graduate transcripts. Transcripts can be unofficial copies.
  10. Faculty advisor endorsement. Each student proposal should be supported by an endorsement from the student’s faculty advisor. In this endorsement, the advisor should address the student’s ability as a scholar, the relevancy of the project to the field of study in Alaska, the student’s timeline, and other funding support for the student (both in hand and pending). The faculty advisor should send this endorsement by email to Christina Sutton at clsutton3@alaska.edu. Note that all student faculty advisor letters must be submitted prior to the RFRC fellowship deadline; late submissions will result in the disqualification of the associated student’s proposal.
  11. Proposal language. Given the diverse nature of the RFRC Advisory Board, students are encouraged to write their proposal in a manner that is understandable by a non-technical audience. 

Deadline and Submission Process

Proposal submissions are due by January 16, 2026. Awards will be announced in March 2026 and funding will be available on July 01, 2026.

Proposals that do not follow format guidelines or that contain significant grammatical and/or formatting errors may not be considered for funding, at the discretion of the RFRC Advisory Board.

New proposals should be submitted by graduate students directly by email to Christina Sutton at clsutton3@alaska.edu.

Award recipients will be expected to provide a one-page summary of their project that includes a brief summary of results, a brief overview that highlights the relevance of their results, and next steps for the project. If there have been any significant successes or challenges during the previous year, those should be noted as well. In addition to the written summary, recipients are expected to submit a recorded 4-6 min presentation to be added to their RFRC website profile. The presentation should provide a brief overview of the objectives of the research with preliminary results and conclusions, as well as a discussion of next steps. Summary reports and presentations will be due on January 16, 2026 and should also be emailed to Christina Sutton at clsutton3@alaska.edu. Students who do not submit a summary report and/or presentation will be ineligible for future RFRC funding support.