The National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship Program is one of the best fellowships available for many graduate students in the Environmental Sciences. Annually awarding approximately 1,000 fellowships to graduate students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, the NSF provides three years of generous funding that is largely undirected.

A former reviewer for the NSF says, "We fund the researcher, not the research." This flexibility means that first-year grad students should not panic at the idea that you need to decide what your research topic will be by November 1st (the deadline for my program, in my year). Rather, it means that you need to come up with a plausible research project and confidently articulate it in your application by November.

A frustrating aspect of applying for the NSF for many of the grad students in my cohort in the department of Environmental Sciences, Policy, and Management was that we didn't know what a successful application looked like. UC Berkeley's graduate fellowship office has a thick binder of past successful applications that appear to date back to the mimeograph machine, but few of them deal with environmental issues, and the binder can be examined only in the fellowship office.

Here you'll find a selection of recent successful applications for the NSF from students in the Department of Environmental Sciences, Policy, and Management in the College of Natural Resources at UC Berkeley, provided as a resource to help other students approach the application-writing process. You can also check out some of the rating sheets filled out by the three reviewers who evaluate each application.

In order to apply for the NSF, you must go through the Fast Lane site, which collects all of your documents and allows you to follow your application through the process ending in submission prior to the online deadline.

Sample Applications from ESPM grad students on NSFs

Impact of Climate Change on Fire Regimes in Sub-Saharan Africa

Impacts of Climate Change on Fire Proposed Plan of Research
Impacts of Climate Change on Fire Previous Research Experience
Impacts of Climate Change on Fire Personal Statement
Impacts of Climate Change on Fire Applicant Rating 1
Impacts of Climate Change on Fire Applicant Rating 2
Impacts of Climate Change on Fire Applicant Rating 3

Human Impacts on Stream Ecosystems NSF Application

Human Impacts on Stream Ecosystems Proposed Plan of Research
Human Impacts on Stream Ecosystems Previous Research Exp.
Human Impacts on Stream Ecosystems Personal Statement
Human Impacts on Stream Ecosystems Author Advice
Applicant Rating 1 Human Impacts on Stream Ecosystems
Applicant Rating 2 Human Impacts on Stream Ecosystems
Applicant Rating 3 Human Impacts on Stream Ecosystems

Game Ranching in Botswana

Game Ranching in Botswana Proposed Plan of Research
Game Ranching in Botswana Previous Research Experience
Game Ranching in Botswana Personal Statement

Traditional Ecological Knowledge NSF Application

Traditional Ecological Knowledge Proposed Plan of Research
Traditional Ecological Knowledge Previous Research Experience
Traditional Ecological Knowledge Supporting Essay 1
Traditional Ecological Knowledge Supporting Essay 2
Traditional Ecological Knowledge Author Advice

Inter-Regime Conflict Resolution

Inter-Regime Conflict Resolution Proposed Plan of Research
Inter-Regime Conflict Resolution Previous Research Experience
Inter-Regime Conflict Resolution Author Advice

Transferrability of Costa Rican Ecotourism Model

Transferrability of Ecotourism Models Proposed Plan of Research
Transferrability of Ecotourism Models Prev. Research Experience
Transferrability of Ecotourism Models Author Advice

Ecological Effectiveness of Conservation Easements

Ecological Effectiveness of Easements Proposed Plan of Research

Nitrogen Deposition Effects on Denitrification in Humid Tropical Forest Soils

Nitrogen Deposition Effects Proposed Plan of Research
Nitrogen Deposition Previous Research Experience
Nitrogen Personal Statement