Pathfinder Fellowships

Application Information

• Application Materials

  The Pathfinder Application consists of:

  1. 2-page CV
  2. A research statement (recommended 3 – 5 pages) describing the proposed research*
  3. A one-page proposed budget, including justification
  4. Letter of Endorsement/Commitment from the Applicant’s Advisor
  5. Letter of Collaboration/Commitment from the Proposed Host

  The Pathfinder Application process is completed online through ProposalSpace. You can save your application in progress and return to it later, but all required documents must be entered before submitting. All required information must be submitted by the application deadline.
  
  *The research statement should also include a brief Data Management Plan, which describes how you plan to obtain, store and disseminate data products results from the fellowship.

• Grant Conditions and Requirements

  Eligibility. Graduate students enrolled in a U.S.-based college or university are eligible to receive a Pathfinder Fellowship.
  MS students are encouraged to contact CUAHSI program staff to discuss their proposed project before submitting an application.
  
  Grant conditions. Up to $5,000 Fellowships are available for travel reimbursement for the awardee only. Fellowship funds may not be used to purchase supplies or equipment or to support travel by others (e.g. advisors or other project personnel). Support for this Fellowship will be provided on a reimbursement basis in accordance with the CUAHSI Travel Policy. One-third (1/3) of the budgeted funds may be requested as an advance to cover large initial expenses.
  
  Deliverables.

  • Final Report: Recipients are required to submit a final report that documents the significant outcomes of the sponsored activities to receive full reimbursement.
  • Dissemination: Recipients are expected to develop and execute a plan for disseminating their research results, including the archiving and publication of any data collected.
• Examples of Previous Fellowships

  Some examples of the types of projects that the Pathfinder Fellowships have support in the past are:

  • Travel to another university to conduct experiments to test hypotheses related to the fellow’s thesis work using a sediment lab and equipment not available at his home university, and to work with an expert on sediment transport.
  • Travel to conduct experiments at a site fundamentally different than the fellow’s own home research site (an “unrestored” stream vs. a restored stream) to test two different measurement techniques and better understand the impact of stream restoration projects.
  • Travel to conduct complementary field research and to collect data to better understand global environmental conditions (eg, the study of black carbon in the Arctic as compared to the Antarctic).
  • Travel to an experimental watershed for a graduate student who was using the data being collected and developing a model for the watershed to see the field data collection, and work directly with the field scientists collecting the data she was using.

  Hear what Jewell Lund, PhD student at the University of Utah, a 2018 Pathfinder Fellowship recipient has to say about the benefits this award had on her research:

  

  Joseph Wasswa, a graduate student at Syracuse University, was awarded a Pathfinder Fellowship in 2018. In this video, he shares the impact that this award had on his research and his graduate school career: 

  

View Pathfinder Awardee Archives

Take a look at our Pathfinder Archives to see how previous Pathfinder Fellows have used their award to go beyond one site and one view.

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Hear What People Have Said About the Pathfinder Program!

View the Pathfinder Fellowship Testimonials to hear what people have said about their Pathfinder Fellowships! 

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