Trainee Application

For students entering the Team-TERRA program either fall 2024, (existing UConn students) or fall 2025 cohort (students applying for admission to UConn), applications will be reviewed starting on February 1st, 2024, with priority given to those applications that are received prior to February 1st, 2024. Rolling admission will continue until April 15th, 2024.

We seek trainees who are:

  • Collaborative, driven, and creative students with diverse lived and professional experiences who are trained broadly in the environmental sciences for this National Science Foundation-funded training program.
  • Strong potential to lead or contribute to and taking part in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Environmental Justice initiatives
  • We encourage applicants from groups historically excluded from STEM, including  but not limited to people with varying neurological and physical abilities, women, gender non-conforming, Black, Indigenous, and other Students of Color.
  • We are interested in students whose life experiences or  academic history will contribute to the environmental justice focus of the program. 

The training program provides successful applicants with:

  • ONE full year of support ($34,000 stipend).
  • ONE academic year of WAIVED tuition and fees.
  • ONE full year of subsidized health benefits.
  • Access to travel funds for the duration of the program provided equitable distribution and availability of funds.

The program entails:

  • 2-year sequence of coursework.
  • team, service, and hands-on training.
  • a real-world internship.
  • associated workshops.

Successful students will learn highly sought-after skills in:

  • Risk analysis, management, and communication
  • Landscape analysis and decision support tools embedded in geographic information systems (GIS)
  • How to lead and collaborate with diverse stakeholders.

The trainees will independently complete and work toward departmental and university dissertation requirements. For more information about the UConn Team-TERRA graduate fellowship program, see Applications: Trainee Information.

Besides collecting basic information about you and your preferences for the program, we ask that you answer the following questions.

  1. What are your research and career goals, and how will participation in Team-TERRA advance them? (400-word maximum)
  2. What skills, qualities, experiences, disciplinary expertise, or interdisciplinary experiences would you bring to help understand risks to food, water, energy, and ecosystems? (400-word maximum)
  3. What do you foresee as the opportunities for and the challenges to collaborating on interdisciplinary research? (400-word maximum)
  4. In what way(s) do you see yourself contributing to Team-TERRA’s efforts to enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion in the program and more generally in the science and application of risk management? (400-word maximum)

Information about you

Name(Required)
Are you already enrolled in a Ph.D. program at UConn or are you a new applicant to a Ph.D. program at UConn?(Required)
Advisor support
What types of involvement are you seeking?(Required)

Demographic Information

Please indicate all ethnic or racial identities that apply to you. A response is not required. This information is used for assessing our efforts at diversifying this program. Only the NRT leadership will have access to this information. Your responses will be kept private and secure. The information will not be used for a discriminatory purpose. You can change this information in the future by emailing the NRT coordinator.(Required)
Please check any disability boxes that apply to you. A response is not required. This information is used for assessing our efforts at diversifying this program. Only the NRT leadership will have access to this information. Your responses will be kept private and secure. The information will not be used for a discriminatory purpose. You can change this information in the future by emailing the NRT coordinator.(Required)
Please check any Gender boxes that apply to you. A response is not required. This information is used for assessing our efforts at diversifying this program. Only the NRT leadership will have access to this information. Your responses will be kept private and secure. The information will not be used for a discriminatory purpose. You can change this information in the future by emailing the NRT coordinator.(Required)
Are you a veteran of the US armed services?(Required)
Did one or more of your parents or guardians obtain a four-year college degree?(Required)
Are you a U.S. citizen or green card holder?(Required)

Essays

Here we ask you to provide some brief answers to a set of questions to gauge your contributions to Team-TERRA. Please adhere to word limits. We suggest that you compose your answers in a word processing document first before copying and pasting them into the fields below.
Max. file size: 250 MB.
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.