dubstep:drop da NaOH

No edit: Checked the mailbox, E1 in RI...nothing yet

Like I said earlier, Bronda said that the decisions for the external reviews were already made. This makes sense because someone earlier in this thread said that the external reviews began in March. I am guessing that because they have not updated anything on their website (as in delayed responses like in the year 2011) they may have already contacted the winners and therefore situation two may be more probable. I really have no idea.I have a couple of guesses 1) They have already made decisions and have a list, but they might not have contacted the winners because they are waiting for funding results. If the program does get funding then the question is how much. Did they get the full amount? If so everyone they have selected will be contacted. If they did not get the full amount then they may choose from the pool of winners who gets funding and who does not based on the amount of money they have. 2) They have already contacted the winners but have yet to say whether or not they will actually get the money. These contacted winners may either a) choose to wait for results or if they have applied for funding elsewhere and have won (outside, TAship, etc), then they may choose the funding they are most certain of having first (most likely not EPA) if they are not allowed to having multiple sources of funding at the same time (anyone here an expert in game theory??? LOL). This would make things slower, because runner ups would be contacted and etc. If the EPA does not get the full amount they may contact those who have won but have not received funding due to budget constraints from the sequestration...I think this is likely because I spoke with someone from NOAA today and he said that that is what they had to do for one of their fellowships (was originally allocated for 3, only got funding for two after the sequestration, so the third person who won was told that she won but did not get any money due to the budget cut). As to why the winners have not said anything yet, maybe they don't visit gradcafe forums...or they think: the situation is so grim, why bother saying anything? TL;DR: I am waiting for my envelope in the mail at this point.

UPDATE: I got in touch with Bronda Harrison. She said that the decisions from the external reviews were made sometime between late April and early May. I asked her if they have made decisions on who has won the award, and she says that she is not sure yet because of the fate of the STAR fellowship funding is uncertain. She emphasized contacting Brandon because he may have more information, but she wasn't she if he had more information than her. She said that award recipients may have been emailed but she also said that she wasn't sure. I contacted Brandon and he did not answer the phone. I didn't leave a message because I don't like leaving messages xD. Gif related. TL;DR: The sequestration sucks.

For those of you who got the packets of doom, what was the date of your package? And category? It seems like they first sent out the the a to c rejects then d to f in the next week.

If you don't mind me asking, what category were you?

Nothing...yet. I live in RI. I am in category E1:Drinking water.

We need to get more students on this, there were about 3000 of us! Does anyone have any ideas? Maybe someone can tweet to the EPA and do #EPASTAR. It will get the attention of students who have been waiting to hear back too!

Contact information of Lisa Jackson:http://epazilla.com/epa-employee/contact/lisa-jackson-202_564_4700 Lisa Jackson is no longer the deputy administrator of the US EPA. She resigned after Obama decided to support the Keystone pipeline. The current administrator is Bob Perciasepe: http://epazilla.com/epa-employee/contact/bob-perciasepe-202_564_4700 Additional details on wiki:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Perciasepe Bank to get your senator's information:http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm I am getting ready to send some emails!

So I found these bits of information but I am too much of a coward to contact them by phone. So if anyone feels bold, have a go and feel free to share results? http://epazilla.com/epa-employee/contact/bronda-harrison-703-347-8080 http://epazilla.com/epa-employee/contact/todd-peterson-703-308-7224 http://www.epa.gov/ncer/fellow/forum/contacts.html

I think I read in a forum a few years back about someone who was contacted and was instructed to not to tell anyone about winning, because some categories may not have pick candidates yet. I guess there was a sort of mysterious process involved, I can't remember what year someone said this Maybe that's what's happening now? That being said I think that if you are, that it be super awesome if you can make anonymous account and tell us *edit: Found it! **edit2: According to the deadline on the website and the forum comments in the link above, those recommended for funding were contacted well before the deadline. In that year it was May 30th. http://www.epa.gov/ncer/rfa/2009/2009_star_gradfellow.html

E1 here, nothing. Has anyone heard of people receiving phone calls or something? Tomorrow is the last day in April so I am expecting phone calls should be going out tomorrow or today, that is....if they haven't call yet. If they have already made calls well...we must be S.O.L.

I have spoken to someone who works at NOAA and he said that out of all of the scientific research orgs the EPA has been hit the hardest. Everyone has to take a few work days without any pay. I think that if the sequester has affected the number of epa star fellowships awarded they would have made an official statement on the 2013 epa star fellowship page (just like when they said notifications would take longer in a previous year). Maybe the external review process has been taking longer than usual due to sequestration? I keep checking the mailbox...nothing yet.

Ah, good point. So I was browsing the EPA STAR faq's and came across this gem Q. When will I be notified about the status of my application? How can I find out if my application is successful? A. An e-mail will be sent to the Principal Investigator (with a copy to the Administrative Contact) to acknowledge receipt of the application and to transmit other important information. We will then notify you, either when your application has been rejected or when it is approved for funding. It will be a minimum of about 4 months before you hear if your application did not pass the peer review process, but it might take as long as 6 months. Until the entire review process is complete, if you call us to determine the status of your application, the only response you will receive is: “Your application is still under review.” You will be contacted in about 8-12 months if your application has been selected for an award. >You will be contacted in about 8-12 months if your application has been selected for an award. > in about 8-12 months *face on desk* So is it May 1st at the latest or not? I am confus.

I applied to E1. Has anyone else heard back from this category yet (or any other category)? I read the letter to Ms.Jackson on the EPA sequester cuts. It looks like they have only eliminated new awards for one category, sustainable and healthy communities. The safe and sustainable water resources section hasn't mentioned any star cuts...so maybe I can stay hopeful?