EPA Star Fellowship 2013

[dubstep:drop da NaOH]

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.

[sone461]

I am an F1 and have likewise heard nothing.  I have attempted to contact Brandon Jones via email a couple of times now, but to no avail.  I suspect they're waylayed by sequestration, but it sure would be nice if they would let us know.

[Ento]

C3...nothing yet. Living in the DC area, I was one of the first to recieve my package of doom from EPA last year. No news is good news for the time being, I guess. Luckily, I have prelims to keep me distracted..

[em829]

C1, nothing yet.

Edited April 30, 2013 by em829

[Ento]

No package of doom in the mail. No phone call.

[gertrudethegreat]

EPA Letter- February Sequestration Hearing,  Lisa Jackson dated Feb 6, 2013

 

"Under sequestration EPA would reduce the number of undergraduate and graduate fellowships

(STAR and GRO) by approximately 45, thus eliminating any new fellowships. The Fellowship

program, one of the most successful fellowship programs in government, is educating the next

generation of environmental scientists, which is critical to a strong and competitive economy."

 

I found it by googling "EPA STAR sequestration" 

 

Here's the link for the PDF, which is a scanned letter. 

 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&ved=0CDcQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.appropriations.senate.gov%2Fht-full.cfm%3Fmethod%3Dhearings.download%26id%3Df55685d7-b2de-4b90-9cff-3492d7692e40&ei=zg-AUbDPAqqr0AGrjIHQCA&usg=AFQjCNEt1liGY0oB9RgvNwgQDOCBjurxEA&sig2=hC7Ic3rLncylykvjLwy36Q

Edited April 30, 2013 by gertrudethegreat

[MochaMocha]

We know zis from the last few pages of messages. What we don't know is what it means exactly. It's all speculation.

EPA Letter- February Sequestration Hearing, Lisa Jackson dated Feb 6, 2013

"Under sequestration EPA would reduce the number of undergraduate and graduate fellowships

(STAR and GRO) by approximately 45, thus eliminating any new fellowships. The Fellowship

program, one of the most successful fellowship programs in government, is educating the next

generation of environmental scientists, which is critical to a strong and competitive economy."

I found it by googling "EPA STAR sequestration"

Here's the link for the PDF, which is a scanned letter.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&ved=0CDcQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.appropriations.senate.gov%2Fht-full.cfm%3Fmethod%3Dhearings.download%26id%3Df55685d7-b2de-4b90-9cff-3492d7692e40&ei=zg-AUbDPAqqr0AGrjIHQCA&usg=AFQjCNEt1liGY0oB9RgvNwgQDOCBjurxEA&sig2=hC7Ic3rLncylykvjLwy36Q

Edited April 30, 2013 by MochaMocha

[sciencesarah]

Still no word in Oregon - F1 and about 4 other people in my department who applied under other subtopics... 

[dphuber]

If there are no new fellowships this year:

 

~1350 of use wrote proposals

Wildly speculating that we averaged 10 days, 8hrs/day of work to draft our proposals 

Collectively that means we spend 108,000 hr writing the proposals

If we are all on some type of state or federal funding (TA, RA, hourly, etc) and average $15/hr...

 

Then this process will have wasted ~$1.62 million.  That's just considering our lost wages.

Of course they allocated $8-9 million for the STAR Fellowships so I guess that's a net savings.  Grumble, grumble.

[marshymarsh]

Soooo... it's looking a lot like May 1st from here. Anything? Anyone?

[pricejr2]

Nothing here - B2

[withoutwords]

Remember the emails we got though dated 12/20/12 saying: "Review and evaluation will take approximately 6 months."

 

Unfortunately their website says one thing, but this email says another.

[ec1122]

Still nothing here. C2 in PA.

[marshymarsh]

Remember the emails we got though dated 12/20/12 saying: "Review and evaluation will take approximately 6 months."

 

Unfortunately their website says one thing, but this email says another.

 

What? Inconsistency in this application process? Inconceivable!! Haha, I guess maybe we will hear sometime before July, then?

[em829]

Nothing here.... C1 in Mississippi.   I am checking this forum every day!

[MochaMocha]

Ok I vote that we all write a letter to our reps AND obama about the importance of funding future scientists if they end up cancelling the fellowship this year. I don't have any hard evidence that it's canceled this year and in previous years I did not know anything this early. That said, I was rejected twice though I got pretty awesome (and helpful) reviews.

I haven't heard anything from anyone that I know who also applied. Nothing in the mail/email yet either. I'm in Texas, for reference.

Looks like we have entered the 'go crazy and wait' phase.

[dubstep:drop da NaOH]

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

Edited May 1, 2013 by dubstep:drop da NaOH

[Lumidee]

I just have to say this. I am a contractor with the US EPA in Athens and i applied under E3. Am not surprised with this delay, the sequestration has really affected us. All new contracts and contract renewals have been frozen. Even my boss does not have answers to my questions concerning my contract. All FTE's have started their furloughs. To cut the long story short, EPA is doing all all what they can to take care of their FTE's, before focusing on others-including research grants. That being said I have tried to get as much insider info I can get concerning the star grants but to no avail. I hope i don't lose on both sides ( no job and no grad school). Sucks#

[Ento]

That being said I think that if you are, that it be super awesome if you can make anonymous account and tell us

Yes, please let us know if a "friend of a friend" received a possible call from a three-lettered federal agency. I've also been searching twitter for possible references to an EPA fellowship announcement. Haven't seen anything substantial other than some guy saying the FY2014 EPA [proposed] budget has cut the STAR and someone else mentioning the annual fellow conference has been cancelled due to sequestering.

[survivorGuilt]

MochaMocha: Every other year the STAR Fellows meet at a conference in DC, part of the time is spent meeting with members of Congress and/or their staffers to talk about the importance of science.  This effort is partially supported by AAAS, who has extensive lobbying, including a Science Policy Fellowships.

 

AGU also has a science policy branch.

 

 

About that EPA STAR Conference:   As a current STAR Fellow I received an email that the STAR Fellow Conference has been canceled for this year, from this page:

 

The recent sequestration limitations that have been applied to Federal Agencies including the EPA require our Agency to take proactive and aggressive actions to reduce our budget while maintaining our mission. To support these budget limitations, it was decided to cancel this year’s 2013 Fellowship Conference in order to use the funds in other areas of the program. We will keep you updated as more information is available on future Fellowship events or networking opportunities.

 

 

dubstep:drop da NaOH:  Fellows who are selected are told not to tell anyone about winning because the Fellowship is not official until the paperwork is filed.  The EPA does not want to start the extensive Fellowship paperwork until after they know that the selected Fellow will accept, that is why the "secret" phone call occurs first.  For example, the EPA does not want the candidates school to issue a press release until the Fellowship has been approved.  This applies to the first through the last Fellow notified.

 

 

 

Good luck to everyone. 

[MochaMocha]

Thanks for the link- I'm going to look at applying to one of these programs!

And so it begins again

MochaMocha: Every other year the STAR Fellows meet at a conference in DC, part of the time is spent meeting with members of Congress and/or their staffers to talk about the importance of science. This effort is partially supported by AAAS, who has extensive lobbying, including a Science Policy Fellowships.

AGU also has a science policy branch.

About that EPA STAR Conference: As a current STAR Fellow I received an email that the STAR Fellow Conference has been canceled for this year, from this page:

dubstep:drop da NaOH: Fellows who are selected are told not to tell anyone about winning because the Fellowship is not official until the paperwork is filed. The EPA does not want to start the extensive Fellowship paperwork until after they know that the selected Fellow will accept, that is why the "secret" phone call occurs first. For example, the EPA does not want the candidates school to issue a press release until the Fellowship has been approved. This applies to the first through the last Fellow notified.

Good luck to everyone.

[MochaMocha]

Is no one friends with anyone that got a call yet? :/

[zhanger]

No phone call. Nothing on twitter.

[Ento]

EPA must have really instilled the fear of god in this year's winners.

[withoutwords]

EPA must have really instilled the fear of god in this year's winners.

 

I don't think they have contacted any winners, two years ago they delayed the announcements by a month and a few days after May 1st posted on there website that people would know by the end of may. I don't think they have sent rejections or acceptions yet.