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Application Process
to RAP and for an IGERT Fellowship ("Traineeship")

Target date for submitting your application:
February 1 for the following academic year

Criteria: The major criteria for acceptance into the Resilience and Adaptation Program (RAP) are evidence of academic excellence and a clear commitment to, and vision of, interdisciplinary approaches to issues related to resilience and adaptation.

How to apply:
Applicants to RAP must 1) apply to RAP and 2) apply to their choice of UAF graduate programs. For example, a student wishing to enroll in the UAF PhD program in Anthropology through RAP would submit a standard graduate applicaiton to the Anthroplogy Department AND submit the on-line application to RAP as described below. The application for the IGERT Traineeship (Fellowship) is the same as that for the application to RAP. To learn more about this application process, please read the material below carefully.

(1) Applying for the Resilience and Adaptation Program: Each student must apply for admission to the Resilience and Adaptation Program. This application should be sent electronically through this web page. Applications for an IGERT Traineeship follow this same procedure. There will be approximately 8 graduate traineeship's per year available for Ph.D. students to participate in the Resilience and Adaptation Program. We begin reviewing applications for admission on February 1st for entrance the following September. Later applications will be considered.

CLICK HERE
to download the RAP application form.
Once you have completed the form, return it to Catherine Seymour at catherine.seymour@uaf.edu.

(2) Applying to a UAF graduate program: Each student must also apply for admission to the department in which she/he intends to enroll. The following departments are part of the Resilience and Adaptation Program and offer MS and/or Ph.D. degrees. Ph.D. studies focusing on Natural Resource Management, Northern Studies, and Resource and Applied Economics are taken as Interdisciplinary degree programs (INDS). Please see the web links to departments to which you might apply.

Students are accepted into the Resilience and Adaptation Program only if they have been accepted by a department at the University of Alaska or another university and have an advisor who agrees to the guidelines of the Resilience and Adaptation Program. Admissions deadlines differ among departments, so students should consult departmental web pages for details of the departmental admissions process. We advise completing the application process by mid-January. Applicants typically submit both applications before acceptance into the degree program is announced.

We particularly encourage applications from minority students and other underrepresented groups. We seek a balance among students in the natural and social sciences, including ecology, resource management, economics, geology, geophysics, political science, anthropology, history, and related disciplines.

To which department should you apply?
Because many Resilience and Adaptation Program applicants have interdisciplinary interests and background, the department to which you should apply may be unclear to you. In general, you should apply to the department in which your future advisor is housed. If you intend to pursue a Ph.D. and your advisor's department does not offer a Ph.D., you should apply to the Interdisciplinary Studies Program. Identification of your future faculty advisor is therefore a very important step in the application process because it determines the department to which you should apply and because this person will be your most effective advocate and colleague during the admissions process and during your entire graduate career. We encourage each student to correspond with several prospective graduate advisors prior to and during the admissions process. Discuss your interests with them and discuss if there is a good fit with their interests and their research program. Any faculty member at UAF can serve as a Resilience and Adaptation Program faculty advisor; those faculty members who have shown particular interest in the Resilience and Adaptation Program are listed at http://www.rap.uaf.edu/faculty.cfm.

Criteria for acceptance
Our primary criteria for student acceptance into the Resilience and Adaptation Program are:

  1. academic excellence
  2. evidence of a deep commitment to, and vision for, the integration of natural and social sciences to address some issue related to resilience and adaptation.
The essay in your RAP application is the place for you to summarize:
  1. your interest in issues of sustainability,
  2. how your past experiences and training have contributed to this interest, and
  3. your vision for a graduate thesis topic that will help you address your long-term professional goals related to sustainability.
We do not expect you to have a well-defined thesis topic before you enter the program, but we are interested in knowing your current vision for your thesis research and long-term professional goals. This essay is the most effective way in which you can convince us that you should be accepted into the RAP program. Please write it carefully.

International Students and Graduate Students Enrolled at Other Universities
We encourage participation in the Resilience and Adaptation Program (RAP) from international students and from graduate students enrolled at other universities in the United States. These students can enroll in Resilience and Adaptation Program at the University of Alaska for one or more years by applying for admission to the Resilience and Adaptation Program (see Application Process). As with students at the University of Alaska, graduate students enrolled at other universities will be accepted into the Resilience and Adaptation Program program only if their academic advisor agrees to the Resilience and Adaptation Program guidelines. U.S. citizens or permanent residents who are enrolled at other universities but participate actively in the University of Alaska Resilience and Adaptation Program are eligible to apply for Resilience and Adaptation Program fellowship support (see RAP Fellowships).

Identifying a faculty member to serve as your major advisor: Finding a faculty advisor is one of the most important steps in applying for graduate students and to RAP. The best way to find potential advisors is to look at faculty listings in the departments that most closely correspond to your background and academic interests. Look at the faculty web pages of individuals who have interests similar to your own. If you still have questions about who might be an appropriate advisor, please contact Terry Chapin at terry.chapin@uaf.edu and describe your background and potential thesis interests. Those applying to the Interdisciplinary PhD program must form their full committee as a apart of the application process. If possible, we encourage applicants to visit UAF and meet with faculty and current students to discuss the program and thesis ideas.

If you have questions about the application process or would like more information
contact RAP Coordinator, Catherine Seymour

This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant# DEB-0114423. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.