Assisting Career Growth for Future Coastal Managers  

NOAA’s Margaret A. Davidson Fellowship is a two-year fellowship for graduate students that provides an opportunity for them to work side by side with researchers at one of the 30 National Estuarine Research Reserves. The fellowship provides each cohort of fellows with hands-on and cross-disciplinary research experiences, networking opportunities, and professional development and mentoring, helping to prepare them for a career in coastal management.   

CSS employee owners (as part of Team Lynker on contract with NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management) support this fellowship program by assisting with organizing meetings and events for the fellows and recently helped organize a two-day professional networking and career readiness event in Charleston, South Carolina. Throughout the two-day experience, fellows engaged with coastal management professionals from federal, state, private, and nonprofit sectors, visited NOAA facilities, and gained hands-on experience with environmental educators. A CSS senior program manager and Lynker Technologies vice president participated in the career panel providing insight into their career paths and offered advice to the fellows as they embark on their career journeys.   

Additionally, CSS and Lynker each sponsored a breakfast to kick off the day and provide additional opportunities for strengthening relationships within the cohort and building connections and networking with attendees.   

As this cohort is nearing the end of their two-year fellowship, this event helped strengthen the fellows’ career development skills, increase confidence in job searching and interviewing, and expand their professional networks, better preparing them to transition into coastal management careers.  

Learn more about the Margaret A. Davidson Graduate Fellowship and the National Estuarine Research Reserve System.