NMFS-RTR Program at Virginia Tech

The National Marine Fisheries Service RTR Program offers all expenses paid M.S. Graduate Research Assistantships at Virginia Tech to top students who have participated in our Population Dynamics Recruiting Program. Students who have participated in both the Undergraduate Workshop and the Summer Program are eligible to apply. The number of assistantships is dependent on available funding and project availability. Currently we support on average four students at a time. The average duration required to complete an M.S. in this program is 2 ½ – 3 years.

Students are matched with research projects needed by the NMFS Southeast Fisheries Science Center based on the students’ interests. All projects involve population dynamics of marine resources. Current research projects include conducting a stock assessment of hammerhead sharks in the Gulf of Mexico and studying the population dynamics of loggerhead turtles in North Carolina among others.

Research is supervised by a committee comprised of Virginia Tech faculty and National Marine Fisheries Service biologists in a unique collaboration providing students with the ability to network early in their careers. Many projects offer valuable opportunities not available to students at other universities such as participating in NMFS fieldwork and/or spending summers at NMFS labs in the Southeast.

Students who have participated in the PDRP can also be referred to other top graduate programs in the Southeastern United States, such as the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences, the University of Miami, and Louisiana State University.