Awards

The Center for Marine Ecological Genomics invites applicants for the 2026 C-MEG Graduate Research Awards, which support PhD student projects that advance ecological genomics in marine or non-model species. Priority goes to projects that build new collaborations among Northeastern faculty and share results with the broader marine genomics community.

Award amount: $1000-$4000

Total amount available in 2026-2027: $8000

What can funds be used for?

• Funds can be used for field work, supplies, sequencing, travel, outreach, and dissemination of results

Application Deadline: December  7, 2026

Eligibility:

• PhD student enrolled at Northeastern University

Evaluation criteria:

• Projects that foster collaboration among faculty who have not previously received joint funding will receive a higher score

• Project advances ecological genomic research, with clear application to research in marine or non-model species

• There is a clear plan to disseminate results to the marine genomics community, either through conference or through the publication of a tutorial on MarineOmics

• Applications will be assessed by the Steering Committee

Conditions of Award:

• The funds will be transferred directly to the awardee as an award from student financial services

• In June 2027, the awardee will submit a report to C-MEG detailing progress on the project, and past and future plans for expenses

• The awardee will write a blog post for the "News" feed on the C-MEG website

How to apply:

• Fill out the form at this link: https://forms.gle/Npw1VLSFWtErXsca7 

• The form has the folowing parts:

• Section 1: Applicant information

  • Full name (short answer)

  • Northeastern email (short answer)

  • Department/program (short answer)

  • Year in PhD program (dropdown)

  • Primary advisor (short answer)

• Section 2: Project overview

  • Project title (short answer)

  • Amount requested, $1,000–$4,000 

  • Faculty collaborators: list the faculty involved and their departments (paragraph)

  • Have these faculty previously received joint funding together? (Yes / No / Unsure)

  • Planned dissemination: describe how the techniques and results will reach the marine genomics community (paragraph)

• Section 3: Uploads

  • Research proposal, 2 page, PDF (file upload). The proposal should include:

    • Background and objectives: The research question and why it matters for ecological genomics in marine or non-model species.

    • Approach: Brief methods, including any field work, sequencing, or analyses needed to answer the question.

    • Collaboration: The faculty involved, what each contributes, and whether this is a new collaboration.

    • Expected outcomes: What the project will produce and how it advances the field or positions the team for future funding.

    • Timeline: Key milestones through June 2027.

    • (Not included in the 2 page limit) Budget and justification (file upload). An itemized list of expenses with a sentence of justification for each. If the award request is for a subset of the total needed to complete the research, please specify what the C-MEG award will cover and what will be covered by other funds.

    • (Not included in the 2 page limit) Literature cited

• Section 4: Acknowledgment

  • Checkbox: “If awarded, I agree to submit a progress report to C-MEG in June 2027 and write a blog post for the C-MEG News feed.”

Award for a current or former undergraduate who publishes their undergraduate Northeastern research as first author or shared first author in a peer-reviewed journal within 4 years after graduation.

Eligibility: 

• Current or former Northeastern undergraduate. 

• Must be for a project conducted while at Northeastern, either through co-op, course credit, PEAK award, or Senior/Honors Thesis

• Publication must be in ecological genetics or genomics or closely related field and published after January 2025.

• The article must be published online through the journal website by the application deadline

Award amount: $500

Award deadline: Applications due May 1, 2026. Check back soon for information on how to apply.

Conditions of Award:

• The funds will be paid as a stipend to former students, or as an award through student financial services to current students

• The awardee will write a blog post for the "News" feed on the C-MEG website

This award is to support the sequencing intiative for the MacroMar project led by C-MEG, which is developing interoperable population genomic data for marine eukaryotes. Applicants to the MacroMar Sequencing Award from Northeastern University will automatically be considered for these supporting funds. A total of $6000 is available for supporting sequencing in 2026-2027 through this initiative.

Conditions of Award:

• The funds will be transferred directly to the Harvard Bauer Core sequencing center

• In June 2027, the awardee will submit a report to C-MEG detailing progress on the project, and past and future plans for expenses

• The awardee will write a blog post for the "News" feed on the C-MEG website

The MarineOmics webpage is an educational resource for genomics research. These stipends will be used to support students to publish educational tutorials and help to achieve CMEG's goals for education and open science.

Check back soon for information on how to apply.