ESA Announces 2026 Graduate Student Policy Award Cohort

The Ecological Society of America named twenty recipients of the 2026 Katherine S. McCarter Graduate Student Policy Award. The program provides policy, communication, and career training in Washington, D.C., culminating in meetings on Capitol Hill.

The Ecological Society of America (ESA) has announced the recipients of the 2026 Katherine S. McCarter Graduate Student Policy Award. Twenty graduate students were selected for the program, which is intended to bridge ecological research and public policy. Awardees were chosen for demonstrated commitment to science advocacy and public service. The program offers policy, communication, and career training in Washington, D.C., and concludes with meetings on Capitol Hill. Selected details: - Twenty recipients named to the 2026 Katherine S. McCarter Graduate Student Policy Award (GSPA). - The award includes policy, communication, and career training in Washington, D.C., culminating in Capitol Hill meetings. - Recipients were selected based on demonstrated commitment to science advocacy and public service. - Research represented in the cohort spans disease ecology, molecular ecology, remote sensing, urban ecology, coral reef restoration, and ecosystem biogeochemistry. - ESA President Peter Groffman highlighted the cohort's potential to bring ecological knowledge into legislative and regulatory discussions. Summary: The GSPA aims to strengthen links between ecological science and environmental policy by giving early-career researchers firsthand experience in legislative and communication processes. The 2026 cohort brings diverse research across scales and methods that could inform conservation, climate, and ecosystem management discussions. Recipients will proceed through policy immersions and Capitol Hill meetings as part of the program.