Resources for Students and ECRs
About This Page
This is a community-generated list of professional resources for students and early career researchers (ECRs). We include funding opportunities (both national and international) across several stages from undergraduate, graduate, postdoctoral scholars, and early career researchers. Enjoy our list of recommended reading in natural history, and a bit of science humor in the "take a break" section in the final sections.
Executive Director Jorge Ramos and Stanford alumni Julien Wright-Ueda began this list in 2021, with contributions from several Jasper Ridge students, postdocs, and staff and colleagues at similar career stages at other institutions. Thank you to Allison Stegner, Tyler McFadden, Stacy Farina, Suzanne Ou, and Itati SantaMaria de Chavez y Vasquez!
For students interested in environmental fields, this list of job hunting resources was compiled for the SOAR Weekend Intensive Short Course in 2025.
We continually update this list. If you have suggested changes and contributions, please submit your ideas.
Resources for Students
Graduate School Preview Programs
Summer Research Programs and Internships
- NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs) for 19 different STEM, education, ethics, and social sciences fields
- The Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program offers research and leadership opportunities at various institutions. As of 2026, those institutions are UC Santa Cruz, University of Michigan, Northern Arizona University, University of Washington, and the University of Florida.
- Conservation Job Board - seasonal jobs
- ESA SEEDS SPUR Research Fellowship
- Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science (SOARS)
- Stanford Biology Summer Undergraduate Research Program (B-SURP) - funding spring and summer research in Biology for Stanford students
- Stanford Sapp Family CS Bio-X Undergraduate Summer Research Program (USRP) - for Stanford undergraduates to conduct hands-on and virtual research, build awareness of interdisciplinary areas, and network with the Bio-X community
- Stanford Sustainability, Engineering, and Science - Undergraduate Research Program (SESUR)
- Stanford Earth Summer Undergraduate Research in Geoscience and Engineering Program (SURGE)
- Stanford Conservation Program
Funding Opportunities
Funding opportunities for students and postdocs
- American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science and Technology Policy Fellowship
- American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (AAHHE) Graduate Student Fellowship Program
- BOREN fellowships: Undergraduate Boren Scholars and graduate Boren Fellows
- Bullitt Foundation (must be involved in Pacific NW university and research)
- EPA Related to National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council Fellowships
- Ernest F. Hollings NOAA Undergraduate Scholarship
- External Fellowships for International Students from CALTECH
- Garden Club of America Scholarships
- Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve - A.W. Mellon Grants for Student Research
- Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve - Environmental Education Scholars Award
- Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve - Morgenthaler-Chiariello Grants for Research - a permanent fund endowed by the Jasper Ridge Docent Community, prioritizing post-docs
- The Nature Conservancy - NatureNet Science Fellowships
- NASA Postdoctoral Program
- NASA Graduate Research Funding
- NSF Graduate studies (GRFP)
- NSF Funding for postdocs
- NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology (PRFB)
- NSF EAR program
- NSF Office of Polar Research
- NSF Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (AGS-PRF)
- NSF Ecosystem Sciences
- NOAA Climate & Global Change (C&GC) Postdoctoral Program
- OutToInnovate Scholarship - for LGBTQ+ undergraduate students pursuing STEM degrees
- OutToInnovate Career Development Fellowship - for LGBTQ+ graduate students in STEM degree programs
- NRC Research Associateship Programs (RAP)
- Organization of Biological Field Stations-Maxwell/Hanrahan Research Experience Grants
- OECD co-operative Research Programme
- oSTEM Scholarships for members of the LGBTQ+ STEM community
- Postdoctoral Funding Opportunities - provided by Dr. Denis Wirtz of Johns Hopkins University
- Schepp Foundation awards educational scholarships to full time undergrad and graduate students who demonstrate a combination of fine character, academic excellence, financial need, compassion, a commitment to volunteerism and whose goal will benefit mankind.
- Simons Early Career Scientist in Marine Microbial Ecology and Evolution
- Smithsonian Postdoctoral Fellowships in Marine Microbial Ecology
- Smith Fellowship
- Stanford Fellowship list for postdocs
- Stanford Bio Futures Fellowship - for Stanford graduate students and postdocs
- University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
- USGS Mendenhall Research Fellowship Program
- USDA Notice of Funding Opportunities list
Funded Organismal Biology MS Programs
- List of Departments that have a fully-funded Masters program that includes Ecology, Evolution, or Organsimal Biology.
Thanks to Dr. Stacy Farina, Assistant Professor of Biology at Howard University. Please note that this list was compiled in 2019.
Professional Organizations
Organizations, societies, and conferences
- American Geophysical Union (AGU)
- American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES)
- American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS)
- American Society of Plant Biologists
- Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO)
- Association Society of Naturalists (ASN)
- Botanical Society of America
- British Ecological Society (BES)
- California Forum for Diversity in Graduate Education
- California Native Plant Society (CNPS) Santa Clara Valley Chapter [June 2026: page currently under construction]
- COPUS
- Ecological Society of America (ESA)
- SEEDS Program and chapter (funding available for research, fellowships, workshops, field trips, meeting funds)
- ESA Sections (30+ funding opportunities)
- How to submit a successful abstract
- Stanford SEEDS chapter
- Evolution Conference
- Latinos in Science and Engineering (MAES)
- Long Term Ecological Research Network (LTER)
- Check each site for REUs and internships, and LTER all-hands meeting (every two years)
- Minorities in Agriculture, National Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS)
- North American Regional Association of the International Association for Landscape Ecology (IALE)
- Organization of Biological Field Stations (OBFS), Jasper Ridge is a member of OBFS:
- ReclaimingSTEM - 2021 West and East conferences website
- Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research (SABER)
- SACNAS - Advancing Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science
- Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE)
- Society of Conservation Biology (SCB)
- Society for Freshwater Scientists (SFS)
- Society of Systematic Biologists (SSB)
- Society of Wetland Scientists (SWS)
- SWS Multicultural Mentoring Program (SWaMMP)
- Stanford TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy
- Western Field Ornithologists
- Western Society of Naturalists
- Wildlife Society
Additional affinity groups and resources
- 500 Queer Scientists
- 500 Women Scientists
- ADVANCEGeo
- Association for Women Geoscientists
- American Hiking Society
- American Indian College Fund
- Audubon Society
- Association of Zoos and Aquariums
- Bay Nature Magazine
- Black Birders
- Black Botanists Week
- Black Girls Trekkin
- The Black Neighborhood
- California Academy of Sciences
- California Dept of Parks and Recreation
- California Native Plant Society (CNPS)
- California Indian Museum & Cultural Center
- Cientifico Latino
- Continental Divide Trail Coalition
- Disabled Hikers
- Eco Evo Faculty Jobs
- Ecology and evolutionary biology #EEBMentorMatch
- GEOLatinas
- Greening Youth Foundation
- Green2.0
- Hikeclerb
- iNaturalist
- Inclusive Outdoors Project
- Intersectional environmentalism
- Justice Outside
- Latino Outdoors
- LGBTQ+ Outdoor Job Board
- National Parks Conservation Association
- National Park Service
- National Wildlife Federation
- Native Women's Wilderness
- Next 100 Coalition
- News from Native California
- National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals (NOGLSTP)
- Ologies podcast
- Outdoor Afro
- Outdoor Asian
- Outdoor F.U.T.U.R.E. initiative
- Out in STEM
- Rising Routes
- San Francisco Bird Bay Observatory
- Santa Cruz Mountain Stewardship Network
- Save the Redwoods League
- Mothers in Science
- Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
- STEMNoire
- Story Collider
- UC California Naturalist
- UC Natural Reserve System
- US Fish and Wildlife Service
Recommended Reading
Natural History Books
A bibliography of recommended reading, suggested by our Jasper Ridge Affiliates.
Ackerman, Jennifer. The Genius of Birds. Penguin, 2017.
Agrawal, Anurag. Monarchs and Milkweed: a migrating butterfly, a poisonous plant, and their remarkable story of coevolution. Princeton University Press, 2017.
Canfield, Michael R., ed. Field Notes on Science & Nature. Harvard University Press, 2011.
Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1962.
Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne. An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States. Beacon Press, 2023.
Finney, Carolyn. Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the relationship of African Americans to the great outdoors. UNC Press Books, 2014.
Flores, Dan. Coyote America: A Natural and Supernatural History. Basic Books, 2016.
Harari, Yuval Noah. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. HarperCollins, 2016.
Harari, Yuval Noah. Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow. HarperCollins, 2015.
Jahren, Hope. Lab Girl. Knopf Canada, 2016.
Jahren, Hope. The Story of More: How We Got to Climate Change and Where to go from Here. Vintage Canada, 2020.
Kimmerer, Robin Wall. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants. Milkweed Editions, 2013
Kimmerer, Robin Wall. Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses. Oregon State University Press, 2003
Krech, Shepard. Spirits of the Air: Birds & American Indians in the South. University of Georgia Press, 2009.
Leopold, Aldo. A Sand County Almanac. New York: Ballantine, 1949.
Macdonald, Helen. H is for Hawk. Random House, 2015.
Miller, Lulu. Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life. Simon and Schuster, 2021.
Montgomery, Beronda L. Lessons from Plants. Harvard University Press, 2021.
Muir, John. The Mountains of California. Penguin, 2008.
Nijhuis, Michelle. Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction. WW Norton & Company, 2021.
Quammen, David. Monster of God: The Man-Eating Predator in the Jungles of History and the Mind. Random House, 2014.
Quammen, David. Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic. WW Norton & Company, 2012.
Quammen, David. The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions. Simon and Schuster, 1997.
Quammen, David. The Tangled Tree: a radical new history of life. Simon and Schuster, 2018.
Sagan, Carl. Billions & Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium. Ballantine books, 1998.
Sagan, Carl. Cosmic Connection: An Extraterrestrial Perspective. Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Salmón, Enrique. Iwígara: American Indian Ethnobotanical Traditions and Science. Timber Press, 2020.
Sheldrake, Merlin. Entangled Life: How Fungi Make our Worlds, Change our Minds & Shape Our Futures. Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2021.
Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. 1939.
Steinbeck, John. Cannery Row. Penguin, 1945.
Thiers, Barbara M. Herbarium: The Quest to Preserve and Classify the World's Plants. Timber Press, 2020.
Williams, Wendy. The Language of Butterflies: How Thieves, Hoarders, Scientists and Other Obsessives Unlocked the Secrets of the World’s Favorite Insect. Simon & Schuster, 2020.
Wilson, Edward O. The Diversity of Life. WW Norton & Company, 1999.
Wohlleben, Peter. The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate—Discoveries from a Secret World. Vol. 1. Greystone Books, 2016.
Wulf, Andrea. The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World. Vintage, 2015.
Yong, Ed. I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes within us and a grander view of life. Random House, 2016.