Introduction
The International Wolf Center is seeking applicants for the 2025 Dr. L. David Mech fellowships. As an investment in the future of wolf research and science-based wolf education, each year the Center awards up to two fellowships for undergraduate students or recent graduates interested in pursuing careers in natural sciences with an interest in wildlife. Fellowship recipients receive a $6,000 stipend and up to $4,000 in support for field research expenses.
Fellowship goals
- Reduce barriers to allow undergraduate students and recent graduates to directly engage in research and field work.
- Encourage students from diverse backgrounds to explore natural sciences/wildlife biology as a profession.
- Provide bridge support for early career researchers prior to graduate school.
Description
The International Wolf Center uses science-based education to teach and inspire the world about wolves, their ecology, and the wolf-human relationship. Since our founding in 1985 by Dr. L. David Mech and others, the Center has sought to provide the latest scientific information about wolves to our visitors and program participants. We believe that continued investment in scientific discovery about wolves and other wildlife will lead to increased understanding of how to build a future where wolves and humans can coexist and thrive. We also understand that many barriers exist for students and early career researchers and hope these fellowships can facilitate access to people pursuing a wildlife biology career.
Fellowship Award Details
- Application opens: October 1, 2024
- Application deadline: February 1, 2025
- Fellowships Awarded: March 31, 2025
- Term: April 1, 2025 through April 1, 2026
- Stipend: $6,000
- Research Allowance: up to $4,000 per year
Stipends are meant to support study and research during the tenure of the appointment. They are not salaries, and fellowship recipients are not employees or contracted workers of the International Wolf Center. All funds provided, including stipends and research allowances, are subject to tax. Fellows awarded stipends receive a financial summary at the end of each calendar year and are responsible for meeting their own state and federal tax obligations.
Research allowances are for equipment, supplies, research-related travel costs, housing, and other support required to conduct the research itself. A budget and general justification for these expenses must be included with your application.
Qualifications and Eligibility
- Applicants must be either currently enrolled in an undergraduate institution (upper-level student) or recently graduated within two years with an undergraduate degree. Current graduate students, those accepted to graduate school and those already with graduate-level degrees in wildlife biology or a related field are not eligible.
- Applicants must indicate their project preference from the provided list.
- Applicants must provide a letter of recommendation from an academic or professional reference. This letter should reference their preferred project and ability to complete it.
- Applicants must be available to conduct an online webinar with the International Wolf Center in late 2025 or early 2026.
Expectations for Fellows
Fellows will be expected to present an online webinar summarizing their field research experience and research findings by early 2026.
Fellowship recipients will also be expected to submit a summary report to the International Wolf Center and be willing to be interviewed and photographed by Center staff. These materials may be used in issues of International Wolf magazine or in web/social media posts. Summary reports should include the goals of the research project, methods used during the project, skills acquired, how this opportunity will help further a career in the wildlife field as well as their journey through the wildlife field to get to this point.
Application Materials
Along with providing contact information, please include the following with your application:
- Purpose Statement: 500-800 word essay focusing on (a) how you will accomplish the goals of the fellowship program, (b) your project preference, (c) why you are a good candidate, (d) your previous career building experiences, and (e) barriers you have faced or overcome in this field and your future career goals.
- Resume/CV
- Budget Proposal: Include financial needs for support during the project. An example is provided below. Estimated dollar amounts preferred but not required. You may enlist the help of the research lead to determine needs. If specific expenses are unknown at application time, please indicate that in lieu of a budget.
- Academic or professional reference letter highlighting research aptitude to successfully complete the project emailed by the reference to mechfellowship@wolf.org before February 1, 2025.
Sample budget proposal:
Criteria for Selection
Fellowship applications will be reviewed by the selection team using the following criteria:
- Special consideration will be given to Black, Indigenous, and People of Color candidates in the United States
- Applicant’s demonstration of financial need
- Applicant’s demonstrated need for wildlife research experience
- Applicant’s ability to carry out the proposed research/field experience
- Candidate’s demonstrated interest in pursuing natural sciences with an interest in wildlife as a career
Fellowship Projects
Effects of Hunting and Trapping on Gray Wolves - Idaho
Project Location: Idaho, USA
Project/Organization: USGS, University of Idaho
Project Description:
We conduct noninvasive genetic surveys for wolves in four study areas throughout Idaho. The surveys consist of howling and sign searches and the collection of fecal samples for genetic analyses. The resulting data allow us to track individual wolves over time and assess how hunting and trapping might affect wolf survival, reproduction, and social ecology.
Project Timeline: Summer 2025
Type of housing available for the fellow:
We tent camp while in the field for 9 days and there is housing available in Salmon Idaho for the 5 days off.
Equipment/gear fellow must provide for this project: Backpack, tent, stove, sleeping bag, sleeping pad
Will fellow need a personal vehicle to participate? No
Email: dausband@uidaho.edu
Contact: David Ausband
Additional Information:
Summer 2025 will be our 19th year and we encourage anyone who is interested in seeing wild places and learning how to survey for and track wolves to apply.
Ma’iingan Monitoring and Conservation - Wisconsin
Project Location: Red Cliff, Wisconsin
Project/Organization: Red Cliff Treaty Natural Resources – Wildlife Department
Project Description:
Miskwaabikaang (Red Cliff) seeks a dedicated fellow to contribute to our ongoing efforts to monitor and understand our local ma’iingan (wolf) packs. The fellow will play a vital role in maintaining our camera trap grid and associated data, utilizing data from wolf collars to investigate clusters, and various other duties related to ma’iingan monitoring.
Responsibilities will include:
70% Hiking to each camera trap site to collect SD card data and perform camera maintenace.
20% Entering collected data into a database and ensuring accurate record-keeping.
5% Monitoring and investigating cluster locations from existing collar data.
5% Assisting wildlife team with ma’iingan captures.
Throughout their time with us, the fellow will learn about wildlife relationships, ecology, and the cultural significance of ma’iingan to the Red Cliff community. Working closely with our Wildlife Department staff, the fellow will gain valuable experience and insights into careers in wildlife conservation.
Project Timeline: October 15, 2025, through December 15, 2025 (negotiable)
Type of housing available for the fellow:
The fellow will be responsible for securing their own short-term housing using the provided project stipend. Our team will assist in locating affordable options for the duration of the field work. To save on housing costs, remote work is a potential option for the data entry tasks at the end of the fellowship.
The Bayfield Peninsula’s popularity as a tourist destination, offers a unique benefit for “shoulder season” housing; (which is when this fellowship would occur. Many local Airbnb/Vacation Rental companies offer month to month rentals for seasonal workers at this time of year.
Equipment/gear fellow must provide for this project:
Sturdy, waterproof hiking boots with good ankle support for navigating varying terrain and protecting against potential wet conditions. Appropriate outdoor clothing, including layers for changing weather conditions at this time of year, rain gear.
Will fellow need a personal vehicle to participate? Yes
Email:genevieve.adamski@redcliff-nsn.gov
Contact: Genevieve Adamski
Additional information:
This project requires a blend of fieldwork and extended periods of office-based data entry, offering a well-rounded experience in the wildlife conservation field.
Fellows must be prepared for the duality of their tasks, which will demand physical fitness and adaptability to varying terrain, weather conditions, and the ability to work independently in remote wilderness settings. Simultaneously, they should possess the patience and focus required for long periods of sitting in an office, diligently entering and managing data.
Recovery of the Endangered Mexican Gray Wolf - Arizona and New Mexico
Project Location: Arizona and New Mexico
Project/Organization: Mexican Wolf Recovery Program
Project Description:
All fieldwork will be carried out from Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge and Alpine, Arizona, as well as remote camping locations. Work may consist of monitoring wolf movements via telemetry, setting up and monitoring remote cameras and diversionary/supplemental food caches, surveying for uncollared wolves, assisting biologists with trap lines to radio collar wolves, data collection and management, collecting fecal samples at rendezvous sites and other opportunities as they arise.
Project Timeline: May 15 – August 15
Type of housing available for the fellow:There is free shared housing available in a double wide, fully furnished trailer with their own room.
Equipment/gear fellow must provide for this project:Personal hiking and camping equipment.
Will fellow need a personal vehicle to participate? No
Email:allison_greenleaf@fws.gov
Contact: Allison Greenleaf
Searching for Ghost Wolves - Louisiana and Texas
Project Location: Louisiana and Texas, Michigan Technological University
Project/Organization: Gulf Coast Canine Project
Project Description:
The Gulf Coast Canine Project (GCCP) was established in 2020 after the discovery that coyotes along the coastal regions of Texas and Louisiana, USA, carry ghost genetic variation of the extirpated and endangered red wolf (Canis rufus). Further research has revealed canids of this region consist of individuals with highly differentiated genomes that represent a unique admixed population retaining both extant red wolf ancestry and extinct (e.g. ghost) genetic variation lost in contemporary wolves (hereafter Gulf Coast Canines or GCC [C. latrans x rufus]). We have documented that GCCs appear to have larger body sizes and are investigating the potential impact red wolf ancestry and ghost genetic variation may have on the ecology of these distinct canids. Our research to date has focused mainly on populations along the coast, yet ghost ancestry may persist in other regions of Texas and Louisiana.
We are developing a noninvasive genetic panel to screen for red wolf and ghost genetic ancestry from fecal, or scat, samples, broadening our survey areas and sample types. In 2025, we will expand our scat surveys across new regions, offering the fellow the opportunity to assist in our search for ghost ancestry on the landscape. Specifically, the fellow will have the chance to conduct both field and lab research, including scat collection and assisting with live-trapping in Louisiana and Texas, and molecular genotyping at Michigan Technological University. Our group is also collaborating with a network of citizen science organizations interested in collecting scat, providing the fellow with opportunities to participate in and coordinate outreach efforts. This multifaceted project encompasses several important aspects of wolf research: field biology, outreach and communication, and lab work. The fellow’s skills and interests will shape how they allocate some of their time during the fellowship, aligning with the overarching goal of discovering red wolf ancestry along the Gulf Coast and beyond.
Project Timeline: August 2025-November 2025
Type of housing available for the fellow:
When conducting field work, the fellow will be provided rental accommodations. When in Houghton MI, the fellow will be responsible for housing. We envision the fellow will first come to Houghton MI, set up housing and organize the field season. Then, drive from MI to TX with a field vehicle, spend ~1-3 month in the field, and drive back for lab work/outreach coordination/etc.
Equipment/gear fellow must provide for this project: None
Will fellow need a personal vehicle to participate? No
Email: kbrzeski@mtu.edu
Contact: Kristin Brzeski
Wolf impacts on prey species - Isle Royale National Park
Project Location: Isle Royale National Park
Project/Organization: Isle Royale wolf-moose project
Project Description:
The purpose of this project is to use the reintroduction of wolves to Isle Royale National Park as an opportunity to assess how changes in wolf abundance influence beaver foraging behavior.
During the summer of 2018, just prior to the reintroduction of wolves to Isle Royale National Park, researchers from the Isle Royale wolf-moose project at Michigan Technological University collected data on the distances that beavers were traveling from the water’s edge to forage (beaver foraging distances), as well as data on which tree species and size class of trees were being cut by beaver (selective foraging behavior). That existing data can be used to as a baseline for understanding beaver behavior in the absence of a healthy wolf population, as there were only 2 highly inbred wolves living on Isle Royale at that time.
Between the fall of 2018 and the fall of 2019, 19 wolves were translocated to Isle Royale and there has been a healthy population of wolves for the past few years. Consequently, the project that we propose is for a Mech fellow to use the same methods and protocols developed in 2018 to collect additional data on beaver foraging behavior during the summer of 2024 and use that data as a baseline for understanding beaver behavior during a period when there is a healthy and abundant wolf population. The Mech fellow could then compare data in 2024 (post-reintroduction period) with the data collected in 2018 (pre-introduction period) to assess whether beaver foraging distances and the species and sizes of trees cut by beaver differ between the pre- and post- wolf reintroduction periods. Specifically, the fellow would be assessing the prediction that beavers travel less far from the water’s edge and may be less selective for certain tree species or size classes (to minimize their risk of being killed by wolves) during the post-reintroduction period, when wolf abundance is high.
The results of this project will add to our understanding of how wolves, a keystone species, impact non-ungulate prey species to provide a more comprehensive picture of the magnitude of effects that wolves can have on ecosystems. The results are also likely to be relevant for understanding how wolves may impact beaver populations in other regions of North America where gray wolves may be reintroduced in the near future (i.e. Colorado) and in regions of North America and Europe where wolves are naturally recolonizing parts of their former range.
Project Timeline: May – August 2025
Type of housing available for the fellow:
The fellow would be camping whilst on Isle Royale, but may need hotel or rental accommodation for a few nights whilst travelling to or from Isle Royale.
Equipment/gear fellow must provide for this project:Backpacking equipment
Will fellow need a personal vehicle to participate? No
Email: srhoy@mtu.edu
Contact: Sarah Hoy
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Dr. L David Mech?
L. David Mech (pronounced “Meech”) is a Senior Research Scientist with the Biological Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, and Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior at the University of Minnesota. He has studied wolves and their prey since 1958, as well as several other species of wildlife.
Although administration of his U.S. Geological Survey research is through Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, he is headquartered on the St. Paul Campus of the University of Minnesota in the Raptor Center, 1920 Fitch Ave., St. Paul, MN 55108.
Mech is also founder and vice chair of the International Wolf Center, and chaired the IUCN Wolf Specialist Group from 1978 to 2013. In 2013, the Wolf Specialist Group merged into the IUCN Canid Specialist Group, and Dave became advisor for wolves in that Group since then.
Mech has used radio-tracking for most of his career on wolves, deer, leopards, caribou, elk, lions, elephants, raccoons, lynxes, elk, hares, etc. For basic info, see Handbook of Animal Radio-tracking, and for info about satellite and GPS collars, see “A critique of wildlife radio-tracking and its use in national parks: a report to the National Park Service”. For wildlife research techniques before radio-tracking, see wildlife research in the old days.
Do I need to design my own project or can I get funded to participate as a volunteer on an established project?
Fellowship applicants should select a project from the list provided. The list will be available when the application opens on October 1.
I am not from the United States, can I apply?
At this point, fellowship recipients must be U.S. citizens to qualify but projects may take place internationally.
Who should I contact for more information?
Please email questions to MechFellowship@wolf.org
