Any interviews or contact with SF yet??

[Oceanographer]

Biological Oceanography PhD here. Heard nothing. Only 4 awarded last year for biological oceanography I believe. I'm not sure if that's because of the interest level of the SF or if thats due to the lack of biological oceanography applicants. Fingers crossed and hoping for the best.

[Mass Spectrometrist]

I'm a chemistry PhD student in the field of mass spectrometry applied to health related research. I was contacted yesterday by the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division for an interview. I did not select this SF in my application, so that's a good sign that if you have what someone is looking for they will find you.

While mass spec is fairly technical and specialized, I'm still a life science person in the medical field, so don't get discouraged if that's you too :)

[smart01]

Biological Oceanography PhD here. Heard nothing. Only 4 awarded last year for biological oceanography I believe. I'm not sure if that's because of the interest level of the SF or if thats due to the lack of biological oceanography applicants. Fingers crossed and hoping for the best.

I'm also a PhD student in the Bio Oceanography field. I haven't heard anything either. Where did you find the statistical breakdown by discipline for the most recent awards? I've only seen the 1% PhD award rate, but again, I don't know if this is from a lack of interest for PhD's by SF's or lack of PhD applicants.

[Oceanographer]

Biological Oceanography PhD here. Heard nothing. Only 4 awarded last year for biological oceanography I believe. I'm not sure if that's because of the interest level of the SF or if thats due to the lack of biological oceanography applicants. Fingers crossed and hoping for the best.

I'm also a PhD student in the Bio Oceanography field. I haven't heard anything either. Where did you find the statistical breakdown by discipline for the most recent awards? I've only seen the 1% PhD award rate, but again, I don't know if this is from a lack of interest for PhD's by SF's or lack of PhD applicants.

You can figure it out from the 2016 awards at https://smart.asee.org/program_stats/2016_award_data

Basically, 239 awards were given. 2% were to oceanography. Equals roughly 4.78, rounded down to 4 rewards to be conservative.

If you don't mind me asking, what was your proposal/statement on? Always interested in hearing from someone else in the field.

[Guest]

Biological Oceanography PhD here. Heard nothing. Only 4 awarded last year for biological oceanography I believe. I'm not sure if that's because of the interest level of the SF or if thats due to the lack of biological oceanography applicants. Fingers crossed and hoping for the best.

I'm also a PhD student in the Bio Oceanography field. I haven't heard anything either. Where did you find the statistical breakdown by discipline for the most recent awards? I've only seen the 1% PhD award rate, but again, I don't know if this is from a lack of interest for PhD's by SF's or lack of PhD applicants.

You can figure it out from the 2016 awards at https://smart.asee.org/program_stats/2016_award_data

Basically, 239 awards were given. 2% were to oceanography. Equals roughly 4.78, rounded down to 4 rewards to be conservative.

If you don't mind me asking, what was your proposal/statement on? Always interested in hearing from someone else in the field.

Oh, okay. I thought there was more detailed award info published somewhere I had not scoured. My research utilizes a variety of techniques to better understand how environmental factors and large scale climatic events influence the movement of threatened species. So I use a lot of geospatial techniques and micro-chemistry to address my specific hypotheses. My research is in the Pacific Ocean. My statements were geared around this construct. I am kind of in a weird category because I am technically in a Marine Bio program but I would say my research is more interdisciplinary between Marine Bio, Geosciences and Oceanography. How about you? And which facilities did you apply? I did a few Army Corps facilities and NAVO.

[Guest]

Have any life science/ pre med students been contacted to be interviewed. From what it sounds like, it appears that the majority of the people that are being interviewed have been engineer majors. So just wondering if any of my kind have been contacted.

I applied for Biosciences and was contacted today by the US Army Public Health Center. Currently a PhD student studying biomedical engineering, but my Bachelor's is in Biochemistry.

[AeroGuy]

Date: 2/28
How: Phone and email
Where: NAWCAD Pax River

Aeronautical engineering

[Oceanographer]

Looks like there's some similarity. My research focuses on the movement ecology of large marine vertebrates and the effect that environmental factors have on it. I use geospatial and statistical analysis for all of my work (with a heavy chunk of field work thrown in). I applied, and as of this posting, am interviewing with SPAWAR! Good luck with the scholarship and your research! Per formatting:

Date: 3/1
How: Email
Where: SPAWAR San Diego

[keithhworth]

DATE: 03/02/2017
HOW: Surprise phone call and "interview" (?)
WHICH: Life Cycle Management Center - Hanscom AFB

[jimmyf]

Date: 3/3
How: Email
Where: SMC - LAAFB

Aeronautical engineering

[dayton]

Date: 3/5
How: Email
Where: AFRL/RQ - WPAFB

Aerospace Engineering PhD (experimental hypersonic boundary layer transition)

[littlehope]

I am a pursuing a Masters in Electrical Engineering and requested one year of funding. I have had/will be having a few interviews now as follows:

Date: 2/16/2017
How: Direct Phone Call/Left a Message (immediate interview upon return phone call)
Where: Shaw Air Force Base
The interview involved a description of the work they do there. What future career plans I wished to pursue (being as there are so many branches within electrical engineering). My interviewer was very helpful, but it's actually Shaw's first year to be a sponsoring facility so he asked if the SMART program gave us any more information about next steps, which gave me a chuckle as it seems that the SMART program is vague with the SFs as well. This facility was one of my listed preferences.

Date: 2/27/2017
How: Direct Phone Call/Left a Message
Where: USACE - St. Louis
I have not returned this call yet as it was mentioned they were seeking me out for an internship on a large construction project rather than employment upon graduation as the SMART scholarship suggests, which confused me slightly. This facility was not one of my listed preferences.

Date: 3/7/2017
How: 3 Direct Phone Call to set up and interviews for 3/8/2017
Where: Missile Defense Agency (2 in AL, 1 in VA)
I actually received three different phone calls from three different departments within MDA with regards to setting up interviews for the following day. I will have one in the morning, one in the earlier afternoon and the last in the later afternoon. The earlier ones specified that they will be contacting me and for the later one I received an email with a call in ID# and Pin#. None were aware of the others calling. This facility was not listed as one of my preferences due to me not being aware of what they do there when it came time to fill out my application, but upon researching more I am interested in speaking with them further.

[SMART2017]

Date: 3/7
How: Direct Phone Call EST 7:16pm - Did not prepare at all, not so well - about 52 mins
Where: SSC-Pacific

Physics PhD - High Energy Physics

[ralmonte]

I was contacted by Robins Air Force Base for an interview early on. It was informal, talking about what they were doing ,if i was interested in what they were doing. It was a short, informal interview.

[keithhworth]

I was contacted by Robins Air Force Base for an interview early on. It was informal, talking about what they were doing ,if i was interested in what they were doing. It was a short, informal interview.

Yeah, my contact from a sponsoring facility consisted of the same thing: some small talk, my interests and background, what they do pertaining to engineering and computer science, and he asked me if it was something that sounded like something I would like to do...
I just called the guy again on Monday with more technical questions about the work done at Hanscom AFB, but he wasn't very experienced in those STEM fields (so not the most helpful). I just hope that my call played well in my candidacy.

[ForensicMS]

Date: 3-7-17
How: Phone call, then email to set up a time
Facility: Defense Forensic Science Center

They called me beforehand and then emailed me to set up a date. It was a conference call style, pretty formal. Asked about my research background, interest in forensic science, and the usual interview type questions (greatest strengths, weaknesses etc.).

[2018fo]

Date: 3-14-17, interview is tomorrow
How: Left a voicemail, and sent an email invitation
Facility: Army CERDEC
Field: Technically Aero/Astro Engineering, but more avionics and electronics focus