Knauss Hosts

All hosts are required to fill out the new Host Request Application Form (available here).  If you need to update anything in the form after submission, please contact oar.sg.fellows@noaa.gov or call 240-507-3712.

Host request forms are due by September 28, 2022 (Exec) or January 4, 2023 (Leg)

Unfortunately, Hosts are not guaranteed to have a Knauss Fellow. Read about the placement process in the following questions.

• The placement process is scheduled for October 12-26, 2022 (Exec) or January 11-20, 2023 (Leg). Host offices are required to participate in presentations and interviews scheduled throughout the full process.
• Hosts begin the process by presenting a short overview of their office and the fellowship position to the Finalists (Finalists become Fellows once they have been matched with a Host Office).
• Finalists then select Host Offices with whom they will interview. Interview sign-up sheets will be emailed to the Host Offices and interviews will ensue through Friday, October 21, 2022 (Exec) or Thursday, January 19, 2023 (Leg).

Hosts need to submit their availability for 30-minute interviews with Knauss finalists throughout Placement Week. Hosts should submit availability by October 11, 2022 (Exec) or January 6, 2023 (Leg). If you need to update your availability you must notify oar.sg.fellows@noaa.gov.

Presentations are limited to a maximum of 7 minutes (suggested 6 min plus 1 min for questions). The National Sea Grant Office will provide a template for presentations. All presentations will either be recorded ahead of time or presented virtually.

Executive Hosts:

Wednesday/Thursday, October 12/13, 2022. Presentations will be given virtually via GoToWebinar.

Legislative Hosts: 

Wednesday, January 11, 2023.

Hosts will receive their interview schedule with finalist names via email. The host office will be expected to schedule their interviews using their preferred virtual communication platform.

Executive Hosts:

Monday, October 17, 2022

Legislative Hosts: 

Thursday, January 12, 2023

Interviews take place virtually. Each host office will be able to use the platform of their choice. We prefer that all interviews are conducted with both audio and video.

Please see above timelines for scheduled dates. Times to be announced.

Once interviews have been completed, each Host Office must put into rank order (one Finalist per rank) each of the Finalists interviewed by the Host office.  All Host Offices must email these rankings to oar.sg.fellows@noaa.gov by Tuesday, October 25, 2022 (Exec) by 6:30 am or Friday, January 20, 2023 (Leg) by 12:30 pm.  Failure to email these rankings to the National Sea Grant Office will disqualify a Host Office from consideration to host a fellow. We encourage hosts to rank everyone they interviewed.

Hosts will fill out a ranking sheet (Excel) of Finalists they have interviewed and submit to the Knauss Program Manager. Placement decisions for both the executive and legislative classes are ultimately made by a matching algorithm. The algorithm is for two-sided matching markets – so it takes into account both the preference of the hosts and the fellows and produces ‘stable’ matches. This algorithm is most famously used in the National Resident Matching Program – used to match medical residents with hospitals (aka many-to-one” matching).

Due to the current global pandemic (COVID-19) Evening Activities have been suspended for the 2023 placement process.

Each office that is successful will be notified directly via a phone call or in-person from the Fellow on the afternoon of placement notification (see timeline). The Knauss Program Manager will notify each office that is not successful on the afternoon of the respective days.

Fellows will be provided with a ratification document, which hosts and fellows will sign. The document commits both the Host and the Fellow to the fellowship program. It is signed by a Host Office representative, the Fellow, and the Knauss Program Manager.

The fellowship dates are February 1 through January 31. The start and end dates are flexible so as to accommodate the host’s and fellow’s schedules. Please consult the program manager (OAR.SG.Fellows@noaa.gov) if you have questions regarding start and end dates.