Welcome to the LSU Gulf Scholars Program
ALL MAJORS WELCOME
The LSU Gulf Scholars Program (GSP) aims to prepare undergraduate students from any major to address challenges and issues facing the gulf south region. LSU Gulf Scholars will participate in immersive projects, courses, excursions and activities focused on supporting people, ecosystems and industries in and around the Gulf of Mexico.
Contact us at gulfscholars@lsu.edu and follow us on Instagram @lsu_gsp
Scholars on a field trip to Sabine National Wildlife Refuge during summer 2024.
Interested in joining the third cohort of LSU Gulf Scholars?
Fall:
- Attend an info session
- Submit your application
- Applicant decisions made and notifications sent
Spring:
- Gulf Scholars programming begins
- Gulf Impact Projects determined
Summer and beyond:
- Complete Gulf Impact Projects
- Attend field trips, workshops, and trainings
- Present your project at the Summer Showcase
- Continue work on projects, volunteering, and other activities
We will host several information sessions throughout the semester at which undergraduate students can learn about the program, how to apply, and ask questions.
If you are interested in applying to the program, we strongly encourage you to attend an info session.
Fall 2024 info sessions:
| Date | Time | Location |
| October 1 All majors welcome |
4:30 - 5:30 pm | Hatcher 344 |
| October 16 For Arts & Humanities majors |
11:30 am - 12:30 pm | Barnes Ogden Art & Design Complex Gallery |
| October 25 All majors welcome |
10:00 - 11:00 am | Hatcher 344 |
| October 30 All majors welcome |
3:00 - 4:00 pm | Via Zoom - register for the Zoom meeting here |
A main component of the LSU Gulf Scholars Program are the summer Gulf Impact Projects.
Up to 25 students will be funded for 10-week faculty-mentored research projects spanning the sciences, humanities, arts, and engineering.
Students accepted into the program get to rank available faculty projects they are interested in working on. We will then match students to a project based on those rankings and faculty feedback.
If you have your own ideas for a project, reach out to us directly and/or be sure to include that in your application!
Students get paid $15 per hour for work on their project!
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Scholars will first be accepted into the program in the fall, and matched with a faculty-mentored Gulf Impact Project the following spring.
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The research department for the Gulf Impact Project you apply to does not have to be the same department that your major is in.
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While some travel may be required for your specific project, you otherwise must be present in Baton Rouge for the summer.
A list of summer 2025 Gulf Impact Projects will be coming soon! For now you can view the projects that were available during summer 2024 and 2023.
To wrap up the summer Gulf Impact Projects, scholars present their work at the Gulf Scholars Summer Showcase. This is a poster session event that celebrates the important work the scholars completed with their faculty mentors.
The 2nd annual Summer Showcase was held on Thursday, August 8, 2024 in the Energy, Coast and Environment Building Rotunda from 12:30 - 2:00 pm.
The inaugural Summer Showcase was held on Wednesday, August 9, 2024 at the LSU Center for River Studies from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm.
Karrie Cheng presenting her research poster at the 2nd annual Summer Showcase on August 8, 2024.
Students in the Gulf Scholars Program are encouraged to participate in courses that are aligned with the GSP, as their degree plan allows. The GSP staff maintain a listing of courses that have been identified as covering topics related or relevant to the learning outcomes of the NAS Gulf Research Program (see "About the Gulf Scholars Program" tab).
See a current listing of courses that have been identified as Gulf-centric. This list will be reveiwed and updated regularly.
A new 1-credit hour lecture course, The Gulf South, is being developed as a core course for the LSU Gulf Scholars Program. It is planned to be available starting Spring 2025.
The goal of this course is to provide an interdisciplinary understanding of the global, national, and regional environmental issues of the Gulf South with a focus on communities and ecosystems. It will provide an introduction to conducting inquiry into social, scientific, and ethical issues associated with the Gulf.
Dr. Nicholas Mason with Gulf Scholar mentee Victoria Nguyen at the 2nd annual Summer Showcase, August 8, 2024.
We are now recruiting faculty mentors for summer 2025 Gulf Impact Projects
Click here to submit the project proposal form
Are you interested in serving as a faculty mentor for an undergraduate student in the Gulf Scholars Program? We are looking for gulf-centric projects that either already have funding or are in need of funding.
Benefits of mentoring a Gulf Impact Project undergraduate student include:
- High retention rates due to engagement with the greater cohort.
- Students receive additional training and knowledge through cohort workshops and seminars.
- Students have a demonstrated interest in the topic from the application process.
- Students will get paid a minimum of $15 per hour and work up to 40 hours a week during the 10-week project.
We will review your project submission to determine if it meets the criteria of the program. If accepted, we cannot guarantee that a student will be matched to your project.
20-25 undergraduate students will be accepted to the Gulf Scholars Program by the end of Fall 2024. Students will be matched to faculty Gulf Impact Projects during the Spring 2025 semester for work to begin Summer 2025.
If you have any questions, please contact us at gulfscholars@lsu.edu.
The LSU Gulf Scholars Program is a five-year pilot project of the Board on Gulf Education and Engagement within the Gulf Research Program Division of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The project seeks to build the capacity of Gulf region colleges and universities to prepare the next generation to address critical challenges in the region.
The focus areas of the Gulf Research Program are:
- Community health and resilience
- Environmental Protection and Stewardship
- Offshore energy safety
Participating schools engage students from across the sciences, engineering, medicine, humanities, arts, and beyond to develop key competencies and mindsets necessary to address critical Gulf challenges.
The GSP specifies key learning outcomes necessary for students to address these challenges, provides funding for participating schools, and supports the development of a region-wide network of GSP schools and students committed to the GRP's vision of a safer, more resilient and sustainable Gulf region. The GSP learning outcomes are:
- Knowledge of the Gulf Region
- Multidisciplinary and integrative learning
- Intercultural knowledge and competencies
- Social responsibility and ethical reasoning
- Innovation and entrepreneurialism
- Gulf Impact Project
Read more about the National Academies' Gulf Scholars Program.
Meet the LSU Gulf Scholars
| Student | Major | Gulf Impact Project - Summer 2024 | Faculty Mentor |
| Jay Bonilla Hernandez | Psychology | Callin’ Baton Rouge: 311 Calls, Flooding, and Environmental Justice | Dr. Kevin Smiley |
| Jack Bourgeois | Coastal Environmental Science | Diversity of Infaunal Invertebrates in Submerged Aquatic Vegetation (SAV) in Barataria Bay, LA | Dr. Cassandra Glaspie |
| Frank Bussott | Coastal Environmental Science | The Analysis of Salinity Intrusion in a River-Dominated Delta: An Idealized Numerical Modeling Study | Dr. Matt Hiatt |
| Leslie Castaneda | Environmental Engineering | Acclimation of Coastal Grasses to Saline Water Used for Restoration of the Gulf Coast United States | Dr. Edward Bush |
| Karrie Cheng | Mass Communication | Solid Waste Water for Aquaculture Processors: Analysis of Wastewater Effluent and Solid Waste for Louisiana Processors | Dr. M.P. Hayes |
| Emerson Eccles | Coastal Environmental Science | Integrating multiple threats to global sustainability | Dr. Brian Snyder |
| Lauren Ejiaga | Psychology | Potential Links Between Water Quality in ATU-influenced Ditches and Mosquito Proliferation in Southeastern Louisiana | Dr. Aaron Bivins |
| Jana Giles | Biological Sciences | Louisiana Deltaic Estuaries: Sea Level Rise Sentinels | Dr. Cassandra Glaspie |
| Roan Guidry | Political Science | The Origins of Coastal Wetland Conservation Efforts in Louisiana | Dr. Andy Nyman |
| Gavin Juge | Sociology | Callin’ Baton Rouge: 311 Calls, Flooding, and Environmental Justice | Dr. Kevin Smiley |
| Zachary Legier | Mechanical Engineering | Soft, tactile robotic gripper for marine sampling and monitoring | Dr. Robert Herbert |
| Christopher Lowrey-Dufour | Coastal Environmental Science | Exploring Environmental Toxicity through EROD (ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase) Activity | Dr. Jon Doering |
| Mallory Miller | Natural Resource Ecology & Management | Linkages Among Limpkins, Apple Snails and Mussels | Dr. Sammy King |
| William Morales | Computer Science | A Sociolinguistic Study of Intensification in the Spanish of Louisianian Puerto Ricans | Dr. Rafael Orozco |
| Victoria Nguyen | Natural Resource Ecology & Management | Comparative Population Genomics of Gulf Coast Birds | Dr. Nicholas Mason |
| Jaylynn Powe | Studio Art | Callin’ Baton Rouge: 311 Calls, Flooding, and Environmental Justice | Dr. Kevin Smiley |
| Stephanie Procopio | Coastal Environmental Science | Weather Event Impacts on Soil Characteristics of a Salt Marsh in the Barataria Basin, Louisiana | Dr. Songjie He |
| Long Tran | Civil Engineering | Collecting Data to Prepare for Statewide Road Diet Screening | Dr. Rebecca Bian |
| Lauren Vogel | Natural Resource Ecology & Management | Using fatty acids and stable isotopes to identify trophic niche partitioning between crawfish and invasive apple snails in crawfish ponds of Louisiana | Dr. Sydney Moyo |
| Dan Vu | Microbiology | Characterization of Swimming Behavior in Karenia brevis | Dr. Naohiro Kato |
| Shalanda Warr | Studio Art | Freshwater Mussels of Louisiana Poster | Dr. Garrett Hopper |
| Katherine Winchester | Computer Science | Autonomous Underwater Vehicle for Gulf South Region Ecosystem Monitoring | Dr. Xiangyu Meng |
| Student | Major / Degree | Gulf Impact Project - Summer 2023 | Faculty Mentor |
| Joseph Brooks | Landscape Architecture | No Place Like LaPlace: A Green Infrastructure Network for Stormwater Management | Dr. Nicholas Serrano |
| Jennifer Cagnolatti | Biological Sciences | Evaluation of Altered Nutrient Conditions on Algal Growth During Dynamic Co-Culture | Dr. Sibel Bargu Ates |
| Emma Carlo | B.A. Sociology - Fall 2023 | Callin’ Baton Rouge: 311 Calls, Flooding and Environmental Justice | Dr. Kevin Smiley |
| Brooke Chouest | B.F.A. Studio Art - Spring 2024 | Blood in the Water, Water in the Lungs | Dr. Johanna Warwick |
| Nonnie “Betsy” Cook | Coastal Environmental Science | Enabling Predictive Toxicology Assessments to Determine Whether Pollution is Contributing to the Decline of Sharks in the Gulf of Mexico and Beyond |
Dr. Jon Doering |
| Alcina Costa | Computer Engineering | Callin’ Baton Rouge: 311 Calls, Flooding and Environmental Justice | Dr. Kevin Smiley |
| Carlie Dutile | Biological Engineering | Synthesis and Characterization of Cobalt Complexes for the Electrochemical Reduction of Nitrite in Water |
Dr. Noemie Elgrishi |
| Victor Gischler | Music | Louisiana: Sounds of the Coast | Dr. Brian Nabors |
| Jamarion Johnson | Natural Resource Ecology and Management | Vulnerability of Spartina patens Marshes to Sea-Level Rise | Dr. Tracy Quirk |
| Jonathan Russell | Coastal Environmental Science | Are Increasing Global Sea Temperatures Linked to Changing Tropical Cyclone Induced Tornadic Distribution along the U.S. Gulf of Mexico Coast? |
Dr. Robert Rohli |
| Dakota Sievers | Coastal Environmental Science | Regenerating or Ghost Forest? A.E. LeBlanc Woods Natural Area | Dr. Linda Hooper-Bui |
| Neil Tepper | B.A. Political Science - Spring 2024 | Callin’ Baton Rouge: 311 Calls, Flooding and Environmental Justice | Dr. Kevin Smiley |
| Patricia Thibodeaux | Animal Sciences | Comparing Arthropod and Plant Communities Across Natural and Man-Made Brackish Marshes in Coastal Louisiana |
Dr. Michael Polito |
| Landry Tucker | Chemistry | Sediment Core Analysis of a Well-Preserved Underwater Baldcypress Forest in the Northern Gulf of Mexico |
Dr. Kristine DeLong |
| Treasure Wells | Psychology | The Louisiana Early Childhood Teachers Oral History Project | Dr. Jennifer Baumgartner |
| Jameson Woodall | Coastal Environmental Science | Sedimentary History of the Mississippi River Pass-a-Loutre Outlet | Dr. Sam Bentley |
apply to the lsu gulf scholars program
Applicant Requirements:
- Must have at least 3 semesters remaining as a full-time undergraduate (Spring 2025, Summer 2025, Fall 2025).
- For summer 2025 Gulf Impact Projects: Must be available in-person in Baton Rouge between May 27 - August 15.
- Must have a minimum 2.5 college GPA.
- Must be in good standing with the University.
We are now accepting new student applicants. Applications are due by 11:59pm on Sunday, November 3.
You are strongly encouraged to attend an info session prior to applying. You can find the info session schedule under the Prospective Students section above.
Click here to apply to the LSU Gulf Scholars Program
Check out some of the engaging activities and trips the Gulf Scholars participate in!
Meet our team:
Program Director
Dr. Linda Hooper-Bùi: Professor, Environmental Sciences
Program Coordinator
Ella Magerl
Leadership Team:
Dr. Jacqueline Bach: Vice Provost of Academic Programs & Support Services; Elena and Albert LeBlanc Professor, English Education & Curriculum Theory
Sarah Ferstel: Director of Undergraduate Research, LSU Discover
Dr. Debbie Goldgaber: Director, LSU Ethics Institute; Associate Professor and Section Head, Philosophy
Dr. Margaret Reams: Associate Director for Community Engagement, LSU Institute for Energy Innovation; Joseph D. Martinez Professor of Environmental Sciences
Dr. Clint Willson: Director, Center for River Studies; Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; The Water Institute of the Gulf