Megan Beever, environmental and water resources doctoral student in civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech, received the Virginia Sea Grant  (VASG) Graduate Fellowship. Each year, graduate students that are involved in education, evidence-based inquiry, and community engagement are selected through a highly competitive process.  

The award will support Beever for two years by providing up to $40,000 support each year. It will provide student expenses and professional development resources. It specifically focuses on funding students who are working on coastal and marine related issues that impact Virginia’s communities.

During her fellowship, Beever will study which features of natural tidal inlets influence their long-term evolution and develop a model to predict long-term tidal inlet evolution. She will collaborate with her professional mentor at the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center who will assist her with outreach and stakeholder engagement for the duration of the fellowship program.

Selected fellows will work with that professional mentor and a professional development coordinator to devise a plan to work toward their short- and long-term professional goals. Fellows will also work the VASG’s communication center to publicize their fellowship activities and will participate in VASG events.

This application process is highly competitive with only seven fellowships being awarded in 2023-2024.

Beever is a Via Scholar in the department of civil and environmental engineering and also received her bachelor’s degree in 2021 from Virginia Tech.