The Educational Component of the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program | G16AS00005

Opportunity Information: Apply for G16AS00005

The Educational Component of the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, commonly referred to as EDMAP, is a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) funding opportunity designed primarily as a training pipeline for the next generation of geologic mappers. The central idea is straightforward: provide financial support that allows students to carry out real, field-based geologic mapping projects as part of their academic research, with geologic mapping serving as a major (not incidental) component of the work. By doing this through cooperative agreements, the program aims to strengthen university capacity to teach practical mapping methods, field observation skills, and field data analysis, while also producing mapping products that can ultimately be useful beyond the university setting.

A second major purpose of EDMAP is to tighten the working relationship between academic geologic mappers and the nation’s public geologic mapping institutions, specifically State Geological Surveys and the USGS. The program is structured to encourage more regular communication so that university researchers and students become more aware of the public-facing, societal needs that often drive mapping priorities in government (for example, hazards, groundwater and resource issues, land-use planning, and infrastructure concerns). In turn, the program expects that more maps created in academic settings will be prepared in ways that make them suitable for broader distribution and eventual public availability, rather than remaining internal theses or limited-circulation departmental products.

Eligibility is focused on U.S. accredited universities, specifically geoscience departments or closely related academic units. Importantly, proposals must be written and submitted by university professors rather than by students directly. While the work is conducted by students, the faculty member serves as the applicant and project lead under the cooperative agreement structure. This setup reflects the program’s emphasis on formal academic mentorship and institutional accountability while keeping the student training mission at the center of the project design.

In terms of who can be supported, the program targets Masters and doctoral students in geoscience or related disciplines at accredited U.S. colleges and universities. It also allows participation by qualified undergraduate juniors and seniors, provided they have an appropriate foundation in key geoscience coursework before heading into the field. The opportunity description specifically points to prior training in mineralogy, petrology, and structural geology as baseline preparation for undergraduates, which signals that the program expects students to be ready to interpret rocks and structures competently and to produce credible field maps rather than simply participating in introductory field exposure.

The funding itself is intended mainly for student mapping efforts conducted in the field. The program description makes a clear point that the bulk of the award should directly support student work, meaning costs that enable field mapping and the associated research activities. Faculty involvement is expected in a practical sense, since students benefit from supervision and quality control during fieldwork. The program allows professors to request limited logistical support so they can spend a credible amount of time with students in the field, but this is framed as secondary to student support. A firm restriction is that EDMAP cooperative agreements do not pay faculty salaries, reinforcing that the funds are not meant to underwrite routine faculty compensation but rather to enable training and production of field-based mapping results.

Administratively, this opportunity is a discretionary program offered by the USGS under a cooperative agreement funding instrument, and it falls under an education activity category. The associated CFDA number is 15.810. The opportunity listed an expected number of awards of about 40, and the public posting includes an award ceiling listed as 0, which typically indicates that the ceiling is not specified in the summary field rather than implying there is no funding. The opportunity information provided includes the funding opportunity number G16AS00005, with an original closing date of 2015-11-12 and a creation date of 2015-09-09, reflecting the specific posting cycle for that year’s competition.

Overall, EDMAP is best understood as a field-mapping workforce and capacity-building program. It funds university-led projects where students gain hands-on geologic mapping experience, universities strengthen their ability to teach applied mapping and analysis, and public geologic surveys benefit from better alignment with academic research and the increased likelihood that academic mapping products will be shared in forms that can serve the public.

• The Geological Survey in the education sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "The Educational Component of the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.810.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2015-09-09.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2015-11-12. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 40 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

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