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Gulf fritillary. Image Credit: Abigail Holmes Gulf fritillary. Image Credit: Abigail Holmes

   

The GC-CESU provides research, education, and technical assistance to federal land management, environmental, and research agencies and their partners. Our partners supply the biological, physical, social, cultural, and engineering disciplines needed to address natural and cultural resource management issues at multiple scales in an ecosystem context. 

We work to:

  • provide usable knowledge to support informed decision making;

  • ensure the independence and objectivity of research;

  • create and maintain effective partnerships among the federal agencies and universities and other partners to share resources and expertise;

  • take full advantage of university resources while benefiting faculty and students;

  • encourage the professional development of current and future federal scientists, resource managers, and environmental leaders; and

  • manage federal resources effectively.

   

Membership Benefits

Federal agencies gain access to top university scientists and other partner scientists in the region to expand their scientific capacity by building multi-disciplinary, multi-agency teams to solve problem related to their agency missions. As a federal agency, you're able to broaden the scope of projects, have more collaboration with other federal agencies and universities, and reduce costs with a pre-negotiated 17.5% overhead rate.

University and other natural resource partners benefit by having access to federal resources to conduct projects of mutual interest, an improved way of doing business with streamlined contracting processes, and research and technical assistance opportunities for multi-agency research projects with increased collaboration.

Interested parties are welcome to contact the CESU Network National Office or the Gulf Coast CESU director at any time with inquiries. Currently, the GC-CESU accepts applications throughout the year and processes them for member approval in April and October.

Application Process

Step 1—New Partner Application

Interested parties are welcome to contact the CESU Network National Office at any time with inquiries. For each individual CESU, the CESU Director shall set the deadline(s) for soliciting and accepting applications (e.g., accepts new partner applications on a rolling basis throughout the year or on a semi-annual or annual basis). Additionally, the CESU Director may invite an applicant to attend their annual CESU partner meeting for an in-person or virtual presentation and interview as part of the application process. The following outlines required elements for the application for enrollment in a particular CESU:

Federal agency applicants must be existing members of the CESU Council and signatories on the CESU Network interagency Memorandum of Understanding. These federal agency partners are eligible for enrollment in any individual CESU, to support collaborative activities aligned with the mission and goals of the CESU Network and individual CESU. The steps for the federal agency partner application process are as follows:

  1. Notify the CESU Network National Coordinator of intent to enroll in a particular CESU.

  2. Establish initial contact with the host university CESU Director to begin dialog regarding enrollment as a new federal agency partner.

  3. Submit a formal letter of interest and application (e.g., no more than 10 pages) to the host university CESU Director (with “cc” to CESU Network National Coordinator), including the information noted in the CESU New Partner Application and Approval Process.

Tribal, state, and local governments, academic institutions, nongovernmental conservation organizations, and other nonfederal organizations are eligible to apply for enrollment in any individual CESU, to participate in collaborative activities aligned with the mission and goals of the CESU Network and individual CESU. The steps for the nonfederal partner application process are as follows:

  1. Establish initial contact with the host university CESU Director to begin dialog regarding enrollment as a new nonfederal partner institution.

  2. Submit a formal letter of interest and application (e.g., no more than 20 pages) to the CESU Director, including the information noted in the CESU New Partner Application and Approval Process.

Step 2—New Partner Application Distribution and Review

Following submission of an application for enrollment, the CESU Director distributes the application package (via email) to all existing federal and nonfederal partner technical representatives for consideration. The CESU Director shall determine the timeline and method for review (e.g., comments via email or in person at the annual meeting).

Step 3—New Partner Approval (nonfederal applicants only)

Once existing partners have reviewed the new partner application, the CESU Director solicits a vote in favor/not in favor of selection of the applicant for enrollment. The CESU Director shall determine the timeline and method of voting (e.g., via email or in person at the annual meeting). Approval is determined by a super majority (i.e., two thirds or greater) of votes from existing partners in favor of selection for enrollment. The CESU Director informs the applicant of the outcome of the review and approval process.

Step 4—Amending the Cooperative and Joint Venture Agreement

Upon enrollment of a new federal partner or approval of a new nonfederal partner applicant for enrollment, the CESU Director sends notification and new partner application materials (via email) to the CESU Network National Coordinator with request to prepare an amendment to the CESU agreement. The CESU Network National Office prepares an amendment to the CESU agreement, officially adding the new partner(s). The amendment shall be prepared within four weeks of receipt of materials from the CESU Director.

Step 5—Amendment Review and Signature Process

The CESU Network National Office distributes the amendment to the new partner(s) and Host University for review and signature. The new partner(s) and Host University process the amendment, returning their respective completed signature pages by email to the CESU Network National Office. The amendment must be signed by an appropriate official, with authority to commit institutional resources in a binding multi-year federal cooperative and joint venture agreement.

The amendment is fully effective upon receipt of the new partner and Host University signature pages. Once the amendment is in effect, the CESU Network National Office works with the CESU Director to distribute a digital copy of the fully executed amendment to all existing partners for their files and posts the amendment to the CESU Network national website.

Step 6—New Partner Participation

Once the amendment is in effect, the new partner is expected to actively participate in the CESU and CESU Network activities, in fulfillment of the roles and responsibilities of a nonfederal or federal partner as described in the CESU agreement.