The National Pork Board has opened up applications for a new series of swine research fellowships to help provide a pipeline of highly-skilled employees for the pork industry. The checkoff is investing a hefty sum of $500,000 for the fellowships. The money will fund education and training in critical areas of impact, such as animal science, feed science and management, engineering and human resources, along with many others. “Labor supply is critical to the entire pork industry,” says David Newman, President of the National Pork Board. “This fellowship program will develop highly-trained professionals who possess the skills and abilities with direct application to pork production both now and in the future.” Fellowships will be awarded for a maximum of two years and can be used for multiple advanced-degree programs. Fellowship funding will be capped at $30,000 over two years. Second-year funding will be contingent on the submission and approval of a progress report at the end of the first year. Go to www.pork.org/rfp for more information. Application materials must be submitted by February 25th.