Hollings and EPP/MSI Undergraduate Scholarship orientation 2016. (photo courtesy NOAA)

Over the past 10 years, the Hollings Scholarship Program has provided an average of 118 undergraduate students per year with tuition support and paid summer internships with NOAA across the country. Hollings has a growing network of over 1200 alumni from over 300 universities. Approximately 75% of Hollings Alumni continue on to graduate school in NOAA mission fields. Find out where the Hollings Scholarship can take you!

Program Benefits
The Hollings Scholarship Program provides successful undergraduate applicants with awards that include academic assistance (up to $9,500 per year) for two years of full-time study during the 9-month academic year and a 10-week, full-time internship position ($700/week) during the summer at a NOAA facility.

The internship between the first and second years of the award provides the Scholars with hands-on, practical experience in NOAA-related science, research, technology, policy, management, and education activities. Awards also include travel funds to attend a mandatory NOAA Scholarship Program orientation, scientific conferences where students may present a paper or poster, and a housing subsidy for scholars who do not reside at home during the summer internship.

Hollings Alumni report that the experience influenced their academic and career paths, expanded their professional networks and improved their skills for working in NOAA mission fields. 100% of Hollings Scholars surveyed said that they would recommend this opportunity to other students.

Program Description
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ernest F. Hollings (Hollings) scholarship program is designed to:

• increase undergraduate training in oceanic and atmospheric science, research, technology, and education and foster multidisciplinary training opportunities;
• increase public understanding and support for stewardship of the ocean and atmosphere and improve environmental literacy;
• recruit and prepare students for public service careers with NOAA and other natural resource and science agencies at the federal, state and local levels of government; and
• recruit and prepare students for careers as teachers and educators in oceanic and atmospheric science and to improve scientific and environmental education in the United States.
  

Hollings Alumna, Regina McCormack (Photo Credit: Dr. Chris Chambers)

Regina McCormack, 2009 Hollings Scholar (University of Notre Dame), interned with NOAA Fisheries under the mentorship of Dr. Chris Chambers. Regina completed her Masters in Marine Policy at University of Delaware and is now working for Invenergy LLC, an energy company, in Chicago.

"This has been a fantastic internship all around. I managed my own project and developed real-world software that will be used long after I leave. Wherever I work in the future, it will be somewhere engaging and challenging, where I have the opportunity to affect positive and meaningful change."

-Kyle Nolan, Hollings Class of 2013, Office of Marine and Aviation Operations