Undergraduates Alana Ginsburg and Jonah Pereyra Win Prestigious NOAA Hollings Scholarship
Alana Ginsburg and Jonah Pereyra, second-year undergraduate students in the Department of Geographical Sciences, have been awarded the 2022 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship, a prestigious award that recognizes and supports outstanding students studying oceanic and atmospheric sciences.
Recipients of the Hollings Award receive up to $19,000 in financial assistance for two years of study, as well as a summer internship at a NOAA facility between the first and second years of the award. The program provides students with hands-on, practical experience in NOAA-related science, research, technology, policy, management and education activities.
“As someone who is passionate about protecting our natural resources, I am honored to receive this award and I am grateful to the Hollings Program for its support,” said Pereyra, who is double majoring in Environmental Science and Policy (ENSP) with a Marine and Coastal Management concentration and Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. The award’s financial support, he said, will allow him to focus on his studies and continue his research with Team Marine, a group of undergraduate students investigating microplastic pollution within the Anacostia Watershed and the Chesapeake Bay.
Ginsburg, who is majoring in ENSP with a Global Environmental Change concentration and minoring in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, has dreamed of working for NOAA since she was in high school. “[NOAA’s] mission of understanding the science of climate and weather and then effectively sharing it with others is a passion of mine,” she said. She hopes to find an internship that builds on the skills she has learned as a GEOG student, including programming, remote sensing, machine learning and GIS.
Hollings Alumni consistently recognize the program as an influential step in their career paths, and many of them go on to public service careers with NOAA and other natural resource and science agencies.
After finishing his undergraduate studies, Pereyra plans to attend law school and become an environmental lawyer for the U.S. Department of Justice or the Environmental Protection Agency to help protect the nation’s natural landscapes. He sees the Hollings Program as an opportunity to gain firsthand insight into the relationship between marine science and policy, and to build connections with leading environmental experts and policymakers.
Ginsburg, who plans on pursuing a PhD, hopes to eventually work for a federal agency and use novel geospatial and modeling methods to help people prepare for the impacts of climate change and natural hazards. Like Pereyra, she looks forward to connecting with experts in her field through the Hollings Program.
At the end of May, Ginsburg and Pereyra will attend an orientation to learn more about the program from past Hollings scholars and NOAA leadership and scientists. Later this year, they will work with NOAA mentors to select an internship for the summer of 2023 and begin developing their independent research projects.
Congratulations Alana and Jonah!
Published on Tue, 04/12/2022 - 16:28