Two 2017 Hollings Scholarships Awarded to UMD College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences Undergraduates
Anna Lowien and Emma Thrift receive scholarships from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Two undergraduates in the University of Maryland’s College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences received 2017 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ernest F. Hollings Scholarships.
Anna Lowien, an environmental science and policy major with a concentration in environmental geosciences and restoration, and Emma Thrift, a biological sciences major, will each receive up to $9,500 per year for two academic years of full-time study.
Hollings Scholars also receive a 10-week, full-time paid summer internship at a NOAA or partner facility between the two years of study. The internship provides scholars with hands-on educational training experience in NOAA-related science, research, technology, policy, management and education. Awards also include travel funds to attend orientation and conferences where students present a paper or poster, and a housing subsidy for scholars who do not reside at home during the summer internship.
Lowien, who is also a member of the College Park Scholars Science and Global Change program, conducts research in the laboratory of Michael Evans, an associate professor of geology at UMD. This summer, she will analyze cellulose from tropical trees in locations that experience changes in rainfall when El Niño and La Niña events occur. Her results will contribute to the study of whether and how human-caused changes in atmospheric composition have impacted El Niño.
Thrift, an intern in the Plant Ecology Laboratory at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, studies mycorrhizal fungi that live in plant root systems and are necessary for orchid seeds to germinate. Thrift’s work focuses on how mycorrhizal fungi affect orchid populations, and she hopes to apply the results toward conserving orchids and orchid biodiversity in the wild. Thrift is also a member of the College Park Scholars Science and Global Change program.
In 2017, NOAA awarded 110 Hollings Scholarships. The 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; 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.
