Impacts

Information on program accomplishments

Sofia stands on a rocky shore characteristic of the Pacific coast that is covered in seaweed and mussels. Choppy water breaks against it. She smiles at the camera, wearing a jacket, waders, and knee pads and holds a clipboard in one gloved hand and rests the other on a sampling pole. — Sofia Gluskin, a 2021 NOAA Hollings scholar, at Pescadero Point in Pebble Beach, California, during her internship studying environmental factors impacting purple sea urchin reproductive potential. (Image credit: Jonah Gier)
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Hollings Scholarship by the Numbers

1.) NOAA Scholars are significantly more likely to co-author peer reviewed publications and give professional presentations than non-recipients.

Many scholars publish papers with their NOAA mentor based on their summer internship research. Both NOAA Hollings and Educational Partnership Program with Minority Serving Institutions undergraduate scholarships include funding for students to present their research at up to two scientific conferences. Publishing peer-reviewed articles and presenting at scientific conferences helps students share their research with experts in their field, connect with potential graduate school advisors and employers, and be more competitive when applying for graduate programs and jobs.

Graph of average number of publications and presentations per student. Scholars have on average 1.3 presentations compared to the control group's 0.6. They have 2.9 presentations on average compared to the control group's average of 1.9.

2.) Approximately 75% of NOAA scholarship alumni pursue a graduate degree, and 45% of alumni have earned at least one graduate degree since completing the program.

NOAA scholars were statistically more likely to hold an advanced degree when compared with the control group*. Many alumni receive prestigious fellowships to support their graduate study, including more than 120 NOAA scholarship alumni who have been awarded National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships. Four times as many NOAA scholars have completed doctoral or professional degrees compared with non-recipients.

Graph showing the percent of scholars who hold an advanced degree compared to control groups. 75% of NOAA scholars go on to get graduate degrees whereas in the control group, 66% hold graduate degrees. — Download Image

3.) More than 85% of the Hollings alumni that continue on to graduate school pursue advanced degrees in NOAA-related STEM fields.

The most frequently pursued graduate degrees include: atmospheric science (26%), marine science (10%), engineering (8%), biology (6%), and geology & earth sciences (5.5%).

Graph showing that most Hollings scholars stay in NOAA mission-related fields. — Download Image

4.) Nearly half of NOAA scholarship alumni currently in the workforce are working in the private sector.

Hollings alumni successfully compete for postdocs, jobs at NOAA, other government agencies, private industry, academia and non-governmental organizations. The positions most frequently held by NOAA Hollings alumni include: meteorologists, postdoctoral researchers, research assistants, software engineers and science teachers. Hollings has a growing network of alumni who are working at many STEM organizations, both private and public sector. NOAA undergraduate scholars develop transferable skills that set them up for success in any sector.

Analysis includes 525 NOAA Scholarship alumni for whom post-graduate professional data is available (does not include graduate students).
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Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship