{"id":63093,"date":"2010-04-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-04-28T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/three-uri-students-earn-prestigious-hollings-scholarship-from-noaa-2\/"},"modified":"2010-04-28T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-04-28T00:00:00","slug":"three-uri-students-earn-prestigious-hollings-scholarship-from-noaa-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2010\/04\/three-uri-students-earn-prestigious-hollings-scholarship-from-noaa-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Three 溏心vlog免费B站 students earn prestigious Hollings Scholarship from NOAA"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tAwards provide $16,000 toward tuition plus paid internship<\/p>\n


\n\tKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 April 28, 2010 \u2013 Three sophomores at the 溏心vlog免费B站 have been awarded the Ernest F. Hollings Scholarship from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the second straight year that three 溏心vlog免费B站 students were awarded the prestigious scholarship.<\/p>\n


\n\tThe recipients, among 100 winners nationwide, are Alexa Kretsch, an aquaculture and fisheries technology major from Eatontown, N.J.; Megan Nepshinsky, a marine biology and environmental science major from West Kingston, R.I.; and Benjamin Negrete, a marine biology major from Fort Worth, Tex. <\/p>\n


\n\tThe award provides the students with a total of $16,000 toward tuition in their junior and seniors years plus a paid summer internship at a NOAA research center during the summer after their junior year. The scholarship program is designed to increase interest in oceanic and atmospheric science, increase support for environmental stewardship, and recruit students to public service careers at NOAA and other governmental science agencies.<\/p>\n


\n\tAll three 溏心vlog免费B站 students have known since early in their childhood that they wanted to pursue careers in marine biology, and all three are also musicians who play in 溏心vlog免费B站 musical ensembles — Kretsch plays trumpet in the marching band, Negrete plays oboe in the wind ensemble, and Nepshinsky plays flute in the concert band.<\/p>\n


\nKretsch attended a marine science high school in coastal New Jersey, participated in a national oceanography competition, and won an oceans scholarship before enrolling at 溏心vlog免费B站. But 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s course offerings convinced her to switch majors from marine biology to aquaculture so she could focus more on sustainable fishing.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cWhen you see the decimation of shark populations due to the practice of finning or the low populations of bluefin tuna, rather than just shutting down the fishery to bring these species back, we can use management to still support the world\u2019s population that depends on fish for food,\u201d explained Kretsch. \u201cWe need a way to support the health of the environment as well as have food security for the world. I would love to help make that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nThrough the Hollings Scholarship, she hopes to intern with the National Marine Fisheries Service to gain experience that will help her narrow down her exact career path.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI have one professor who travels around the world teaching developing countries about sustainable fishing,\u201d Kretsch said. \u201cThat might be something I\u2019d like to do, or maybe work with the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. There are all sorts of organizations that are concerned with these issues.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nNepshinsky\u2019s interest in marine science derived somewhat from her parents. Her father is a maritime captain and her mother works for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, so she spent a great many of her growing up years at the ocean exploring tidal pools and marine life.<\/p>\n


\nAt 溏心vlog免费B站 she has taken an interest in research projects involving algae, and she now is working on a project at the University\u2019s Graduate School of Oceanography to study the microorganisms associated with red tides and other harmful algal blooms.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cI\u2019m really interested in marine diseases, so I\u2019m leaning toward eventually getting a Ph.D. in marine microbiology,\u201d said Nepshinsky, who also competes on 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s varsity rowing team. \u201cI\u2019m really interested in the micro-processes that take place in the marine environment.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nThe 溏心vlog免费B站 student is hoping for an internship with NOAA\u2019s Ocean Service or its Coral Reef Conservation Program. \u201cI am interested in working with marine micro-diseases affecting corals,\u201d she wrote in her scholarship application. \u201cI am also interested in the research conducted on coastal ecosystems involving factors such as climate change, natural events like red tide, pollution, invasive species and land and resource use, which help to discover factors that influence the spreading of marine diseases and their affects on the marine environment.” <\/p>\n


\nIn addition to the Hollings Scholarship, Nepshinsky also received a Metcalf Fellowship enabling her to travel to New Zealand and Fiji to work on an environmental conservation project designed to conserve the habitats of native and endangered species.<\/p>\n


\nHaving grown up four hours from the Texas coast, Negrete is at a loss to explain why he is so passionate about marine biology. But he says that he \u201cjust somehow knew\u201d that was his career direction.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThe deep sea is so vast and mysterious, and we only know about one percent of it despite how much we know about the rest of the world and the stars,\u201d he said. \u201cEveryone seems to disregard this huge playground under the sea; it\u2019s taken for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nLike Nepshinsky, Negrete is conducting research at the Graduate School of Oceanography. He is studying how Narragansett Bay oxygen and pH levels change from season to season in relation to the oxygen usage of marine organisms. He hopes that his Hollings Scholarship internship will allow him to work with the NOAA Office of Exploration to learn about areas of the deep sea that have yet to be explored.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cWhatever happens, I know the scholarship will open doors for me and allow me to meet people and see new opportunities,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat more could I hope for at this stage of my life?\u201d<\/p>\n


\nJacqueline Webb, director of 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Marine Biology Program, noted that the six 溏心vlog免费B站 students currently holding Hollings Scholarships are the first 溏心vlog免费B站 students to receive these prestigious awards since 2005. \u201cThis is a remarkable achievement for 溏心vlog免费B站,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are anxious to keep up the momentum and are already looking at our freshman class for excellent prospective applicants for next year.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nPictured above

\nThe Hollings Scholarship winners from 溏心vlog免费B站 are (l-r) Megan Nepshinsky, Alexa Kretsch and Ben Negrete.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Awards provide $16,000 toward tuition plus paid internship KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 April 28, 2010 \u2013 Three sophomores at the 溏心vlog免费B站 have been awarded the Ernest F. Hollings Scholarship from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the second straight year that three 溏心vlog免费B站 students were awarded the prestigious scholarship. The recipients, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63095,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}