UH Hilo Student Iran Rosales Wins Competitive NOAA Hollings Scholarship

One hundred and thirty students nationwide landed a NOAA Ernest F. Hollings Scholarship this year. Iran Rosales Rivera of the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo is one of them, selected from 820 applicants representing 85 campuses across the United States and its territories.

The scholarship, administered by NOAA's Office of Education, provides up to $9,500 per academic year during the recipient's junior and senior years. But the money is only part of the award. This summer, Rosales Rivera will spend 10 weeks working alongside NOAA scientists at a federal facility, earning $700 per week, gaining hands-on training in the kind of oceanic or atmospheric research that shapes fisheries management, storm forecasting, and coastal hazard assessments across the Pacific.

That applied focus carries particular weight on Hawai'i Island, where communities from Hilo Bay to the Kohala Coast contend with flash flooding, storm surge, eroding shorelines, and nearshore water quality degradation. NOAA's Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center conducts exactly the kind of federally funded research that Hollings scholars are trained to enter, and scholars who have passed through the program consistently report it reshaped their academic and career trajectories toward federal science and natural resource positions.

Scholars are also funded to attend national scientific conferences, building the professional networks that convert a summer research post into a long-term career. NOAA designed the program explicitly to recruit undergraduates into public service science, and the alumni record reflects it.

Rosales Rivera was honored at UH Hilo's College of Natural and Health Sciences Student Awards Celebration in 2025 among the year's marine science recipients, a cohort mentored by faculty including Professor Karla McDermid and Assistant Professor Steve Doo. Her Hollings selection follows a tradition at UH Hilo dating to at least 2005, when the university placed two students in the program in a single year.

For other UH Hilo undergraduates who want to pursue the same path, the application window opens each September and closes in January. Candidates must be U.S. citizens enrolled full-time in a field aligned with NOAA's mission, including marine science, oceanography, atmospheric science, and fisheries, and must have at least two semesters remaining when the award begins. Faculty mentorship within the College of Natural and Health Sciences has proven to be a consistent advantage for applicants from Hilo making a case to a national selection committee.