CCNY-CREST Undergrads win NOAA Undergraduate Scholarship Program Award (2016-2018)

Posted on May 29, 2016

CCNY and CREST-affiliated Earth System Science and Environmental Engineering Undergraduates won the prestigious NOAA Undergraduate Scholarship Program Award (2016-2018)

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Three Undergraduate students from the City College of New York and NOAA-CREST affiliated: Robert Abitbol (major Environmental Engineering), Maria Cogliando (major Environmental Engineering) and Valentina Rappa (major Environmental Engineering), won the nationally competitive two-year NOAA Undergraduate Scholarship Program Award.

Maria Cogliando is a rising junior in the Earth System Science and Environmental Engineering major with a focus on water resources at the City College of New York. She is a part of the Class of 2016 NOAA Educational Partnership Program. During her time at City College, Maria has been applying methods ofdata analysis and modeling with programs such as Microsoft Excel, Stella, C++, and RStudio.Simultaneously, she is extremely effective in communicating the results of her analysis to the public.

Valentina Rappa is a rising sophomore in Earth System Science and Environmental Engineering at the City College of New York. In her previous project as a NOAA CREST fellow, Valentina has been using remote sensing techniques to obtain and analyze data on carbon fluxes and concentration in the wetland-estuary interface in the Chesapeake Bay.

Robert Abitbol, is also a rising sophomore in Earth System Science and Environmental Engineering. Robert’s research project is on validating NOAA's blended ice concentration product. He will be working with various datasets and GIS to test the product's validity at higher resolution datasets. Robert is very much interested in modeling changes in glacier and sea ice, climate related modeling, fluid dynamics of atmospheric systems, and trends in ocean properties. He believes that Earth’s sustainability depends on the deep and accurate knowledge of Earths’ Atmospheric and Ocean Systems. This is one of the many reasons Robert wanted to be involved in NOAA's cutting edge research”.

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About EPP/MSI Undergraduate Scholarship Program (USP):

The NOAA Educational Partnership Program with Minority Serving Institutions (EPP/MSI) Undergraduate Scholarship Program provides scholarships for two years of undergraduate study to rising junior undergraduate students majoring in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields that directly support NOAA's mission. Participants conduct research at a NOAA facility during two paid summer internships. Since 2001, over 186 students have completed the program and over 75% go on to graduate school.

• Students receive awards valued at up to $45,000 in total support (including travel and conferences) during their junior and senior years.
• Students complete an 11 week paid summer internship and training at NOAA in Silver Spring, MD, between May and July of the first summer. During the second summer, students complete a 10 week paid internships at NOAA facilities across the country. Students are paid a stipend and receive a housing allowance during summer internships.
• Student scholarship recipients attend a two-week orientation at NOAA in Silver Spring, MD, and begin their first summer internship in early June.
• At the end of both summer internships, students present the results of their projects at an Education and Science Symposium in Silver Spring, MD (travel expenses paid).

To apply for an EPP/MSI USP Scholarship, students can visit https://oedwebapps.iso.noaa.gov/uspa. The application is available annually September through January. If you have questions, you may contact: EPP.USP@noaa.gov.

To be eligible for this award, applicants must be U.S. citizen currently enrolled or accepted as a full-time 2nd year student in a four-year academic program or a 3rd year student in a five-year program in a discipline related to NOAA's programs and mission at an accredited minority serving institution (college or university within the United States or U.S. territories). Applicants must earn and maintain a minimum 3.2 grade point average on a 4.0 scale.