Marine Debris Program Welcomes Hollings Prep Program Intern
JULY 12, 2021 ─ On July 6, the NOAA Marine Debris Program’s (MDP) Pacific Island Regional Coordinator, Mark Manuel, began mentoring Abigail Lewine, a 2021 Hollings Prep Program intern. The Hollings Prep Program is a pilot program that seeks to build a pool of diverse candidates (particularly those from underrepresented groups) for NOAA scholarship and fellowship programs.
The program prepares undergraduate freshmen to be competitive applicants for the NOAA Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship Program in their sophomore year of college. Applicants are paired with NOAA mentors primarily on the West Coast, including California, Oregon, Washington, Hawai‘i, and Alaska, for four to six weeks during the summer of 2021.
Over the next six weeks, Abigail will conduct monitoring, removal, and analysis efforts to field test the updated Marine Debris Monitoring and Assessment Project protocols. In addition, she will create various "How to” documents, and collect photos and videos for educational and tutorial purposes.
Abigail is a rising sophomore at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo pursuing a Marine Science degree. She plans to obtain her doctoral degree and has a particular interest in sea turtle and marine mammal conservation. Please help welcome Abigail to the OR&R team and share your expertise and knowledge with her during her internship.
For more information, contact Mark.Manuel@noaa.gov.