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DIVING DEEP Two Honors College students receive prestigious NOAA scholarship BY ERICA LEVI ZELINGER Nicholas Barber and Vincent O’Leary are the first two Drexel students to receive the Ernest F. Hollings Scholarship from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Nick and Vince are among 125 students from across the country to receive the 2016 award, and are natural fits for the Hollings program, which provides top undergraduates with hands-on training and professional development opportunities in oceanic and atmospheric sciences.
NICK BARBER
H
ow does a sophomore geoscience major and Honors
He quickly became a poster boy for the Pennoni Office of
student with a pile of raw data end up giving an
Undergraduate Research, presenting at the Colonial Academic
oral presentation to 60 PhDs in sedimentology and
Alliance and challenging himself to build upon his STAR
coastal geology? On a lark.
research in the SuperNova Undergraduate Research Fellows
The now-junior wasn’t sure which box to tick when he applied to present research at his first conference. Poster, oral, or both? He thought he’d increase his chances if he chose both, but he panicked when he was actually selected to present at the annual conference for the Northeast section of the Geology Society of America. “That story is indicative of how unplanned the turns in my research have been thus far,” Nick says. Nick began his research at Drexel through the Office of Undergraduate Research’s STAR Scholars Program. He analyzed rates of sea level rise and sediment transport mechanics along barrier islands in the Delaware Bay.
Program. As the president of Undergraduate Research Leaders, Nick also touts the benefits of doing research to other students. “Nick has a remarkably good attitude about having to adapt his research focus as not one, but two of his research mentors left Drexel to take positions at other universities,” says Dr. Meredith Wooten, director of the Fellowships Office. “He has been able to adapt and reorient himself easily, quickly proving himself to be an asset in each new lab and project he joins.” In 2015 while studying abroad in Sydney, Australia, Nick received an email from the Fellowships Office that he qualified to apply for the Goldwater Scholarship, recognizing top undergrads in STEM fields. “I had never heard of it so I looked it up — and I like applying for things,” Nick says jokingly. When he returned to the U.S., he immediately began meeting with Dr. Wooten, to discuss the application process. She pointed out he might also qualify continued on page 22 DREXEL.EDU/PENNONI
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