CEOAS Environmental Sciences major Elise Narimatsu has been awarded the prestigious Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship for 2025 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Senator Ernest “Fritz” Hollings of South Carolina served in the U.S. senate for 38 years (1966-2005), becoming a champion for ocean policy and conservation. When he retired, the Ernest F. Hollings Scholarship was established in his honor to bolster undergraduate training in NOAA mission sciences, as well as to increase environmental literacy.
These scholarships now provide undergraduates – more than 2,300 of them since the program’s inception – with awards that include financial assistance for two years of full-time study and a 10-week, full-time paid internship at a NOAA facility during the summer.
Elise Narimatsu grew up in Beaverton, Oregon, where her love for the outdoors grew out of catching frogs in the creek behind her house and digging up mole crabs at the Oregon coast. She vacationed with her family in many National Parks, further cementing her love for the natural world.
“We can't love a natural world that we don't protect,” she said. “Threats to the environment are becoming increasingly urgent and dangerous, and I believe that studying environmental science will be the best way to equip myself with the skills and knowledge to fight for our planet.”
What brought her to CEOAS? “I wanted to attend an institution that shared the same values and goals that I had for myself,” she explained. “I was drawn to CEOAS specifically for the interdisciplinarity offered by the Environmental Sciences program -- I didn't want to have to choose between science and humanities, and the Environmental Sciences major has allowed me to explore both the natural and human dimensions of the environment.”
With a CEOAS degree under her belt, Elise hopes to combine her love of science and humanities by becoming a public interest environmental lawyer. “I want to be a part of forging a greener future for our planet no matter where I end up,” she said.
Elise joins a long line of CEOAS and Oregon State students in the Hollings program: Current Hollings scholars include CEOAS undergraduates Alexis Hadinger, Moani Tiare Atay, and Teaghan Knox. Marine biology major Elizabeth Myers (College of Science) is also in the current cohort of scholars.