Pacific Island students may apply for marine sciences scholarship
For students from CNMI, American Sāmoa, and Guam, the funds will be given directly to the university to cover tuition and other fees before being redistributed to the student if there are remaining funds.
The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council recently announced that a U.S. Pacific Territories Fishery Capacity-Building Scholarship is available for students from the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, American Sāmoa, and Guam who will be enrolled in the marine science undergraduate or tropical conservation biology and environmental science graduate programs at UH Hilo.
The deadline to submit an application packet is July 19.
The amount a student will receive is “based on the university’s estimated cost of attendance,” the council said in a release. The funds will be given directly to the university to cover tuition and other fees before being redistributed to the student if there are remaining funds.
Students with “strong ties” to the U.S. Pacific territories are encouraged to apply.
The council said it would “significantly benefit the Territory of American Samoa, the Territory of Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands … if residents from their own islands were educated and employed to serve in the local fishery-related agencies.”
The scholarship is intended to fund the junior and/or senior year of students at several higher education universities in the following undergraduate degrees:
Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science in Marine Science at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo; BS in Marine Biology at UH Mānoa; BS in Marine Biology or BS in Oceanography with concentration in Fisheries Science at Hawaiʻi Pacific University; and BS in Biology in the Integrative or Applied Biology track with emphasis on Marine Biology at the University of Guam.
In addition, the scholarship can be used for the completion of the following graduate degrees:
Master of Science in Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science at the UH Hilo; MS or PhD in Marine Biology at UH Mānoa; MS in Marine Science at HPU; or MS in Biology at the UOG.
Qualified applicants should be U.S. citizens that have “strong ties” to the Pacific territories. They must commit to working at either the American Sāmoa Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources, the Guam Department of Agriculture or the CNMI Department of Lands and Natural Resources after graduation.
Undergraduate scholarship recipients must also be available for an eight- to 10-week paid internship in Hawaiʻi.
Applicants should likewise send two letters of recommendation.
Applications can be mailed to Kitty Simonds, executive director of Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council, 1164 Bishop Street, Suite 1400, Honolulu, HI 96813 or emailed to info@wpcouncil.org/.
For more information, email Amy Vandehey at info@wpcouncil.org/.
