By Rebecca Goldfine
The biology major is just one of 120 undegraduates this year to win an Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship, which offers college tuition support and a summer internship with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The scholarship program recruits and prepares promising students for science-related public service careers with NOAA or another agency at the federal, state, and local levels of government, according to its website.
It is named for US Senator Ernest Hollings, the South Carolina policymaker who played a major role in the establishment of NOAA and helped enact the Coastal Zone Management Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act, both in 1972, as well as the Oceans Dumping Act in 1976 and the Sustainable Fisheries Act in 1996.
Wilder will receive up to $9,500 per year his junior and senior years at Bowdoin. The scholarship also includes a paid ten-week mentored internship at a NOAA institute of his choice. The federal agency has multiple facilities and projects in every state, as well as some locations overseas.