UA Student from Helena Named Hollings Scholar

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Christopher Cater of Helena, a senior at The University of Alabama, has recently received the prestigious and highly competitive National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship.

The scholarship provides $8,000 per year for full-time study during the junior and senior years and $6,500 for a 10-week internship at the NOAA or an NOAA-approved facility during the summer between the junior and senior years. The Hollings Scholarship is given in addition to existing awards the student may already receive.

Some 110 students were chosen nationally this year. Students studying biological and agricultural sciences, physical sciences, mathematics, engineering, computer and information sciences, social and behavioral sciences, and teacher education were eligible to apply.

Cater, a chemical and biological engineering major with a minor in biology, is a Presidential Scholar, a member of the University Honors Program and of the Chemical Engineers Honor Program. He is also a member of Omega Chi Epsilon (Chemical Engineering Honor Society), Alpha Lambda Delta, Phi Eta Sigma and Golden Key honor societies. He was awarded the 2005-2006 McWane Foundation Endowed Research Scholarship to research “Improvement on the Dangerous Affects of Commonly Used Medical Plastics” and he is an active member of AIChE.

Cater is the fourth UA student to receive the prestigious scholarship this year; UA ranks among the top five universities in the country for total number of recipients for the scholarship.

The Hollings Scholarship Program is designed to improve undergraduate training in oceanic and atmospheric science, research technology, and natural resource education; increase public understanding of the importance of stewardship of the environment; prepare students for public service careers with the NOAA and other federal, state, and local levels of government that deal with natural resources; and improve scientific and environmental education in the U.S.