UA Student Receives Hollings Scholarship

University of Alabama student Max Hawkins, of Renner, South Dakota, will receive the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship for 2020-2022.

The scholarship provides a two-year academic award of $9,500 per year, and a 10-week, full-time, paid summer internship opportunity at any NOAA facility nationwide. Scholars also receive funding to present their NOAA research projects at two national scientific conferences.

The Hollings Scholarship is given in addition to existing awards the student may already receive. Since the program's inception in 2005, more than 36 UA students have been named Hollings Scholars.

Hawkins is a computer engineering major and Randall Research Scholar. He has worked under Dr. Jeremy Bailin, associate professor of physics and astronomy, to improve radio astronomy data using machine learning techniques.

His research continues work Hawkins did last summer at the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia. This summer, he will remotely intern at Breakthrough Listen, a $100 million initiative to search for civilizations beyond Earth. Hawkins is also a member of UA's EcoCar team.