NOAA Office of Education Scholarship, Fellowship, and Internship Programs OMB Review

Notice

Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; NOAA Office of Education Higher Education Scholarship, Fellowship, and Internship Programs

A Notice by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on 04/22/2026

• PDF

• Document Details

- Table of Contents

• Public Comments
• Regulations.gov Data

- Sharing

• Print
• Other Formats
• Public Inspection Published Document: 2026-07790 (91 FR 21448) Document Headings ###### Department of Commerce

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The Department of Commerce will submit the following information collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, on or after the date of publication of this notice. We invite the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. Public comments were previously requested via the Federal Register on December 8, 2025, during a 60-day comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments.

Agency: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Commerce.

Title: NOAA Office of Education Higher Education Scholarship, Fellowship, and Internship Programs.

OMB Control Number: 0648-0568.

Form Number(s): None.

Type of Request: Regular submission. Revision and extension of approved collection.

Number of Respondents: 3,379.

Average Hours per Response: Hollings and EPP/MSI Application—12 hours; Hollings and EPP Reference—1 hour; Voluntary Alumni Update Form—0.1 hours; Student Tracker Form—28 hours; EPP Graduate Fellowship Application—12 hours; EPP Graduate Fellowship References—1 hour; Student Training Record Form—0.5 hours; Hollings and EPP Student Surveys—0.25 hours; Hollings and EPP Mentor Surveys—0.5 hours; Hollings and EPP Travel Request Forms—0.25 hours.

Total Annual Burden Hours: 13,043.

Needs and Uses: This request is for extension and revision of a current information collection.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Education is sponsoring the information collection herein described. The Administrator of NOAA is authorized by section 4002 of the America COMPETES Act, Public Law 110-69, to establish and administer a Graduate Sciences Program and two undergraduate scholarship programs to enhance understanding of ocean, coastal, Great Lakes, and atmospheric science and stewardship by the general public and other coastal stakeholders, including underrepresented groups in ocean and atmospheric science and policy careers. In addition, NOAA's Administrator is authorized by section 214 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005, Public Law 108-447, to establish and administer the Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship Program to support undergraduate studies in oceanic and atmospheric science, research, technology, and education that support NOAA's mission and programs.

The NOAA Office of Education collects, evaluates, and assesses student data and information for the purpose of selecting successful candidates for scholarships, fellowships and internships, generating internal NOAA reports, and articles to demonstrate the success of its program.

The purpose of the NOAA Educational Partnership Program with Minority Serving Institutions (EPP) is to educate, train and graduate students in NOAA mission-aligned disciplines to build a pool of candidates eligible for the future NOAA workforce. The EPP program is strongly committed to broadening the participation of Minority Serving Institutions such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions, Indian Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities, Alaska Native-Serving Institutions, and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions. The EPP program has five program components: the Undergraduate Scholarship Program (USP); the Cooperative Science Centers (CSCs); Graduate Fellowship Program (GFP); the Graduate Sciences Program (GSP); and the Environmental Entrepreneurship Program (EEP). The GSP and EEP programs are no longer actively supporting students, however alumni of those programs may provide updates to EPP of educational and career changes.

The Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship Program was established to increase undergraduate training in oceanic and atmospheric science, research, technology, and education and foster multidisciplinary training opportunities.

The NOAA Office of Education requires all applicants to NOAA's Undergraduate Scholarship Programs to complete an application in order to be considered. The application package requires two faculty and/or academic advisors to complete a student scholar ( printed page 21449) reference form in support of the scholarship application. Undergraduate scholarship recipients are required to complete a Student Scholarship Training Record to track their time, attendance, and accomplishments during their internships. Student scholar alumni are also requested to provide information to NOAA for internal tracking purposes. This information informs NOAA whether NOAA-funded students pursue and complete post-graduate NOAA-related science degrees, are employed by NOAA or a NOAA contractor, or in fields related to NOAA's mission.

NOAA EPP CSC grant award recipients are required to update the student tracker database with the required student information in order to assess compliance with award performance measures. While supported by NOAA scholarship and internship programs, the Office of Education surveys students and mentors to gain feedback on experiences and to assess program impact. Feedback collected from surveys will be used to improve programs to ensure the highest quality experience for supported students.

The collected data supports the Office of Education's program performance measures. To measure the impact of these programs, the data collected are compared to the available data in the national education databases (e.g., National Science Foundation and National Center for Education Statistics) and NOAA workforce management database. Furthermore, the student data collection identifies degree and NOAA mission-aligned discipline pipeline areas, guiding NOAA's effort to recruit for its mission-aligned educational and training programs and future workforce.

This information collection includes several changes to the type and amount of information being collected as described below. The changes to the application and surveys are minimal and will not change the burden response time.

1. Updates to Undergraduate Scholarship Programs Application

2. Updates to Undergraduate Scholarship Programs Student Surveys

3. Updates to Undergraduate Scholarship Programs Mentor Surveys

4. Addition of Undergraduate Scholarship Programs Travel Request Forms

5. Addition of Undergraduate Scholarship Programs Onboarding and Scholar Information Form

6. Removal of Student Opportunities Optional Demographic Data Collection and the Hollings Preparation Program Application and Surveys

7. Removal of Undergraduate Scholarship Program Applicant Surveys

Affected Public: Individuals or households; business or other for-profit; not-for-profit institutions; Federal, State, Local or Tribal Government.

Frequency: On occasion, depending on the collection instrument.

Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary or Required to Obtain or Retain Benefits depending on the collection instrument.

Legal Authority: The America COMPETES Act, Public Law 110-69, Section 4002; The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005, Public Law 108-447, Section 214.

This information collection request may be viewed at www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view the Department of Commerce collections currently under review by OMB.

Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection should be submitted within 30 days of the publication of this notice on the following website www.reginfo.gov/​public/​do/​PRAMain. Find this particular information collection by selecting “Currently under 30-day Review—Open for Public Comments” or by using the search function and entering either the title of the collection or the OMB Control Number 0648-0568.

Sheleen Dumas,

Departmental PRA Compliance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.

[FR Doc. 2026-07790 Filed 4-21-26; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-12-P

Published Document: 2026-07790 (91 FR 21448)