(Posted July 27, 2015)

Katie Shelledy, a junior from Milwaukee, Wis., Received NOAA's Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship
Katie Shelledy, a junior from Milwaukee, Wis., Received NOAA's Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Katie Shelledy, a junior studying biology from Milwaukee, Wis., received the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship. She is one of 100 undergraduates awarded the scholarship nationwide.

Shelledy, the daughter of Terese and Robert Shelledy of Milwaukee, will receive $8,000 in scholarship funds for the next two years and receive a full-time paid internship worth $6,500 at NOAA in summer 2016. This summer she will attend a NOAA conference in Silver Spring, Md., to determine the research area for her internship.

She is a 2013 graduate of Divine Savior Holy Angels High School in Milwaukee.


Shelledy has already taken on extensive research projects during her short time at Juniata. As a freshman, she worked with Vince Buonaccorsi, and Christopher Grant, both biology professors, on the philogenetics of mountain red valley dace, a fish species. In spring 2015, Shelledy worked with Buonaccorsi on the population genetics of brook trout under environmental pressures. Last summer she served as a volunteer for the Urban Ecology Center in Milwaukee. This summer, as part of the National Science Foundation program Research Experiences for Undergraduates, she will study at Marquette University, in Milwaukee, on a project analyzing antiobiotic resistance in mussels in the Great Lakes.

She also has presented her brook trout research at Juniata's Liberal Arts Symposium, as well as a philosophy presentation analyzing criticism of scientific pursuits in an essay by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In January 2015, she spent two weeks in the Dominican Republic as part of a cultural learning course and service experience.

"If you take initiative at Juniata, the biology faculty will take you leagues beyond what you imagined. This is the first time I've had a mentor who expected more from me than than I've expected from myself."

Katie Shelledy, junior, biology POE


"If you take initiative at Juniata, the biology faculty will take you leagues beyond what you imagined," she says. "This is the first time I've had a mentor who expected more from me than than I've expected from myself."


This fall, Shelledy will take a leave of absence at Juniata to study and work in the labs of the University of Oregon's Institute of Marine Biology in Coos Bay. The following spring, in 2016, Shelledy will study abroad in Ecuador at the University of Quito.

Shelledy is also active on campus. She is a member of Amigos de Guanin and Eagle Ambassadors. Shelledy volunteers as a study group leader, helping freshmen enrolled in Organic Chemistry.
She also was recently named to Tri-Beta, the national biology honor society.

The Hollings scholarship program is designed to increase undergraduate training in oceanic and atmospheric science, research, technology, and education and foster multidisciplinary training opportunities, as well as increase public understanding and support for stewardship of the ocean and atmosphere. The agency also believes the scholarship will help recruit and prepare students for public service careers with NOAA and other natural resource and science agencies or as teachers and educators.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.