[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 77 (Wednesday, April 22, 2026)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21448-21449]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2026-07790]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
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
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
[[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