UA’s 2005 Hollings Scholars are (L-R) Jacob Batson of Tuscaloosa, Barbara Blaylock of Huntsville and Micah Bennett of Cordova.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Three students at UA have received the prestigious and highly competitive National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship.

The students are Jacob Batson of Tuscaloosa, Micah Bennett of Cordova and Barbara Blaylock of Huntsville.

The University ranked among the top five universities in the nation in total number of recipients for the scholarship, said Dr. Gary Sloan, UA professor of microbiology and coordinator of prestige scholarships and awards in the UA Honors College.

“This puts us in very elite company with schools including Penn State University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Maryland-College Park,” Sloan said.

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.

Batson, a chemistry major, is the son of Robert and Jane Batson. He graduated from Central High School in Tuscaloosa in 2003. At UA, he is a member of Alpha Lambda Delta and Phi Eta Sigma honoraries and was named Computer-Based Honors Freshman and Sophomore Student of the Year. He was a student researcher in the UA chemistry department’s SURP summer program, sponsored by the National Science Foundation. He is also active in Reformed University Fellowship and Mark’s Madness.

Bennett is a biology major and liberal arts minor at UA where he is a Presidential Scholar, Blount Undergraduate Initiative Scholar and a member of the University Honors Program. He is a graduate of Cordova High School and is the son of Barry Bennett and Patricia Cunningham. He is active in the SGA Environmental Concerns Committee and was a 2005 Howard Hughes Medical Institute research intern.

Blaylock is a double major in economics and mathematics and a graduate of Virgil I. Grissom High School. Her parents are Charles Blaylock and Claire Davies. At UA, she works as a teaching assistant and as a research assistant. She is a member of the University Honors Program, International Honors Program, Business Honors Program and Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society. This year, she received the Economics Faculty Scholar Award and the Outstanding Economics Student Award.

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.