{"id":72,"date":"2026-03-01T18:38:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T18:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/demo.acmethemes.com\/event-star\/?p=139"},"modified":"2026-06-29T20:44:49","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T20:44:49","slug":"celebrating-25-years-epp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eppjubilee.org\/index.php\/celebrating-25-years-epp\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating 25 years of NOAA EPP: A Legacy of Access and Opportunity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2026, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.noaa.gov\/office-education\/epp-msi\">NOAA\u2019s Educational Partnership Program<\/a> will celebrate 25 years of achievement and excellence in supporting students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Its partnerships with U.S. academic institutions have supported thousands of students and advanced scientific research in atmospheric science and meteorology, earth systems sciences and remote sensing technology, coastal and marine ecosystems, and living marine resources. In fact, the program\u2019s faculty and students have produced 935 publications in peer reviewed journals, which has significantly enhanced the real-world research and training efforts of the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">NOAA EPP was created in 2001 to provide students with educational opportunities that prepare them for careers in NOAA and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unesco.org\/en\/stem\">STEM<\/a> fields. Over time, it has grown to be a national federal model for workforce development. The educational institutions have helped students complete over 2,700 post-secondary degrees, with graduates contributing to various sectors within government, academic, and private industry settings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since the inception of the NOAA Educational Partnership Program, it has created a significant impact on the field of STEM education and NOAA\u2019s workforce development. So far, 4,665 students have received support and training to pursue NOAA aligned post-secondary degrees, with 2,785 degrees awarded in the areas of NOAA-mission and natural resource management and policy. More than 2,021 of these graduates are currently serving as NOAA employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.noaa.gov\/office-education\/epp-msi\/csc\">Cooperative Science Centers (CSCs)<\/a> are essential to this program as they provide students with hands-on research, mentorship, and professional development opportunities. These centers bring together academic institutions and NOAA experts to support student training and research aligned with NOAA\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI would not be at CIMMS without the training, networking, and fellowship opportunities afforded by NCAS-M,\u201d Shivers-Williams noted. \u201cThrough my affiliation with NCAS-M, I became immersed in NOAA culture and explored career options.\u201d Deputy Program Director, Cassandra Shivers-Williams, said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"2025 NOAA EPP Biennial Education &amp; Science Forum at UMES | NOAA LMRCSC\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UJ9lsVjaplI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This 25-year milestone represents the ongoing influence of EPP in providing STEM career opportunities and assisting NOAA in its mission. The focus of the program continues to be on providing opportunities for students and enhancing the workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To date, students have received more than 550 master\u2019s degrees and more than 300 doctoral degrees. In addition, 294 undergraduates received the EPP Undergraduate Scholarship Program and 287 graduate students received NOAA experimental research and training opportunities. Currently, 179 students are pursuing degrees with the support of the program, with more than 60 partner institutions in 33 states and U.S. territories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Cooperative Science Center continue to provide the experience and skills required for students to contribute to the NOAA mission. Through structured programs such as NOAA Experiential &amp; Research Training Opportunities (NERTO) and Student in Residence internships, students gain practical skills in climate observation, AI\/ML weather prediction models, and community resilience initiatives, preparing them for careers in NOAA and related STEM fields. Students interested in hands-on STEM research and mentorship opportunities are encouraged to explore Cooperative Science Center programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;As you know, scientists, engineers, and researchers are somewhat protective of their knowledge and only share it in articles or presentations. This is not what happened at CCNY,\u201d said Haniel Cordero, doctoral fellow at University of Puerto Rico, Mayag\u00fcez, about his experience at the Third Annual <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cessrst.org\/\">CESSRST-II<\/a> Symposium). At every opportunity, we discussed research, techniques, software, AIs, and more among ourselves. You may not have realized it, but there was much more than just knowledge transfer; techniques, technologies, skills, inspirations, passions, and recommendations on how to improve research were transferred among the fellows.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Something powerful has been built over the past 25 years, and the work is just getting started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 2026, NOAA\u2019s Educational Partnership Program will celebrate 25 years of achievement and excellence in supporting students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":211,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[14,12,11,13],"class_list":["post-72","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-news","tag-25yearsofimpact","tag-noaa","tag-noaaepp","tag-servinginstitutions"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eppjubilee.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eppjubilee.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eppjubilee.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eppjubilee.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eppjubilee.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/eppjubilee.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":214,"href":"https:\/\/eppjubilee.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72\/revisions\/214"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eppjubilee.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eppjubilee.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eppjubilee.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eppjubilee.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}