BAR HARBOR – College of the Atlantic student Noah Krell of Hiram has won a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. He is one of 60 graduating seniors from 50 selective, private liberal arts colleges and universities to receive the prestigious fellowship.

Krell will spend his Watson year studying and photographing contemporary, teen-age and young adult body-piercing subcultures around the world. His itinerary includes England, Japan, South Africa and New Zealand. The fellowship comes with a $22,000 grant to support travel for the year.

“If there are universal reasons why people pierce themselves, which transcend cultural institutions within each society, I want to learn about them to gain a better understanding of this contemporary phenomenon,” Krell wrote in his Watson proposal. He will combine his fascination with piercing with his passion for photography. He completed a COA internship with the Maine Photographic Workshop in Rockport in 1999 and has studied photography at the college with Dee Peppe, Douglas Barkey and Nancy Andrews.

Watson Fellows are chosen in a two-step process that requires nomination from a participating college, followed by a national competition. This year more than 1,000 students applied to the first round of the selection. “We look for bright, creative, independently minded individuals who have the personality and drive to become leaders,” said Tori Haring-Smith, executive director of the Watson Fellowship Program and a former Watson Fellow. College of the Atlantic has had 20 Watson Fellows since seniors began applying in 1983.