BOSTON (AP) — Several New England college students have received research fellowships from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to study environmental science, pollution prevention and other issues.

Eighteen undergraduate and graduate students in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont received a total of as much as $783,600 in research fellowships from the federal agency.

They are among 127 students nationwide to receive up to $5.3 million from EPA to pay their tuition this year.

Curt Spalding, regional administrator of EPA’s New England office, said the awards give students the chance to pursue research and education that might otherwise be inaccessible.

The students are researching issues such as debris and pollutants in the ocean, the ecosystems of Brazil’s forests and restoring Atlantic salmon to Lake Champlain that borders New York and Vermont.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.