Yearly Archives:

2014

Foreign Fulbright

From Zimbabwe to Iowa: My Fulbright Experience

March 26, 2014
ernest

Dr. Jack Stapleton (left), Dr. Nirjal Bhattarai (center) and Ernest Chivero, 2010-2013, Zimbabwe (right) at the 2014 Budweiser International Snow Sculpture Championships

I came to the United States on an International Fulbright Science & Technology Award to pursue a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Iowa (Iowa) in 2010. Following a welcome reception hosted by the Iowa Chapter of the Fulbright Association and the University of Iowa International Programs office, an Iowan said, “Welcome to Iowa, we have both culture and agriculture!” My time as a Fulbrighter has indeed been a great cultural and academic experience – including getting to know the famous Iowa cornfields!

My academic experience at Iowa has been exceedingly fruitful and exciting. I have been studying how viruses interact with the immune system at the molecular level, and how findings can be translated into new, improved immune-based therapies. I have always wondered what happens when two pathogens infect the same host at the same time. I imagine it’s a fierce territorial battle! Our body is one such host in cases of HIV, GB virus C, Hepatitis C virus, or Tuberculosis co-infections. Dr. Jack Stapleton’s laboratory at Iowa has given me an opportunity to study why HIV-infected people co-infected with GB virus C survive longer than people who are only HIV-infected. To better understand GBV-C’s protective effects in HIV-infected people, I characterize immune cells targeted by GBV-C for infection and how their activation pathways and functions are affected. Our lab and others have shown that GBV-C infection reduces the activation of immune cells and I believe that understanding the mechanisms of GBV-C modulation of immune cell activation may lead to novel ways to treat HIV-induced immune activation and inflammation.

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U.S. Fulbright

An Ornithologist Learns the Rules of Cricket

March 19, 2014
Catherine - 1

Catherine Sheard, 2012-2013, United Kingdom, posing along Hadrian’s Wall about 50 miles into the trail between Housesteads Roman Fort and Crag Lough, England
(Photo courtesy of Eliza Gettel)

Once every two weeks, I leave the office early, walk down to the field behind my department, and score-keep a cricket match. Cricket enthusiasts are almost exclusively fit, well-coordinated middle-aged men from the Commonwealth, which I most definitely am not. It turns out that you don’t need to be able to actually play cricket in order to score it. You just need to count accurately, to bellow loudly, and to stay sober until the end of the match; something I, a brash non-drinker with a degree in mathematics, can handle.

After almost a year of living in the United Kingdom—and almost an entire season of cricket—I now know my wickets from my overs and my byes from my leg byes, not to mention my “pants” from my “trousers” and my “chips” from my “crisps.” I came to England on a Fulbright Study/Research grant to begin a Ph.D. in Zoology, based at the University of Oxford’s Grey Institute of Ornithology, and here I have learned much about birds, sports, and life itself.

If you do it properly, earning a Ph.D. is a lot like scoring cricket. There’s a lot of tedium, yes, but then there’s also a lot of excitement. I spend about half of my time programming a computer to simulate avian evolution and the other half measuring the dusty carcasses of birds killed in the 1800’s, but really, what I’m studying is sexual selection, the reproductive success of a creature determined by how melodious its song is or how brightly colored its feathers are. Comparing Cricket to my research, there are always going to be dot ball moments, times where a worthy ball is ‘bowled’ but without a run resulting from it. But there are also the ‘sixes’ (an automatic six run score from hitting the boundary mark) when the batter’s on 29 runs, which can be as exciting as the simulation that finally runs and condenses pages of code and megabytes of data into a simple statistical statement about evolution.

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Foreign Fulbright

From Fulbrighter to Scientist

March 12, 2014
Pamela

Pamela Carolina Carrillo Sanchez, 2013-2015, Ecuador, at Brookhaven National Laboratory’s surface chemical dynamics lab putting together a valve for a molecular high vacuum pump for a mass spectrometer

I still have to pinch myself every morning when the bus brings me to Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) in Upton, New York. A year ago, I was imagining how amazing it would be to work in a place where other scientists have been awarded seven Nobel prizes for their discoveries. Now, I’m no longer imagining what that experience would be like since my dream came true this past fall and I began my master’s in chemistry at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Everything began back in 2012 when I was selected to become an Ecuadorian Fulbright Student, not knowing how this experience would change my life, but excited that it would allow me to do what I love: chemistry. Since my classes began, it has been quite the journey. Getting used to a new educational system, making new friends, and starting my research have made these past few months go by fast. Looking back, I realize just how much this experience has helped me to grow personally and academically.

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U.S. Fulbright

Navigating Politics, Civil Society, and the Public Sphere in Greece: One Fulbrighter’s Experience

March 5, 2014
Michael

Michael Nevradakis, 2012-2013, Greece, giving a presentation on the progress of his research at the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences in Athens, Greece

When I first found out that I would be spending nine months in Greece performing research for my doctoral dissertation as a Fulbright U.S. Student Program grantee, there were some who thought that I was not making a wise decision. “Why would you want to go to Greece now?” they would ask. “Haven’t you seen the riots and unrest in the country?” Beset by a severe economic crisis that has generated international headlines, Greece is a country that is experiencing historic and turbulent changes. It is precisely for this reason, though, that I decided to go to Greece to perform research.

Being of Greek descent, this was not my first visit to Greece. It was, however, the first time that I would spend an extended period of time in the country. Interestingly enough, a number of people that I met while there expressed the same proclamations of surprise that I had chosen to come to Greece at such a difficult time as I had heard back in the United States. “Why did you come here when you could have stayed in the United States?” I would be asked, or “Why would you want to come to Greece when most young people in Greece want to immigrate?” Far from being dissuaded, I became ever more enthusiastic about my research.

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Foreign Fulbright

An Irish Fulbrighter’s Life in the Big Apple

February 26, 2014
Brendan Cleary

Brendan Cleary, 2013-2014, Ireland, at Columbia University’s Homecoming game vs. the University of Pennsylvania at the Baker Athletics Complex, New York

I commenced my doctoral research in October 2011 focusing on the economics of wind power and large scale energy storage at Dublin Energy Lab, Dublin Institute of Technology, in Ireland. In July 2013, following a rigorous application and interview process, I was thrilled to be awarded the prestigious Fulbright-Enterprise Ireland Student Award. The award allows me to spend six months in New York (aka, the Big Apple) collaborating with the Center for Life Cycle Analysis (CLCA) at Columbia University. Initially, I formed a relationship with the CLCA back in February 2013. My Fulbright grant allows me to strengthen this relationship and to refine my research methodology with influential experts in energy related fields.

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