Foreign Fulbright Archives - Page 25 of 27 - Fulbright Student Program Blog

Scientific Rock Stars

April 2, 2014

Jet M. J. Vonk, 2013-2014, The Netherlands, holding a Dutch reading instruction tool and pointing out her namesake

When doing your Ph.D. on a Fulbright grant in New York, prepare for busy times. But, in a way, you probably wouldn’t want it any other way. I am busy with seminars, starting new projects and writing papers on ongoing projects so I can submit them for publication, among other things. And, I am busy meeting rock stars. Well, the scientific versions of them. In other words: my kind of heroes and celebrities.

The scientific community is a different world with its own idols. What are the similarities between scientific rock stars and traditional celebrities? Movie stars and musicians appear in magazines and tabloids researchers do, too, but those are called ‘scientific journals.’ People travel to meet and greet movie stars and musicians—researchers do, too, but those are called ‘conferences.’ And if you want to become someone important, you follow the example of your idol. It is not for nothing that I moved to New York on a Fulbright grant to work with Dr. Loraine Obler. She has been the hero of neurolinguistic research on language and the aging brain for decades. Yes, I am doing my Ph.D. with the scientific version of Madonna.

In a similar vein, scientific conferences are sort of comparable to the Oscars and Grammys. A few big shots are invited to perform as the main acts (read: give a spiel about their research). The rest of the program includes oral or poster presentations, and everybody brings each other up to speed about the latest ins and outs in research land. The venue is filled with major names that jovially greet each other. Every now and then, the minor names, like me, nudge each other while saying, “Look, there goes so-and-so. And hey, there’s that-one-guy.”

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Foreign Fulbright

From Zimbabwe to Iowa: My Fulbright Experience

March 26, 2014

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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Foreign Fulbright

From Fulbrighter to Scientist

March 12, 2014

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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Foreign Fulbright

An Irish Fulbrighter’s Life in the Big Apple

February 26, 2014

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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Foreign Fulbright

Being an Agent for Change across Borders

February 5, 2014

Tam Nguyen, 2013-2015, Vietnam, visiting Harvard University

Over the past six months of my Fulbright journey, I have had wonderful opportunities to become a part of the Penn State Harrisburg (PSH) community and participate in Central Pennsylvania’s LGBT networks.

As a gay man born in Vietnam, educated in Singapore, with experience working for Eastern and Western organizations, I came to the United States with a multifaceted cultural heritage and identity. Initially, I worried if my complex identity would make it difficult for me to be a cultural ambassador. But PSH and my department, Community Psychology and Social Change, have welcomed me and appreciated every facet of my social character and skills, and have helped me to feel at home within a short period of time. Classroom conversations so far have been very engaging and a great opportunity for me to learn about American social issues while sharing my international perspectives. I have really enjoyed the diversity of backgrounds, and experiences that I have encountered, and the intellectually intriguing questions raised by my fellow students and professors. I have already grown tremendously from such exchanges.

Through PSH and my program, which is home to many passionate social change activists, I have connected with various networks such as the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, the LGBT Center of Central Pennsylvania, and Penn State’s Diversity committee. Through these networks, I have been able to exchange ideas with like-minded people and also pursue possibilities to make PSH a better place for anyone who is LGBT.

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Foreign Fulbright

From India to New York: Going Global through Fulbright

January 22, 2014

Left to right: Suchi Gaur, 2012-2013, Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellow from India, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gilard, and University of Texas, El Paso Professor of Communications Arvind Singhal, attending a session on polio eradication during the United Nations General Assembly 2012

There are many aspects of what it means to be a Fulbrighter. For instance, it changes not only how people identify you, but how you see yourself and the world. The amount of exposure to different cultures and experience that Fulbright provides is immense. The feeling of being a 2012-2013 Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Fellow from India started sinking in the day I attended the pre-departure orientation. Being chosen as a representative of my country was huge. I knew that what I that my experience researching community radio and participatory communication in the United States would be different from my previous experiences in India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, and I was very much looking forward to it.

When I attended the Gateway Orientation at Virginia Commonwealth University, the feeling of ‘going global’ overcame me, and I realized just how huge a responsibility being a Fulbrighter is. During the orientation, I learned much about the American Civil War and also from my fellow Fulbrighters from all over the world.

When I arrived at New York University’s (NYU’s) Department of Media, Culture, and Communication, I knew that as a Development Communication and Extension Specialist from India, NYU was going to be a great place to analyze global development, not just by studying what is happening within the field in the United States, but also by meeting with representatives from different countries. My Fulbright research focuses on community radio stations as models of participatory communication, and I intend to use my findings on American community radio stations’ financial and volunteer management when I return to India. Understanding the similarities and differences between Indian and American models will be particularly helpful in developing an in-depth analysis of global community radio stations’ best practices.

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