UD undergraduate, graduate students awarded prestigious Fulbright grants
12:03 p.m., May 18, 2015--University of Delaware doctoral candidate
Alyssa Findlay, masters degree students Joel Palmer and Alexandra
Davis and undergraduate Emily Grubb have been awarded prestigious
Fulbright grants for the coming year.
They join faculty members Katya Roelse and Gretchen Bauer as UD Fulbright recipients for 2015-16.
Created in 1946 by U.S. Sen. J. William Fulbright, the Fulbright
program seeks to promote relationships between governments and citizens
of other countries. Since its inception, 122,800 U.S. students and
professionals have participated in the program, conducting research or
teaching English in a foreign nation for a year.
Findlay, a doctoral candidate studying oceanography in UDs School of Marine Science and Policy, has received a Fulbright scholarship to study sulfur cycling in the Sea of Galilee as a postdoctoral researcher at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel.
Most of what scientists currently understand about the chemistry of
ancient oceans comes from interpreting sulfur isotopic signatures in
sedimentary rocks. This information, however, relies on the idea that
the signatures formed in the water column by biological and chemical
processes are faithfully preserved in the sedimentary rock, which is
still unclear.
The Sea of Galilee, also known as Lake Kinneret, lies in between
ancient and modern conditions, and studying it can help scientists draw
conclusions about how the oceans have transitioned over time.
At Ben-Gurion, Findlay will learn new instrumental techniques and
methods to measure sulfur species using isotopic measurements.
Understanding what drives sulfide oxidation, she said, may have
important implications in the management of sulfidic waters and other
water quality improvements.
Palmer, a graduating masters student of African American literature,
has received a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship Program
scholarship, and will spend the next year teaching English in
Indonesia.
While Palmer still awaits his exact placement in Indonesia, he says
he has been interested in visiting the nation for many years and is most
looking forward to experiencing the culture as well as teaching high
school or young college students.
A masters student in urban affairs and public policy in UDs School of Public Policy and Administration, Davis is the recipient of a Fulbright scholarship to study retail-led commercial real estate development in South Africa.
As a 2013 Plastino scholar,
Davis designed a project to go to South Africa to study the small
medium and micro enterprise (SMME) sector. Interested in examining
marginalized and historically racially oppressed communities, she
decided to focus on the community of Soweto, which has experienced
focused retail-commercial development over the past five years.
Building many connections and relationships during her earlier time
in South Africa, Davis decision to apply for a Fulbright grant was a
natural extension of the research she had conducted.
Davis also hopes to engage with many of the young African leaders she met while working with the Mandela Washington Fellows Program at UD in the summer of 2014.
Davis research is inspired by her father, a real estate developer
who built a shopping center with the first supermarket in the West Ward
of Trenton in about 40 years. Through her own research, she seeks to
examine how new developments engage and create jobs for traditionally
impoverished communities, such as the West Ward, in other parts of the
world. For her Fulbright, she will be returning to Soweto, the community
she originally studied as a Plastino Scholar.
Grubb, an undergraduate student with majors in international
relations and three languages Chinese, Spanish and Japanese is a
recipient of a Fulbright Program scholarship to Taiwan. She is one of
two American students who received a Fulbright scholarship to complete
an international masters degree at the National Chengchi University in Taipei, Taiwan.
Grubb became interested in Taiwan when she realized, in high school,
that her Chinese teacher was Taiwanese. In the summer of 2013, she
traveled to Taiwan on a Huayu enrichment program to study Chinese in an
intensive language program. While there, Grubb realized that she wanted
to return to Taiwan upon graduation.
With encouragement from her parents and UD faculty, Grubb applied for
and received a Fulbright to Taiwan. Ultimately, Grubb hopes to work for
the U.S. Department of State,
participating in trilateral negotiations between the U.S., China and
Taiwan. She believes her Fulbright experience in Taiwan will equip her
with the necessary tools and connections to pursue a career in
diplomacy.
Having a specialization in Asia Pacific studies from a university
taught primarily from a Taiwanese standpoint will give me an edge, said
Grubb. I will have an American background with a better understanding
of the Taiwanese, so I will be able to navigate the conversations and
dialogue between the two sides.
About the Fulbright Program
Each year the Fulbright Program
provides 8,000 grants for research or teaching in one of over 140
countries throughout the world. Introduced by U.S. Sen. J. William
Fulbright in 1946, the program seeks to foster international partnership
and cultural exchange by funding research and teaching opportunities
worldwide.
The University of Delaware counts over 150 members of its community
as recipients of Fulbright scholarship awards, and is currently home to
17 Fulbright students and scholars from 12 countries. UD students and
faculty interested in applying for a Fulbright award should visit the UD Fulbright website.
Article by Jessica Franzetti
Originally published by UDaily
