Six academicians from Kerala will have the opportunity to travel to the US to study, teach and conduct research after being recently named Fulbright scholars.
Named after the late Sen. J. William Fulbright, who sponsored legislation creating the prestigious scholarship, the programme is America's largest educational exchange, which offers opportunities for students and young professionals to undertake international graduate study, advanced research and university teaching worldwide. Approximately 8,000 grants are awarded each year, and the programme operates in over 150 countries.
With the Fulbright research grant, a student designs a proposal for a specific country. The programme aims to facilitate cultural exchange and promote mutual understanding by supporting study or research abroad.
Here is a short summary of the research topics of the Fullbright researchers from Kerala, who are going to the US this year.
Feby Varghese: A public relations consultant at the central Sangeet Natak Academy, Feby has a PG in English and a PG Diploma in advertising copy writing. She is fond of traditional art forms and wants to focus on arts management. She would be studying at the American University in Performing Arts Management. She wants to come back and encourage traditional arts.
Vrinda Varma: She works as an assistant professor of English at Trichur Kerala Varma College and is a researcher at Kaladi Sanskrit University in Gender Studies, and women and cooking. She would be doing her research at Boston University College of Arts and Science on the same topics. According to her, language studies is not a perusal of literature by the study of society and lifestyles. She is at loss to understand how cooking is considered to be the job of women and her research would deal with women equality, sharing of responsibilities etc.
Chidamberaswaran Mahadevan: A plant molecular biology researcher, Mahadevan is going to the US to continue his studies on diseases affecting the pepper plant at the Oregon State University Plant Pathology Department. He feels that he could develop solutions to the disease which is affecting a lot of pepper cultivators in India.
Professor Vinod Joseph: A Political Science teacher at Banglore University, he is going to Baltimore Morgan State University for a two -semester teaching fellowship in South Asian Politics. He would also teach at other universities. He feels that talent exchange programmes between the US and India would benefit all.
Dr C.A. Josekutty: A political science teacher in Kerala University, he would be pursuing a four-month fellowship at University of South Dacota, department of political science on "India's foreign policy and Asian rebalancing." He believes that the talent exchange would help students and faculties in both the countries.
Dr E. Sreekumar: A researcher in Molecular Virology, he would be studying genetic changes in Chikan Guniea virus and research on the changes that the virus makes in the brain. He would be pursuing he research at John Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health. He hope to develop medicines against the virus and plan action against the virus in future.
Those who need to know more about fullbright scholarships can visit www.usief.org.in
As part of the programme some students in the US would also visit India to complete their studies. Among them, Dr Renu Abraham Varghese, a Keralite who migrated to the US, would study and contrast geriatric care in India and the US. She would be doing her research in association with Tirupathi SV university and would focus on treatment methodologies for the aged, taking into consideration the social setup here.