As seniors scrambled to make post-graduation plans, 11 University graduates received another option-a Fulbright scholarship to pursue research in a foreign country.
Arnold Davidson, professor of Canadian studies and last year's campus coordinator for the Fulbright program, said the University averages six or seven grant winners per year.
"Any school that has 11 is doing quite well," he said. "I'm very pleased with that."
The Fulbright winners receive notice of their awards on a rolling basis, depending upon when the host country makes its decision.
Art Trembanis, Trinity '98, said the key to receiving a Fulbright scholarship is proposing a good project. He spent much of his college career studying coastal ecology-an endeavor that the Fulbright will allow him to pursue in Australia. As a geology major specializing in oceanography and coastal ecology, Trembanis said he is interested in comparing Australian and American approaches to handling beach erosion.
"I'm interested in what alternatives are being pursued in each country," he said.
Barry Junker, Trinity '98-one of three University students set to study in Germany-will research international military law at the University of Heidelberg.
"I studied in Germany in spring of '97 with the Duke-in-Berlin program," he said. "I love the history in every building, every street." A history and German double major, Junker will intern at the U.S. Army Legal Headquarters. While at the University Junker served in the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps. He is contemplating a career in law.
Matt Hasik, Engineering '98, will use his Fulbright scholarship to study environmental policy and environmental engineering in Canada. He plans to earn his master's degree at McGill University in Montreal. Equipped with an undergraduate degree in environmental engineering, he will focus his attention on "international air pollution issues relating between Canada and the U.S.," he said.
Kanchana Wangkeo, Trinity '98, will have the opportunity to visit family members in Thailand during her time as a Fulbright scholar. She is deferring matriculation at Yale Law School for one year to perform research on tobacco regulation and anti-smoking efforts in Thailand as they relate to international trade issues.
"I've just always felt strongly about the ill-effects of smoking," she said.
Scholarship recipients must undergo an extensive application procedure. In September, they submit their proposals to the University, which then ranks applicants on an individual basis.
All applicants then proceed to the next level where they are reviewed by a committee in the U.S. This national committee, which makes its decisions during February, relies on "their sense of who is going to do well in their [host] country or culture" to determine which applicants they will recommend, Davidson said.
The recommended applications are forwarded to the host country, which then decides who will receive the scholarships. Some applicants who are not awarded the scholarship outright may be granted alternate status. This means that the host country is interested in their research and would like to sponsor the applicant if money or space become available, explained Sarah Ilchman, program coordinator at the Institute of International Education in New York, which facilitates the Fulbright selection process.
She added it is probable that an alternate will receive a scholarship if additional funding for the program is received or if a principal candidate declines the grant.
The final selection of Fulbright winners may come as late as the end of June. In fact, two applicants from the University are still awaiting decisions.
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