Fulbright fellowships bagged by four Goa-based scholars

PANAJI: Four scholars based in Goa have won Fulbright fellowships with internationally-acclaimed institutions in the United States.
While Goa government joint secretary (debt management) Anupam Kishore is the only among them to win the prestigious Hubert Humphrey-Fulbright fellowship, the other three have won Fulbright-Nehru fellowships.
These include senior research fellow and PhD student at ICAR, Old Goa, Gauri Anil Achari; research associate at the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Dona Paula, Rajdeep Roy; and director of the Centre for National Resource Management, Goa, Sangeeta Sonak.
The four along with 126 fellow scholars will attend a pre-departure orientation programme from May 24 to 26 at Holiday Inn Resort, Cavelossim. The programme is being organized by the United States-India Educational Foundation (USIEF).
The Fulbright-Nehru fellowship is funded equally by US and Indian governments and has an Indian screening and selection process.
"Although the Hubert Humphrey-Fulbright fellowship has a similar selection process, the names are sent to Washington for a highly-competitive global competition," said USIEF executive director, Sucharita Narayanan.
Kishore said he looks at returning and helping India meet the gaps in achieving the Planning Commission's goals of raising 500 billion dollars of investment for infrastructure growth and GDP of 9%.
He leaves for the University of Minnesota on August 14, for almost 10 months to study public policy and public-private partnership.
Sonak, on the other hand, will leave in September for four months of a professional fellowship on environmental leadership at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
An elated Achari looks to enhance her PhD studies as she pursues a pre-doctoral fellowship in agriculture science and microbiology. Her university hasn't been confirmed as yet.
Roy will study for a year on a post-doctoral fellowship at Woodshole Oceanography Institute. The programme starts in October.
"I will be looking at learning new techniques that have not been applied to an Indian context," he said.
Pointing out that he found out about the scholarship online, he said, "One needs a good project that should bilaterally benefit and be of interest to both countries."
He added that he will focus on the Arabian Sea and will do research in oceanography to "understand effects of different environmental factors concerning harmful algal blooms and its effects on the ocean"when he returns.
Altogether 175 Fulbright scholars, including 139 Fulbright-Nehru fellows, are preparing to leave for America.
Of these 130 will attend the orientation programme in South Goa. The programme will familiarize them with information on their Fulbright grants and life in the United States of America.
"There has been a steady rise in the number of Indian students studying in the USA every year," said director of the American Center, Mumbai, Anne Grimes in a press release.