Two Stony Brook Graduate Students Awarded Fulbright Travel Scholarships

STONY BROOK, N.Y. —Two Stony Brook University graduate students have been recently awarded Fulbright scholarships to pursue research projects overseas. The two students, Konstantine Rountos, and Andrea Baden, will travel abroad for the 2007-08 academic year through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program to Conduct Research in Greece, and Madagascar.

Fulbright is the largest US international exchange program, which offers opportunities for students, scholars, and professionals to study, research, and teach worldwide. Recipients of Fulbright awards are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their fields.

Konstantine Rountos, 24, of Danbury, Connecticut, is a graduate student majoring in Oceanography. He will travel to Greece where he will research destructive urchin grazing in coastal Greek seagrasses. Meanwhile, Andrea Baden, 26, of Davie, Florida, a graduate student majoring in Anthropology, will go to Madagascar to study reproductive tactis of black-and-white ruffed lemurs. In addition to the two graduate students, recent graduate in Marine Science Carly Kenkel, 22, of Litchfield Park, Arizona, also received a Fulbright award that will allow her to travel to Thailand to conduct research on secondary effects of tsunamis, especially on coral disease.

Some notable Fulbright alumni include: Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Former UN Secretary General; Gier Lundestad, Director Nobel Institute; Craig Barrett, Chairman of the Board, Intel Corporation; Rosalyn Yalow, Nobel Prize in medicine, 1977; Andreas Papandreou, Former Prime Minister of Greece; and our very own Shirley Strum Kenny, president of Stony Brook University and recipient of the 2007 Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal.

Fulbright recipients are among over 30,000 individuals participating in U.S. Department of State exchange programs each year. The Program awards grants in all fields of study in more than 140 countries worldwide sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.