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• “Being a Fulbright grantee involves more than just researching or teaching. It’s about promoting exchange and not simply talking about improving the world, but actually doing it.”

  Catherine Dunning

  Fulbright Scholarship Recipient

By AVERY SCHNEIDER

Published: November 16, 2009

A current UB student and two recent graduates have been awarded Fulbright student scholarships for the 2009-10 academic year and are abroad studying and contributing to the health and education systems of other countries.

Meghana Gadgil, Katherine Cumberland and Catherine Dunning are among the more than 1,500 U.S. citizens who are studying, teaching or conducting research abroad as Fulbright student scholars this academic year.

Gadgil, of Berkeley, Calif., is a student in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. She is conducting research on hand-washing interventions in rural and urban slum communities at the International Center for Diarrheal Disease Research in Bangladesh. The research will focus on hand-washing as a means to combat diarrhea and respiratory illnesses, the two leading causes of illness and death among children in Bangladesh and in many other low-income settings.

“Hand-washing has been shown to be an effective, affordable and acceptable method to reduce illness from infectious causes of diarrhea and respiratory diseases,” Gadgil says, noting that she also is working with the Street-Dwellers Healthcare project in urban Dhada. “I am interested in learning more about the health profiles and needs of women and children in this incredibly vulnerable and marginalized group,” she adds.

Cumberland, of Gasport, N.Y., is studying Mandarin and working in Taiwan as an English teaching assistant in the Kaohsiung public elementary schools. A 2009 graduate of UB with a degree in linguistics, she is working with low-income students in grades 3-6, teaching English and American culture alongside a Taiwanese co-teacher.

“I believe that great teachers are also eager learners,” Cumberland says. “This experience is an incredible opportunity to engage the Taiwanese culture, as well as to hone my English-teaching skills. My chosen career is English teaching, so this year of experience will be invaluable.”

Dunning, of Poughquag, N.Y., is working as an English teaching assistant at École Normale Supèrieure, the teacher’s college of the newly established University of Maroua in Cameroon. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English and French, with a minor in Spanish, and a master’s degree in library science, all from UB.

The UB students were selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their fields.

“Being a Fulbright grantee involves more than just researching or teaching,” explains Dunning. “It’s about promoting exchange and not simply talking about improving the world, but actually doing it.”

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the Fulbright Program is the nation’s flagship international education exchange program. In the past 63 years, the program has given opportunities to nearly 300,000 people to study, teach and conduct research across the globe, while experiencing varying political, economic, educational and cultural institutions. The Fulbright Program operates in more than 155 countries.

Click here for more information about UB’s participation in the Fulbright program.