Two Iowa State University Students Receive Fulbright Scholarships

AMES, Iowa - Two Iowa State University students have been awarded Fulbright U.S. Student Scholarships for 2009-2010. Laura Christianson, a doctoral student in the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering and the Graduate Program in Sustainable Agriculture, will conduct research at Massey University in New Zealand for 10 months beginning in January. Her research focuses on the design, operation and performance of denitrifying drainage bioreactors. Christianson is working with Alok Bhandari and Matthew Helmers, associate professors in the agricultural and biosystems engineering department. She chose New Zealand for her Fulbright work because, as in the Midwest, water quality has been impacted by agricultural industries. Christianson will partner with colleagues at Massey University to explore the effectiveness of woodchip bioreactors in New Zealand's agricultural settings. Elise Regen, a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology and the Graduate Program in Sustainable Agriculture, has already begun her Fulbright work in Egypt. At Iowa State, Regen works with Lois Wright Morton, associate professor in the sociology department. Regen is participating in an intensive Arabic language program in Cairo for three months, since she received a Fulbright Critical Language Enhancement Award, in addition to the Fulbright Student Award. After her language training, she will move to Ismailia, Egypt, for nine months. For her dissertation research, she will interview poor rural women who raise various types of livestock in the Ismailia region, to explore the potential of small-scale livestock production as a poverty reduction strategy. Christianson and Regen are among more than 1,500 U.S. citizens who will travel abroad for the 2009-2010 academic year through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. The Fulbright Program, America's flagship international educational exchange program, is sponsored by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The program operates in more than 155 countries worldwide.