Rebecca Witter, a doctoral candidate in ecological and environmental anthropology, and Bradd Haley, who recently graduated with a master’s degree in environmental health science, have been awarded Fulbright research scholarships for the 2006-2007 academic year. Witter began her research in Mozambique in August, and Haley will be in Iceland this month.
The Fulbright scholarship covers international travel costs and living expenses while in the foreign countries. Named after Sen. J. William Fulbright, the award was established in 1946 to foster the international relationships of the U.S. through an educational exchange program. Witter and Haley are two of more than 1,200 Fulbright recipients to travel overseas this academic year.
Witter has researched the relationship between human mobility, tree management and land claims in newly created Limpopo National Park in Mozambique, a part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park. The Kinston, N.C., native has previously examined resident agro-forestry practices in the Mozambican park and was involved in an ethnographic study in the Southern Province of Zambia in southern Africa.
Haley, originally from Merion, Pa., will be in Reykjavik, focusing his attention on the ecology of bacterial fish pathogens in the marine waters and land-based aquaculture tanks. He also will be taking courses at the University of Iceland. He has previously researched weather and climate factors that contribute to the presence and persistence of human pathogens such as salmonella in fresh and marine waters.
