Zuiderveen Becomes Alma's 21st Fulbright Scholar
Alma College senior Kayla Zuiderveen of Falmouth has been awarded the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship to conduct bacterial research in Colombia.
Zuiderveen becomes Alma’s 21st Fulbright Scholar since 2003. A graduate of Northern Michigan Christian High School, she is the daughter of Don and Heidi Zuiderveen.
“Researching abroad has been a goal of mine for a long time,” says Zuiderveen. “I am excited, humbled and honored to receive a Fulbright scholarship, and I am optimistic about the work I will do and the ways the Colombian research community and I can benefit from the experience. I can't thank my Alma support network enough for their help in the process; I couldn't have done it without them.”
Kayla Zuiderveen
Zuiderveen, a biology major, will conduct research at the University of Antioquia, located in Medellin, Colombia. She will be part of a research group that will investigate a particular strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis — the bacterium that causes tuberculosis in humans — that has a genetic mutation affecting how it is transferred from one patient to another.
“We will be determining the presence of this mutation in various patients and investigating whether or not there is a link between the mutation and patient ethnicity,” she says.
Following her yearlong Fulbright experience, Zuiderveen plans to pursue her doctorate in medical microbiology and immunology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Student applications for the Fulbright Scholarship are reviewed and approved by the National Screening Committee of the Institute of International Education, the coordinating body for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. The applications are forwarded to the Fulbright commissions in the projects' countries, which select recipients from all candidates applying in those countries. The J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board makes the final selections.
The U.S. Student Program is funded by the U.S. Department of State to give recent undergraduate and graduate students, as well as young professionals a chance for an international experience and personal development.
Alma’s Nationally Competitive Scholarship Committee helps finalists search for appropriate postgraduate scholarships, then reviews the proposals and applications. Alma’s committee identifies and nurtures exceptional candidates for nationally competitive scholarships, grants and awards.
-mjs-
Posted: Fri, March 23rd, 2012 at 7:24AM
