Congratulations Christina Murphy – Returning to Chile on a Fulbright this Fall

Christina at work on her internship

Christina Murphy, a senior in Fisheries and Wildlife (College of Agricultural Sciences), International Degree, and University Honors College at Oregon State University, has been awarded a Fulbright to return to the Estacion Costera de Investigaciones Marinas (ECIM) in Las Cruces, Chile to conduct marine research.
ECIM is part of the Pontifica Universidad Católica in Santiago, Chile and is internationally known for the quality of its work. Two of the head scientists at ECIM are OSU alumni and have strong connections with Dr. Jane Lubchenko and Dr. Bruce Menge at OSU.
Christina Murphy participated in an IE3 Global Internships internship at ECIM during the summer of 2007. During her time there, she focused on intertidal ecology. For her project, she specifically focused on a species of intertidal predatory crab, Acanthocyclus gayi.  Upon her return from her internship, Christina commented that “Before this internship I had planned to move directly into a PhD in fisheries ecology.  Now, I am applying for a Fulbright to return to Chile to continue my research before entering a graduate program.  In general, going abroad again gave me a chance to look at my life and values out of my normal context.  I have a much clearer perspective when I can look into the situation rather than out from it.” Now, Christina’s dream has come true.  She went on to say that “I want more than anything else to return to Chile on a Fulbright and begin a new project at the station.  I need the experience of complete integration and international research.  While I found the internship exceptionally valuable, I need more time to continue to become a part of the lab and of Chile.  Values such as patience will be essential in my return to graduate school and my large life dream of becoming a professor/researcher.” Christina gained a lot of practical skills in her internship such as adaptability, patience and understanding.  She describes how they relate to a career in science: “Let’s face it: in science, things rarely work out perfectly.  Adaptation is yet another tool of the trade.  I think that learning to adapt to a variety of situations has helped keep me thinking creatively and constantly problem solving.  Understanding is another valuable tool that I will use in my future.  Once again, a lesson that falls as a cornerstone of science.  The struggle for understanding will shape the rest of my professional career.  It is the wellspring for project ideas and research topics.”

University of Oregon Announces $3.1 Million in Scholarships, $750,000 for Internships in Developing Countries

The UO just announced $3.1 million in donations for international scholarships.  A full million is earmarked for internships, and 75% of that is dedicated to internships in developing countries in Africa,  Asia, and Latin America.

This news was just announced last Wednesday and you can read the full Daily Emerald Article here.

There are no details yet about when the promised funds will be available, but we will post any new information on our blog and send them out over our scholarships and UO email lists.

Congratulations, UO! The IE3 team is thrilled that international opportunities have received such generous support!

Another IE3 Fulbright recipient! Congratulations Austin Charron!

I am constantly impressed by what IE3 alumni go on to accomplish. An internship in and of itself is a challenge, but for many of our students it is one stepping stone in a long list of challenges and accomplishments.  Read the article below to find out more about Austin Charron. He’ll be spending the coming year in the Ukraine on a Fulbright Scholarship: 

http://pmr.uoregon.edu/current-uo-news/multimedia/multimedia-archive/a-world-of-understanding

Austin Charron came to the University of Oregon to study history. It wasn’t long, however, before he found himself immersed in the cultures, languages, politics, and geography of present-day Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

In fact, Charron, a 2008 graduate of the UO and the Robert Donald Clark Honors College, will spend next year on a Fulbright Scholarship in Simferopol — the capital of the Crimea — in Ukraine.

Throughout his time at the UO, the geography and Russian major blended academic disciplines with real world experience. He studied for five months in St. Pertersburg, Russia, where he polished his Russian-language skills.

“If you really want to get to know a people and a place, knowing the language is vital,” says Charron, from Corvallis. “I had the chance to get out of the city and see some places tourists don’t often go.”

But seeing the northwest corner of Russia wasn’t enough for Charron. Before graduating, he completed an IE3 Global Internship in Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet Republic in Central Asia, where he taught English to grade schoolers before trekking around Central Asia.

“Getting to see a place like that was amazing,” Charron says. “Some people might have a hard time pointing out Kyrgyzstan on a map. But it’s really important for me to go to these places, get to know people and see them first hand.”

Charron’s experiences on campus in Eugene and abroad played off each other, lending insights, understanding and context to his travels and his academic work. For his honors thesis he analyzed how the world’s recognition of Kosovo’s independence might affect similar de facto independent regions in the former Soviet Union. His undergraduate research closely relates to what he wants to study in Ukraine as part of the Fulbright program.

In Ukraine, Charron plans to study the Crimean separatist movement. In 1954 — just nine years after the Crimean peninsula hosted Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference — the Soviet Union shifted control of the Crimean territory from Russia to Ukraine. When Ukraine gained independence, it retained control of Crimea, much to the consternation of many in the heavily Russian region who would prefer to be aligned with Moscow.

“The university broadened my horizons and exposed me to things I never would have known about otherwise,” Charron says. “I’ll always be hungry for experience.”