Expanding a Fulbright with the Outreach Lecturing Fund (OLF)

I am one of the proud recipients of the Fulbright-Nehru Visiting Scholar Program for the year 2013-14 from India, which has provided me an opportunity to work at the Department of Nanoengineering at the University of California, San Diego for a period of eight months. After coming to the U.S., I found out that Fulbright chapters are very active in different parts of the country and they arrange many programs in which the visiting Fulbright Scholars can participate and this serves as a platform for the Fulbright Scholars from all over the world to come together. Further Fulbright enrichment programs and welcome receptions are also arranged to make the Fulbright Scholars more comfortable in their host institution.

The Outreach Lecturing Fund (OLF) travel award is an exciting opportunity offered by CIES which provides visiting scholars with an opportunity to go to an institution other than their host institution and offers a platform for academic and cultural exchange. This also paves the way for future collaborations. I was very happy to receive the OLF award which offered me the opportunity to visit the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering at the University of Nevada. I reached Reno around 8 am on January 10 and was welcomed at the airport by my host, Dr. DeV Chidambaram, Associate Professor. We went straight to the department and had an initial round of discussions about our mutual research interests. This was followed by my lecture which was attended mainly by the graduate students and faculty members from not only the host department, but also from other departments in the College of Engineering and from Medical School. The lecture was followed by an interesting discussion session. Then a lab tour was arranged where I could have a one on one interaction with each student and get to know their research in more detail.  The lab tour also provided an opportunity to witness the experimental and instrumental facilities available in the department. Finally, the OLF gave us the opportunity to exchange our views on future collaborations which we are planning to pursue after my Fulbright.

For more information on the Outreach Lecturing Fund, please visit: cies.org/olf