Fulbright Canada has announced this year’s cohort of participants in the foundation’s educational and cultural exchange programs, and Memorial University is well represented.

Two alumni and one current student will travel to the United States to conduct research or pursue their studies and in return, two American students will spend part of the year at Memorial.

Dr. Joel Heath of the Arctic Elder Society has received a Canadian Fulbright Scholar Award and will become the Fulbright Visiting Research Chair in Arctic Studies at the University of Washington. Fulbright Scholars are emerging and established scholars, post-doctoral researchers, and experienced professionals who conduct research, teach, or undertake a combination of both activities for one semester or the full academic year.

An accomplished Canadian academic and filmmaker, Dr. Heath holds a joint B.Sc.(Hons.) in Biology and Psychology and a masters in Cognitive and Behavioural Ecology from Memorial. While in the States, his research will focus on addressing cumulative impacts of hydroelectric developments on sea ice ecosystems in Hudson Bay with an emphasis on interdisciplinary community-based monitoring and cross-border policies.

Michael Darcy, a Canadian Fulbright Student Award winner, is an Arts alumni from Memorial. Fulbright Students are graduate students, junior professionals, and promising young researchers who enrol in graduate studies, conduct field work, or pursue an independent research project for a period of nine months.

This month, Mr. Darcy will pursue a Master of Laws in International Taxation at New York University.  Currently a clerk at the Federal Court of Appeal, he was called to the Bar of Ontario in June and is particularly interested in the relationship between taxation, international development and the global economy.

Memorial will also play host to an American Fulbright Student Award winner, Emily Dickey of Willamette University.  Ms. Dickey will conduct research in collaboration with the Caring for Atikuat/Caribou project of Memorial University’s Labrador Institute. She will explore the project’s strategies for creating consensus around issues of caribou management and assist with a documentary on traditional Innu protocols for interacting with atîku (caribou).

Sean Leonard, an undergrad student pursuing a major in Biochemistry with a minor in French, has received the coveted Canadian Killam Fellow award. A proud volunteer with Let’s Talk Science, and part-time actor, Mr. Leonard’s long-term goal is to become a doctor and finds working with children to be immeasurably rewarding. He will attend Arizona State University.

Killam Fellows are undergraduate students from Canada and the United States who participate in a program of bi-national residential exchange, so while Mr. Leonard travels to the US, Memorial will receive Amanda Mills, an English student from Southern Utah University and an American Killam Fellow.

A major in creative writing with minors in German and history, Ms. Mills yearns to travel and write great books. She recently studied abroad in Vienna and, when not engaged in literary pursuits, can be found playing the clarinet or saxophone, knitting or practicing amateur swordsmanship.

Fulbright Canada is a joint, bi-national, treaty-based organization created to encourage mutual understanding between Canada and the United States through academic and cultural exchange. It is supported by the Canadian Government through Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, by the United States Government through the Department of State, and by a diverse group of corporate sponsors, charitable trusts, and university partners.

For more information on the Fulbright programs, visit: http://www.fulbright.ca/programs.html.