University of Minnesota Morris Morton Gneiss Endowed Professor in Environmental Sciences Michael Zavada will travel to Peru soon as part of a Fulbright Specialist Program award.
Zavada will complete a project at Universidad Nacional del Altiplano de Puno (UNA) in Peru that aims to exchange knowledge and establish partnerships benefiting participants, institutions, and communities both in the U.S. and overseas through a variety of educational and training activities within environmental science.
Zavada’s project goals are to aid and facilitate the development or improvement of an effective and practical environmental science program at UNA to address the most pressing environmental issues of the regional community; to introduce the students to the regional and global environmental issues that confront the Puno region, Peru, and Latin America; and to establish and explore ideas for collaborative research that would benefit faculty and students at both UNA and UMN Morris.
Three UMN Morris environmental science students–Magdalena Landwer ’25, Gilbert; Zoe Hoaglund ’25, Coon Rapids; and Amalia Galvan ’24, Mounds View–will be joining Zavada in Peru. They will be involved with the discussion to create an environmental science program at UNA, giving their perspective and opinions on what makes a good program, attend a presentation and discussion on "Women in Science in Latin America," and will be team up with students and Faculty from UNA to do field research.
Zavada is one of more than 400 U.S. citizens who share expertise with host institutions abroad through the Fulbright Specialist Program each year. Recipients of Fulbright Specialist awards are selected on the basis of academic and professional achievement, demonstrated leadership in their field, and their potential to foster long-term cooperation between institutions in the U.S. and abroad.
The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to build lasting connections between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. The Fulbright Program is funded through an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations, and foundations around the world also provide direct and indirect support to the Program, which operates in over 160 countries worldwide.
Since its establishment in 1946, the Fulbright Program has given more than 400,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists, and scientists the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas, and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.