Two Caltech Students Receive Fulbright Fellowships to Study Abroad

The Fulbright Program is a renowned international education program sponsored by the United States government to "increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries." The Fulbright Program provides grants for graduate students, scholars, and professionals from the U.S. and other countries to pursue graduate studies, research projects, and teaching assignments in foreign countries.

Medwood, a senior in economics who graduated from Caltech this year, will study at the University of Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, this coming academic year. While there, she will undertake a one-year master's program in the economics of international patent law.

Medwood became interested in international patent law economics when she previously researched and wrote a paper on the pandemic of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. With malaria being eradicated in much of the developed world, there is little monetary incentive to pursue this research. Medwood plans to explore this problem in the context of patent law, looking at companies that could potentially enter the markets of developing countries.

Originally from Boca Raton, Florida, Medwood enjoys martial arts and recently received her brown belt in tang soo do karate.

Sburlan, also a graduating senior, received her bachelor's and master's degrees in applied physics from Caltech this year. She plans to conduct a year of research at the Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid, in Spain, in September. Sburlan will join a research team that is embarking on a five-year project in the field of in-vivo molecular imaging. The goal is to develop new optical techniques for imaging processes and reactions that occur inside living tissues and cells. Current microscopy allows doctors and biologists only glimpses of the myriad of reactions that occur inside a cell. Instead of these "still-life snapshots," new imaging techniques would allow researchers to watch life in motion. For example, researchers could watch a live virus entering a cell or view protein processes directly inside the natural medium of a cell.

Sburlan grew up in Los Angeles, and in her spare time enjoys acting, volleyball, yoga, swimming, and running.

Since its inception in 1946, the Fulbright Program has awarded over 250,000 fellowships to participants chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential. Currently the program operates in 140 countries and awards approximately 4,500 grants annually.

Fulbright alumni include Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, governors and senators, prime ministers and heads of state, professors and scholars, scientists, artists, Supreme Court justices, and CEOs.

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Contact: Deborah Williams-Hedges (626) 395-3227 debwms@caltech.edu

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