Jonathan Rubin to Work in Africa as Fulbright Scholar
Jonathan Rubin, a faculty member in the UMaine School of Economics and member of the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to work at the Center of Study in Renewable and Sustainable Energy at Sub-Saharan Africa’s University of Botswana, Gaborone, during the 2011-2012 academic year.
Rubin will assist with development, research and education capacity of the center and will help plan and implement an interdisciplinary graduate degree program in clean energy technologies, according to the United States Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.
He is one of approximately 1,100 U.S. faculty or professionals who will travel and work in more than 155 countries through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program in 2011-2012. The program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.
Primary funding for the program is the U.S. Congress, through the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Recipients of Fulbright grants are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their fields.
The program was establishment in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas. The program has enabled some 300,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists and scientists opportunities to study, teach, research, exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.
Fulbright alumni have a record of achievement and distinction in multiple disciplines. Forty-three Fulbright alumni from 11 countries have been awarded the Nobel Prize and 75 alumni have received Pulitzer Prizes.
Additional information about the Fulbright Program is available on the Fulbright Program website (http://fulbright.state.gov).