Three faculty members at California State University, Fresno, have won prestigious Fulbright Program awards to teach and conduct research abroad.

Dr. Miguel A. Perez (Health Science Department) received a Fulbright Senior Specialists grant in Public/Global Health and will spend July at the Universidad del Norte in Colombia. He will teach a seminar for health-care practitioners and educators dealing with adolescent sexual health issues and help them develop prevention strategies. He also will conduct health assessments for all of the university’s incoming students.

This is Perez’s third Fulbright award and his second trip to Colombia. In 2000 he spent six months at the Universidad El Basque School of Medicine in Bogota, where he conducted drug research. Last year he worked on AIDS prevention in South Africa.

Dr. Hank Delcore (Anthropology) received a Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad grant. From November 2006 through May 2007 he will do field research in Thailand’s Nan Province, on “The Ethnic Politics of a Thai National Park.” It will involve three ethnic communities: Thai Lue, Hmong and Lua.

Delcore will study the way interethnic relations shape the political struggles of the three groups, which are seeking access to resources inside the national park. In an era of intense resource competition, the Thai state has pursued a rapid expansion of national parks. He will be affiliated with the Faculty of Social Science at Chiang Mai University in Chiang Mai.

Dr. Steve Blumenshine (Biology) received a Fulbright Scholar Grant and will spend six months in Thailand, starting in July, to conduct research on the sources and consequences of impaired water quality in the Gulf of Thailand and its major tributaries. He will conduct statistical analysis of water quality patterns, which will help identify where and when water quality is particularly sensitive to impairment for municipal and recreational use.

The work will be in collaboration with research faculty of the Aquatic Resources Research Institute at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

The Fulbright Program was established in 1946 under legislation introduced by Sen. J. William Fulbright of Arkansas. The Fulbright provides an opportunity for future leaders and professionals to observe and better comprehend the institutions, cultures and societies of other countries and peoples. The program is sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State.