Alumna, grad student to study abroad on Fulbrights

By Beverly Makhani, Office of Undergraduate Education

Dexter-80VANCOUVER, Wash. – The Fulbright U.S. Student Program will fund graduate study in Europe for an alumna and a graduate student from Washington State University. Eric Dexter, who will complete his M.S. degree in environmental science at WSU Vancouver in June, will spend his Fulbright year in Lausanne, Switzerland.

He plans to investigate the role of environmental heterogeneity in shaping the genetic structure of populations. He hopes this will relate to conservation in understanding the spread of invasive species.

Dexter completed his B.S. in biology at Portland State University.

Samantha Sanders (2011 mechanical engineering) works at the Puget Sound Naval Yard in Bremerton, Wash. She graduated cum laude and with honors from WSU Pullman with a minor in material science and studied abroad in Limerick, Ireland.

With her Fulbright, she will spend a year completing a material science master’s degree at the ENS Cachan near Paris.

Sanders and Dexter bring to 17 the number of WSU graduate students and graduates who have received Fulbrights since 1986.

The Fulbright Program is an international educational exchange sponsored by the U.S. government. It is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries. Awardees are chosen on the basis of academic merit and leadership potential.

Visit http://DistinguishedScholarships.wsu.edu for more information and to contact Sarah Ann Hones, director of the Distinguished Scholarships Program, part of the WSU Office of Undergraduate Education.