Congratulations to TMOS PhD student Shaban Sulejman on being awarded the Fulbright Scholarship. Here he is pictured with the US Ambassador Caroline Kennedy at the awards gala. Shaban will be taking up the scholarship later in the year to work with TMOS Partner Investigator Professor Andrea Alù at CUNY.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship foreign exchange scholarship program of the United States of America, aimed at increasing binational research collaboration, cultural understanding, and the exchange of ideas.

Shaban says. “This scholarship is significant to me as I come from a rural town in northern Victoria and have faced difficult circumstances due to caring for a sick parent. The scholarship will give me the opportunity to represent TMOS in the United States and make a step towards developing portable imaging technology for rural communities where existing technologies can be limited.”

Shaban’s supervisor, Chief Investigator Ann Roberts, says “The award of the Fulbright Scholarship is well-deserved recognition of Shaban’s achievements and potential. During his time in the USA, he will have a unique opportunity to further develop our emerging collaboration with a world leading group.”

Established by Senator J. William Fulbright in 1946 in the wake of WWII, the program aimed to repurpose surplus U.S. war materials proceeds towards funding academic exchanges between the United States and other nations, embodying the ethos of transforming ‘swords into ploughshares’.

Over its seventy-five-year history, the Fulbright Program has evolved into the largest educational exchange scholarship initiative globally, spanning across 160 countries. With over 370,000 recipients, including students, academics, and professionals, Fulbright Scholarships have facilitated studying, teaching, research, and the fostering of bilateral cooperation and cultural understanding.