Dr. Francisca Oboh-Ikuenobe, professor and head of the geology and geophysics program at Missouri University of Science and Technology, was selected for a Fulbright Specialists project at Alexandria University in Egypt. Her project runs from March 16-30, according to the United States Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.

Oboh-Ikuenobe is helping lead the 2nd International Workshop on the Application of Palynology to Oil and Gas Exploration in addition to delivering graduate and undergraduate lectures on Quaternary Climate Change and Palynology. Her final task will be to develop a student exchange plan with university administrators regarding the April 2010 memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Alexandria University and Missouri S&T.

Through the Fulbright Specialists Program, more than 400 faculty and professionals from the U.S. will travel abroad this year. The program was created in 2000 to complement the traditional Fulbright Scholar Program. It provides short-term academic opportunities (two to six weeks) to prominent U.S. faculty and professionals to support curricular and faculty development and institutional planning at post-secondary academic institutions around the world.

The Fulbright Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Throughout its 60 years of existence, thousands of U.S. faculty and professionals have taught, studied or conducted research abroad. In return, thousands of their counterparts from other countries have engaged in similar activities in the United States. More than 285,000 emerging leaders in their professional fields have received Fulbright awards, including individuals who later became heads of government, Nobel Prize winners, and leaders in their respective fields.