Four soon-to-be West Virginia University graduates will commence their post-college lives by making an imprint across the globe – from Russia to Poland to Ghana to Italy.

Those students are recipients of the 2015 Fulbright Scholarship, which will provide them with funding to undertake research and teaching opportunities abroad.

Luke Bowling, a physics major from Milton; Nina Orteza, an economics, Russian studies and Slavic and East European studies triple major from Morgantown; Nikul Patel, a chemical engineering major from Huntington; and Joshua Zegeer, a biology major from Charleston give WVU 43 Fulbright Scholars and marks the fourth straight year that WVU has had at least three Fulbright Scholars.

“What is distinctive about our scholars is the way they bring knowledge together in unexpected ways,” said Ryan Claycomb, assistant dean of the Honors College.

“Whether they are combining technical expertise with a passion for international development, advancing medical research in a global context or connecting cultural study and career aspirations, these students are doing more than just acing their classes. They are showing us that broad knowledge and a global outlook really do make a positive impact.”

The prestigious Fulbright Program, sponsored by the United States government, is designed to increase mutual understanding between the U.S. and the people of other countries. Fulbright recipients are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their fields.

“These students have a passion for the countries they will be living in, and will be excellent ambassadors for the University and our country,” said Amy Cyphert, director of the ASPIRE Office.

Each scholar will spend about nine months in another country beginning in the fall.

Luke Bowling
Physics and Polish cinema don’t necessarily go hand-in-hand.

But Bowling developed a passion for both in his four years at WVU. The senior, who’ll soon earn a bachelor’s degree in physics, grew enthralled with Polish culture after taking a Polish cinema class.

He remembers the moment he was hooked – watching a tragedy unfold in the open scene of “Three Colors: Blue” by acclaimed Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski.

“Subtle symbolism enshrouded by a somber, Parisian setting perplexed me in ways that I had never before experienced with other films,” Bowling said.

After graduating from Cabell Midland High School, Bowling had his sights set on a career in medicine. That film class changed his course.

“Not only did the films have a major impact on my love for the course,” he said, “but I also reveled in the thought-provoking assignments that permitted me to creatively express my interpretations of those films.”

Bowling will head to Poland in September to teach English. He plans to incorporate aspects of American and Polish film into the classroom, and will start a film club for students.

Once he returns from Poland, he anticipates attending graduate school for film studies or filmmaking.

Nina Orteza
As an only child raised by a working, single mother, Orteza often had to find ways to entertain herself. Reading became an escape.

At age 13, Orteza’s mother introduced her to a “strange Russian book” titled “Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy.

That was her first peek into Russian culture – and it proved to be influential in her future.

“Tolstoy showed me the transcendent potential of literature by introducing me to the co-protagonist who, much like me, lived in a rural area and spent much of his time arguing with himself inside his head, wrestling with large existential questions,” Orteza said. “I found it so bizarre that I could find myself reflected in a 19th century Russian man.”

After taking an elementary Russian course, Orteza declared Russian studies and Slavic and East European studies her second and third majors.

“My enthusiasm for Russian literature overtook my interest in economics,” she said.

Orteza will teach English at a Russian university beginning in September.

“I have spent enough time reading about Russia in a textbook,” she said. “I want to experience the culture firsthand and see real Russian perspectives of Americans and the United States before I continue studying Russian.”

Nikul Patel
Patel has quite the lineage. He is an American born in England, also his mother’s birthplace. His father was born in Kenya and all of his grandparents were born in India.

Patel calls Huntington his hometown (And like Bowling, his fellow Fulbright Scholar, he attended Cabell Midland High School. The two are friends and have been roommates throughout their four years at WVU.)

But in September, Patel will expand his international palette even more. He will be volunteering with a nonprofit organization that assists rural women in Ghana in the processing and distribution of Shea nuts and Shea butter.

Patel said more than 50 percent of rural women in Ghana serve as the head of the household. The organization, StarShea, focuses on economically empowering those women to drive growth and reduce poverty in rural communities.

“While studies have been conducted about Shea butter production, research into the purification of wastewater from the system has been neglected due to the difficulty of separation,” Patel said. “As a chemical engineering student, I have learned how to assess economic and environmental components of chemical processes in order to optimize efficiency.”

Patel hopes that by applying new approaches to Shea butter production, the profit margin for rural Ghanaian women will increase.

Joshua Zegeer
Growing up in Charleston, Zegeer always knew he wanted to someday go into the medical profession.

But he didn’t know what field.

That all changed when a chronic neurodegenerative disease hit home.

His grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and now Zegeer is intent on preventing the illness and stamping it out.

“I started to understand that it is important to both learn science and help others with it,” he said. “My family and I were affected by a crippling heartache that paralleled her debilitating body. This disease completely stole my grandmother’s ability to follow her dreams, even worse it took her capacity to even dream at all.”

Zegeer will travel to Italy and the University of Rome-Hospital Tor Vergata to collaborate with researchers on identifying biomarkers of neurodegenerative diseases.

He also hopes to carry on a legacy of his grandmother, a world traveler. She had gone to 22 countries in her lifetime.

“It would undoubtedly be beneficial to me, as an aspiring physician, to extensively learn about a foreign culture,” Zegeer said. “I have never left my native country before, but I would thoroughly profit from such an experience. I am daring to chase my dreams.”

-WVU-

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