Fulbright Enrichment Seminar

First of two days meeting with the Fulbright staff and the other American scholars on Fulbrights in Australia. It was an impressive group - intimidating even. One chair (me), 3 professors(regular faculty at a university), and 12 postgraduates, ranging from people just out of college to those working on their dissertation or post-docs. Their projects include quantum light computing, cochlear implants, social spider behavior, robotics, indigenous law and identity, fertility, recovery of speech after brain injury, Malaria research, and organic solar cells. Harvard, Columbia, Yale, Virginia, Stanford, Cornell, Mt. Holyoke, GWU. One of the other senior scholars is an art professor at the University of Baltimore, who got his degree from the Maryland Institute of the Arts. Turns out he knew a certain faculty member there, who taught photography. Didn't like him much. Small world. Really small.

When I was just out of college, I was a punk who still had to pay off a ticket for parking on the wrong side of the road. I would not have been competitive with these folks.

We went to the embassy, and had a short ceremony with the new Ambassador, Robert McCallum, who presented us with our Fulbright pins. I'll have a picture soon.

I'm doing my first interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Monday morning; if there is an online version, I'll post a link.