UW International Studies Graduate Student Earns National Award |
|
 |
May 29, 2007 -- Adam Liebman of Laramie, a University of Wyoming international studies graduate student, was awarded a prestigious National Security Education Program (NSEP)/David L. Boren Graduate Fellowship to study abroad in southwestern China.
During the next academic year at Yunnan University, Liebman will be a full-time language student studying Mandarin Chinese. He also will gather research data for his master's thesis.
Liebman, the son of Michael and Kristin Liebman, is the third UW international studies graduate student selected for the NSEP graduate fellowship in as many years, says Garth Massey, director of the UW College of Arts and Sciences International Studies Program. Jason Mundy, of Macon, Ga., earned a NSEP Fellowship to Uzbekistan, and then Logan Fitzpatrick of Franconia, N.H., earned one to China.
"An NSEP/David L. Boren Fellowship is one of the nation's most competitive awards for foreign research and language training," Massey says. "We are justifiably proud of our students' selections the past three years."
While an undergraduate at UW, Liebman studied art and language in Hong Kong as an exchange student. While there, he developed interests in Chinese culture, politics and environmental issues -- interests that have served as the foundation for his graduate work.
NSEP Boren Graduate Fellowships from the Institute of International Education are designed to support students pursuing the study of languages, cultures, and world regions critical to U.S. interests. According to Massey, Liebman's proposal, which concentrated on non-defense research, was unusual for the Boren Fellowship program.
"Adam's proposal was unique in its focus on non-governmental organizations working on behalf of environmental issues in China. It also reflected Adam's inquisitive personality, his capacity for growth, and his prescience about U.S.-China relations in the decades to come," Massey says.
"What I proposed (to the NSEP) was non-typical," confirms Liebman, who is studying environment and natural resources in conjunction with his international studies master's degree at UW. "The NSEP awards graduate fellowships for intelligence research, but I stuck to my guns about environmental work."
At the end of their study, NSEP Boren fellows are required to seek employment with an agency or office of the federal government involved in national security affairs. Liebman says he hopes to work for the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, or with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
"Adam's environmental interests hold promise for resolving problems of food and energy security for China as well as the United States," Massey says.
Photo
Chinese Culture -- When he was an undergraduate student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, University of Wyoming student Adam Liebman used a secondhand plastic camera to take this photo, titled "Hong Kong Street Life 2." Liebman, now a UW graduate student in international studies, received a National Security Education Program (NSEP)/David L. Boren Graduate Fellowship to study Mandarin Chinese and environmental issues in southwestern China. (Adam Liebman Photo)
Posted on Tuesday, May 29, 2007
|
