How This All Started?

From TTU Campus, Junction, Texas

I am teaching an intersession course in Field Ecology at the Texas Tech campus in Junction, Texas. Right now I am giving an exam to my students (I love it when you can hear them sweating!). In a little more than a week I will be heading out for 10 months as a Fulbright Visiting Scholar in Malaysia. The Fulbright Program, sponsored by the U.S. government, is designed to “increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.” I will be taking a Development Leave from my position as an Associate Professor in the Honors College and Department of Biological Sciences at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX (http://www.ttu.edu/) while I am away.

How Did I Get Here?

I have been fortunate because my background in ecology and interest in scuba diving and marine biology have allowed me to travel and work in a number of interesting locations across the US and abroad. I lived in Australia for four years when I was a kid, but I have never lived abroad for an extended time as an adult. I have taken students from Texas Tech to Hofstra University Marine Lab in Jamaica and the Tropical Research and Education Center in Belize to study Tropical Marine Biology and I have worked as a marine biologist and scuba instructor for Odyssey Expeditions (http://www.odysseyexpeditions.com/) in the British Virgin Islands and the Windward Island of the Caribbean. I have been on scuba trips throughout the Caribbean, Palau, Yap, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Indonesi(Wakatobi and Northern Sulawesi), and the Galapagos Islands. Although I have spent over two out of the last ten years overseas, I have spent much of that time living on a boat so I have had lots of opportunities to observe life on foreign shores but little actual interaction with the people who live there.

My desire to take a Development Leave and spend some time abroad began when I walked past Palau Commumity College in Koror, Palau several years ago. "I'm going to figure out how to teach here!" I thought. So far I have failed to reach that goal. However, when I returned home to Lubbock I began to explore opportunities that would allow me to teach and work abroad. Because the goal of the Fulbright Program is to facilitate the exchange of scholars internationally I decided to learn more about this program. Because of my interests in ecology, environmental education, and marine biology and my limited linguistic ability (I can only speak English and Texan) I was interested in visiting a tropical country with coral reefs where I could teach in English. I contacted potential collaborators at Universities throughout the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia to see if I could find anyone interested in hosting me as a visiting teacher and researcher.

Why Malaysia?

In March 2009 I visited Malaysia as part of the Malaysian Bat Education Adventure (http://www.ttu-mbea.org/), a project that my colleagues Tigga Kingston, Ken Schmidt, Danny Squire, and I had been working on to use the ecology of Malaysian bats as the focus for developing a science curriculum for 4th to 8th grade students in the United States (thanks to the office of the VPR at Tech for the funding). I spent two weeks with Tigga at her field site in Krau Wildlife Reserve "helping" her team trap bats in the rainforest. Spending time in the rainforest was an eye-opening experience for me (and being in the forest at night wasn't nearly as "creepy" as I anticipated). The rainforest bats truly are creatures from a different planet, and as a plant ecologist with experience working primarily in arid and semi-arid regions, I felt that I was back in kindergarten when it came to identifying the rainforest plants. I could tell that I was a the new kid at the research station because I was the only one who got excited everytime a troop of monkeys passed nearby the station (there are not too many monkeys on the high plains of West Texas). Because prime-times for trapping bats are early mornings and late evenings, I had a lot of time to wander through the nearby Orang Asli village and visit local towns during the afternoons.

Kerivoula pellucida, a Malaysian rainforest bat. (photo from Malaysian Bat Education Adventure)


Malaysia contains unique ecology and biodiversity ranging from world-class coral reefs to ancient rainforests with many exotic animal and plant species. My experience in Krau Wildlife Reserve was the first time that I have ever had to worry about tigers while I was doing field work (fortunately, I must not have appeared too tasty). Malaysia offers the ideal opportunity to learn more about the ecology, biodiversity, and environmental issues of a tropical nation.

As I learned more about Malaysia I saw that it would be an interesting place to experience how people of different culture are learning to live and work together. Lubbock, TX was recently rated as the second most conservative city in the US (behind Provo, UT), so my students and friends might benefit from learning about my experiences living in a multi-cultural, multi-religion society.

While in Malaysia, I visit the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur (http://www.um.edu.my/) to discuss my interest in visiting UM as a Fulbright Scholar. My hosts at UM were extremely gracious and I had a very productive visit meeting with faculty and students. I was also able to meet with Dr. James Coffman, Director of the Malaysian-American Commission on Educational Exchange (MACEE http://www.macee.org.my/). Everyone at MACEE and UM has been very helpful and supportive of my efforts to become a Fulbright Scholar.

The Fulbright Application

Applying to be a Fulbright Scholar is no trivial task. The application contains (1) a project description describing your teaching and research interests, (2) a bibliography related to your project, (3) sample syllabi from courses you have taught, or propose to teach,(4) a detailed CV, (5) letters of recomendation (special thanks to my letter writers), and (6) an invitation letter from your potential host university. Applications were due last August 1st and now almost 10 months later I am on my way. I have been accepted as a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the Institute of Biological Sciences at UM will be my host. During the next school term, which starts at the end of June, I will teach a Special Topics in Ecology and Biodiversity course. The research focus of my visit will be to develop a "Malaysia Collection" for the Encyclopedia of Earth (more details to follow).

Thanks to everyone at Tech, CIES, MACEE, and UM who have been supportive of this opportunity for me!