The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State. Grant recipients are selected based on their academic merit and leadership potential in order to increase mutual understanding between people of the U.S. and of other countries.
Nichole Boisvert (Nicki), a senior
Biomedical Sciences major from Merrimack, NH, has been awarded a Fulbright grant to undertake research in Trinidad and Tobago for the 2009-2010
academic year. With this prestigious grant, she will study how culture influences the delivery of health care to individuals with
HIV/AIDS. An aspiring physician, Boisvert chose Trinidad and Tobago because the country is among the most ethnically diverse in the Caribbean
and has one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS.
Boisvert has completed a rigorous course of study at Marist, completing minors in Chemistry and Creative Writing as well as the Honors Program. She has served as a laboratory teaching assistant and tutor for several science classes, as a volunteer for many charitable causes both on and off campus, and has published her poetry in several outlets. During the summers of 2007 and '08, she was selected for a competitive research internship at the National Cancer Institute, a component of the National Institutes of Health. She has presented the results of that research, as well as sociobiological research conducted at Marist, at several conferences.
Upon completing the Fulbright year, Boisvert plans to begin studies at one of the several medical schools to which she has been admitted, including Penn State, Georgetown, and New York Medical.
Karl Minges, a 2007 graduate of Marist
College from Madison, CT, has been awarded a prestigious Fulbright Grant to conduct research evaluating Australia's Diabetic Health Promotion
Program. Minges became interested in his research topic while at Marist when, during the summer between his junior and senior years, he held
an internship at the International Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, Australia.
In addition to his Australian internship, Minges completed internships with a doctor of osteopathy and a psychiatrist. He is currently completing a Masters in Public Health degree from Columbia University. Following his Fulbright year, he intends to pursue either a medical or doctoral degree in clinical psychology.
Minges majored in Social Work and completed minors in Biology, Spanish, and Sociology. A member of the Alpha Phi Delta fraternity, he was named to the Dean's List every semester of his studies at Marist and graduated magna cum laude.
