Kwang Kim '98 and Justin Stearns '98 have been named Fulbright Scholars for the 1998-99 academic year and will be traveling to Korea and Morocco respectively to teach and conduct research.
The Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board awards students and other members of academic communities federal government grants to conduct research in other nations in an effort to increase the mutual understanding between different nations.
Engineering Professor Erland Schulson also won a Fulbright Scholarship for the upcoming year. He will conduct ice research in France.
Kim will be teaching middle or high school Korean students English. His award is a Fulbright teaching scholarship, but does involve some undetermined research.
Kim said he is excited about the award and the upcoming work in Korea but also said he was nervous due to some uncertainties in the program.
"I won't know the age group or the location until I arrive," Kim said. "There are some places that are more rural than others -- I'm hoping to get an urban setting."
Stearns will spend his time researching the exchange of cultural traditions from the world of Islam to Europe.
"There was a period that European and Islamic cultures overlapped between the tenth and twelfth centuries, and I'm trying to trace the way their cultures interacted," Stearns said.
He was named a James B. Reynolds scholar by the College last term in order to conduct similar research.
The Reynolds Scholarship awards $12,000 to each recipient to pursue their study of interest in a foreign country. Current seniors and alumni who are no more than five years out of Dartmouth and are U.S. citizens may apply for the grant.
The Reynolds Scholarship is the largest scholarship the College gives out to graduating students and is considered one of the most prestigious.
Stearns said he is excited to be able to do research in the physical location these events took place "as opposed to studying these things from Hanover. By living within the culture where Arabic is spoken and Islam is the dominant faith then I really hope to get a feeling for what I'm studying."
Kim and Stearns do not speak Arabic or Korean fluently but will each study the language of their host nations as part of the Fulbright program.
Kim said his sister, Mina Kim '96, encouraged him to apply for the scholarship. "I also knew Frank Aum '97 and Esther Lee '97, who got the Fulbright to Korea last year and talked to them about it," he said.
Kim said Aum and Lee had only one warning about his trip -- "they said that as a native Korean, returning to Korea as a representative of the United States, I might be looked at differently."
Stearns also said prior recipients encouraged him to seek the prestigious scholarship. "Najam Haider '97 got a Fulbright to go to Syria and spoke with me about applying," he said.
Kim is an English major and is involved with the Asian Christian Fellowship and the Korean American Student Association.
Stearns is treasurer of Panarchy, a member of the Word Thieves poetry group, and an English and History double major.
Both are planning on attending graduate school after their Fulbright scholarships conclude.
Applicants for the Fulbright go through an extensive process, including interviews in the fall with members of the Committee of Graduate Fellowships to earn nominations from the College.
Applicants must also create a detailed research proposal.
Last year, the greatest number of Dartmouth students ever were awarded Fulbright Scholarships -- five undergraduates and two alumnae. Three seniors were notified about the award in April and two more were notified in May, so more Fulbrights could be in store for Dartmouth students next month.
The scholarship, named after late Senator J. William Fulbright, was created after World War II to provide opportunities for members of U.S. academic communities to study or conduct research in 100 different nations.
