Photo Ohlen Alexander

From April 14-18, 2010, the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the Institute of International Education (IIE), together with St. Mary's College, hosted the Leadership in Transition: A Re-entry Workshop for Fulbright Women from Southeast Asia enrichment seminar. This seminar brought together a group of 20 Fulbright women graduate students from six different Southeast Asian countries - Burma, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam - who are nearing the end of their scholarships and will soon return to their home countries, to help them re-enter their communities as strong leaders. The participants are drawn from the more than 3,000 visiting students studying this year in universities across the United States as participants in the prestigious Fulbright Program. The Fulbright Program was established in 1946 and is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The Fulbright women, like all Fulbright grantees, were selected for their leadership potential and outstanding accomplishments in their fields.

The seminar highlighted the unique history of the San Francisco Bay Area and featured local speakers from the public and private sectors, non-governmental organizations, and academia. The Fulbright participants stayed with local families.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. Government and has provided over 300,000 participants-chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential - with the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.

Fulbright women pictured:

Left: Nyo Yamonn/Burma (MPH student at the Institute of Public Health at Georgia State University) Nyo Yamonn is examining the association between patient empowerment and diabetes management. She hopes help build public health capacity in Burma through community-based organizations.

Right: Beesan Tan/Malaysia (PhD student in clinical pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Iowa). Beesan Tan's research involves using modeling and simulation techniques in drug development, specifically, anti-malarial drugs. She aims to continue her research and development for a pharmaceutical company.